Smallholder Farmers’ Perceived Climate-Related Risk, Impact, and Their Choices of Sustainable Adaptation Strategies

Abdullah Al Mamun, Susmita Roy, Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam, G. M. Monirul Alam, Edris Alam, Subodh Chandra Pal, Md. Abdus Sattar and Javed Mallick
Additional contact information
Abdullah Al Mamun: Department of Disaster Management, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 5400, Bangladesh
Susmita Roy: Department of Disaster Management, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 5400, Bangladesh
Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam: Department of Disaster Management, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur 5400, Bangladesh
G. M. Monirul Alam: Department of Agribusiness, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur 1706, Bangladesh
Edris Alam: Faculty of Resilience, Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi 114646, United Arab Emirates
Subodh Chandra Pal: Department of Geography, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal 713104, India
Md. Abdus Sattar: Department of Disaster Risk Management, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali 8602, Bangladesh
Javed Mallick: Department of Civil Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61411, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-24

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.

Keywords: agriculture; Bangladesh; climate change; multinominal logit model; risk perception index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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