Farmers’ choices and factors driving adoption of climate change adaptation strategies in saline coastal area of Bangladesh

Abstract

Growing climate change adaptation issues are driving the demand for efficient solutions in the agriculture sector, which will improve farmers’ livelihoods and economic situations. This study examined the perceptions of major climate risks and factors driving adoption of climate adaptation strategies in saline coastal areas of Bangladesh. Survey data were collected from 100 farmers producing Rabi crops by using a semi-structured questionnaire. A binary logistic model was used to identify the driving factors of the adoption of adaptation strategies. Results revealed that farmers’ group membership and perception of a decrease in rain frequency influenced adoption of intercropping, while experience in farming, owned farmland size and perception of increase in soil salinity influenced adoption of mulching. In addition, age, group membership and perception of a decrease in rain frequency had a positive influence on adoption of use of mini pond. Furthermore, household size and access to training influenced adoption of changing sowing time, while farming experience had a positive influence on change in cropping pattern. These findings suggest an opportunity for institution-led support for providing farmers with hands-on training. Developing collaboration with research institutes, the ministry of agriculture, extension, development partners and civic leaders for enhancing farmers’ group membership capacity would be of benefit on increasing the adaptive capacity of farmers.

Keywords:

• adaptation strategies
• binary logit regression
• climate change
• coastal Bangladesh
• driving factors
• perceptions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The farmers in the coastal areas of Bangladesh practise rainfed agriculture in two seasons: the Kharif which starts mid-March and lasts to mid-November and the Rabi which begins mid-November and lasts until mid-March. The Kharif season is further divided into Kharif-1 which lasts from mid-March to mid-July and Kharif-2 that lasts from mid-July to mid-November. The Rabi season is the dry winter period (Begum, Hossain, and Mainuddin 2023).

2 Households who received some sorts of support like seed, fertilizer, and pesticides from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and Krishi Gobeshona Foundation’s (KGF) jointly implemented the project. Non-beneficiary farmers are those that didn’t receive any support.

3 The term ‘gher’ refers to the modification of a rice field to enable the operation of three enterprises: shrimp/prawn (principal enterprise), fish, and high yielding variety (HYV) rice. The middle of the ‘gher’ is surrounded by high and wide dikes with canals dug at their inner periphery (Rahman and Barmon 2012).

Additional information

Funding

The study is supported jointly by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF) as a project entitled “Mitigating risk and scaling-out profitable cropping system intensification practices in the salt-affected coastal zones of the Ganges Delta.” We extend our appreciation to the enumerators and farmers for their significant contribution.