Impact of Risk Perception on Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change

Abstract

This study focused on the association between climate change risk perception and farmers’ adaptation to climate change in the rural areas. The study was limited to farmers involved in agricultural crops, namely wheat, maize, rice, and vegetables. The data was collected from 383 farmers in 21 selected union councils of District Upper Dir and District Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through multistage stratified random sampling. The data was analyzed through bivariate and multivariate analyses. Chi-square and Kendall’s T^b tests were applied to test the relationship between climate risk perception and farmers’ adaptation. The findings revealed that majority of the farmers were aware about climate change occurrence and the risks associated with it. At the bivariate level, risk perception has significant and positive association with farmers’ adaptation to climate change. At multivariate level, family type, marital status, level of education, and farming experiences as control variables explained variations in the association of risk perception with farmers’ adaptations. Organized awareness campaign is suggested to be regarded as an important component of climate change policies. This would allow the general public, and particularly farmers, to perceive climate change as a risk, which is critical for climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.