Study of Socio-economic Factors Influencing on Adaptation of Smallholder Farmers to Climate Change in Mountainous Areas (Case study: Malavi Dehestan of Poldokhtar County)

Abstract

Extended abstract 1. INTRODUCTION In mountainous areas where rainforest farming is carried out, climate change has a more negative impact on agriculture and the lives of rural households, especially smallholder farmers. These farmers have limited capacity and this vulnerability has always been a threat to their livelihoods. The most important reasons for this vulnerability include inappropriate livelihoods, resource constraints, low productivity, small agricultural land and lack of access to agricultural inputs such as organic fertilizers, seeds, and so on. These farmers, through the process of adaptation to climate change, can minimize climate threats. Climate change events, such as floods, droughts, warming and possible effects, significantly reduce assets, undermine livelihoods, reduce labor productivity and reduce farmers' social relationships. If the effects of these hazards do not be managed by adaptation strategies, it will lead to low yields of agricultural products. Therefore, proper understanding of the effects of these changes is necessary for farmers to take appropriate action and to identify the effective economic and social factors in this regard. Therefore, in this study, the socioeconomic factors influencing on adaptation of smallholder farmers to climate change was studied. 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Adapting to climate change means reducing risk and vulnerability through actions, regulating practices and processes against threats and environmental damage. Adaptive Capacity means matching the attribute or behavior with external environment changes to better deal with these changes. Adaptation is described as the ability of social or environmental systems to adjust to change or to cope with changes. Level of adaptability and ability of farmers to face climate change is affected by various economic and social factors such as age, gender, educational level, marriage, income, employment, farm size, and so on. But the impact of these factors varies across societies, countries and regions. 3. METHODOLOGY The research method is descriptive-analytical. In terms of purpose it is application oriented and in terms of method, it is a combination. Data collection has been done in both library and field. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire. The statistical population consisted of farmers in Malavi village in Poldokhtar city, Lorestan province, Iran (N = 1636). Using Cochran formula, 310 farmers were selected as the sample by simple random sampling. To prove the existence of climate change, data from the Poldokhtar Meteorological Station is used. To identify the most important methods of adaptation to climate change, exploratory factor analysis (FA) is used, and to identify the economic and social factors affecting farmers' adaptation to climate change Logistic regression model is used. 4. DISCUSSION Investigating farmers' adaptation with climate change has shown that the use of crop time adjustment method, soil and agricultural crop management method has been the most widely used among farmers. Farmers, using their experience, choose the right time to cultivate the crops. Soil management is also one of the most widely used methods for adapting to climate change. Farmers adapt themselves to climate change using this method, which involves strengthening and increasing the productivity of land by use of various types of green, animal and other types of fertilizers. Another widely used method for adapting to climate change which use by farmers is the management of crop production. This method, given that farmers cultivate different products, and the potential effects of climate change, such as product diseases, may occur on a product type and do not affect other product. Therefore, the remaining product can replace the damaged product. In this way, farmers adapt to these changes. In the context of socioeconomic factors influencing on adaptation of farmers, the results show that among the social factors, four variables, the age of the head of the family, the level of education, the experience of the farmer and the size of the family, and among the economic factors, four variables, size of Farm, farmer's capital, property ownership and household retention rate have the most relationship with the level of adaptation of farmers to climate change in the study area. 5. CONCLUSION Smallholder farmers are more vulnerable to climate change because of their low adaptability capacity. They can adapt themselves to climate change by using adaptive methods. Use of these adaptation methods has a great deal to do with farmers' socioeconomic factors. among the socioeconomic factors influencing on adaptation of smallholder farmers, the age of the head of the family, the level of education, the experience of the farmer and the size of the family, size of Farm, farmer's capital, property ownership and household retention rate have the most relationship with the level of adaptation of farmers to climate change in the study area. Concerning the findings of this study, the following points are recommending and suggest to increase the adaptation of smallholder farmers to climate change:  Providing support services by the government and relevant organizations.  Providing government subsidies for agricultural production to increase farmers' adaptability.  Government investment in irrigation and water systems for large rivers such as Seymareh and Kashkan for water supply.  Providing information to farmers on appropriate agricultural practices at different times.