Abstract
Bangladesh is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries on the globe. The country is frequently affected by numerous climatic events including floods, droughts, cyclones, etc., which damages the farm household’s livelihood and socio-economic condition. Therefore, this work intends to appraise the smallholder farmers’ perceived climate-related risk, impact, and the factors that influence their choices of adaptation strategies to cope with the adverse impact of the climatic extreme events in northern Bangladesh. Survey data were collected from 300 respondents from two drought-prone districts of northern Bangladesh in January–February 2020. The climate-related risk perception index (CRRPI) was constructed to assess the farmers’ perceived risk. The multinominal logit (MNL) model was employed to explore the factors influencing farmers’ choices of adaptation strategies. Farmers’ perceptions of climate change risk were found to be consistent with meteorological data in the research area. Results of the CRRPI revealed that flood, drought, riverbank erosion, and heat waves were the critical risks perceived by the farmers. Farmers used a variety of adaptation measures to deal with these climatic threats, including agricultural diversification, changes in fertilizer and insecticides, and crop and seed changes. The MNL model results showed that the factors that influenced a farmer’s choices of adaptation strategies were age, education level, family members, income level, year of farming experience, and the farmer’s information on climate change. This study also demonstrated that water scarcity in the dry period and the frequency of crop diseases were the major limiting factors experienced by the farmers whilst undertaking adaptation strategies. Thus, awareness and capacity building through training and support to adopt the adaptation strategies are essential to enhance the resilience of the farmers.
Highlights
This study examined smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate-related risks, their were collected mainly from farm households in the Phulbari and Hatibandha Upazilas of Bangladesh
This study examined smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate-related risks, their influence on agriculture, and their adaptation strategies for dealing with the adverse impact of climatic hazards on their farms
The study revealed that climate change has a detrimental effect on the agricultural sectors, on rural farmers in northern region of Bangladesh
Summary
Poor households in developing countries such as Bangladesh are highly affected by climate change due to their low adaptive capacity and inadequate access to alternate means of livelihood [1,2,3,4]. Extreme weather phenomena are projected to become more recurrent and intense in the forthcoming period, with potentially severe adverse effects on the livelihood of farmers in developing countries, including Bangladesh [3,5,6]. Climate change will negatively affect crop production and lead to substantial changes in farming practices [7]. Climate change and variability are yet Sustainability 2021, 13, 11922.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have