TITLE:
Determinants of Farmers’ Perception of Climate Change: A Case Study from the Coastal Region of Bangladesh
AUTHORS:
Mohammed Nasir Uddin, Wolfgang Bokelmann, Emily Shea Dunn
KEYWORDS:
Determinants, Farmers, Perception, Climate Change, Coastal Region, Bangladesh
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Climate Change,
Vol.6 No.1,
March
27,
2017
ABSTRACT: Socio-economic conditions of farmers, especially in the coastal region in Bangladesh, have been severely affected because of climate change. This study was focused on analyzing the farmers’ perception of climate change by examining three vital issues: (1) description of the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers; (2) reporting on the perception of farmers experiences with climatic change; and (3) identification of the socio-economic factors associated with farmers’ perception of climate change. The study area encompasses three villages within the coastal region (Sathkhira district) of Bangladesh, a geographic region where climate change literature has highlighted as prone to accelerated degradation. A logit model, along with weighted indexes for ranking and descriptive statistics, was used to analyze the result of 100 farmers surveyed by questionnaire. We found that the majority of the farmers (88%) perceived changes in climatic conditions. Almost all farmers indicated increases in temperature, droughts, floods, cyclones, salinity level and decreasing rainfall over the last 20 years. The logit model explained that out of the nine factors surveyed; education, family size, farm size, family income, farming experiences and training received were significantly related and influential factors to perception of climate change. Therefore, government and non-governmental organizations are recommended to push forward with interventions, especially focusing on identified factors, in order to strengthen the farmers’ capacity to battle against climate change effects.