Farmers Perceptions and Their Coping Strategies Regarding The Impact of Climate Change in Rice-Wheat Cropping System of the Punjab Pakistan

Abstract

Climate change has been proved to be a hidden risk to the development of countries all over the world. It is also estimated that climate variation will have significant negative effect on agricultural production in the developing countries of Asia in future. Pakistan is one of those countries which is a victim of the climate change and is already facing many problems like poverty and food security leading to threats to agriculture expansion. The climate change is ahead of all these due to decreasing agriculture production, prolong water scarcity and declined income growth. Agriculture plays a big role in the economy of Pakistan and climate change is a matter of serious concern. The main objective of the present study was to find out the factors affecting the coping strategies of farmers regarding the impact of climate change in the Punjab, Pakistan. Three districts from ricewheat cropping zone (Narowal, Sialkot and Gujranwala District) were selected randomly. A total sample of four hundred eight respondents was selected by systematic random sample technique. A well-structured interview schedule was used as research instrument for data collection. Collected data were analyzed statistically. In addition, descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for the data analysis. It was found that education level of the farmers was low in the study area. Mostly farmers were having small size of land holding and a huge majority of them were owner cultivator. Mean area of wheat was 7.31±6.06 acres and mean area of rice was 6.25±5.60 acres. It was observed that long summer season (mean = 2.39±.73), shorter winter season (mean = 2.30±.75) and high temperature (mean = 2.14±.60) were the main perceptions concerning consequences of climate change in the study area. Industrial smoke (mean = 2.64±.69), excessive cutting of forest (mean = 2.57±.68) and human activities (mean = 2.51±.72) also led to change in environment. A vast majority (84.1%) of the selected farmers reported that climate change affected negatively their crop productivity. Crop production was not enough to meet the needs of the people (mean = 2.72±.62). So, a huge majority of the farmers had thinking that their annual income was decreased due to climate changes. A very small proportion of the farmers was aware of the existence of agricultural institution working for climate change here in the Punjab, Pakistan. It was also found that recommended varieties now than past decades’ (mean = 2.58±.72), applying more industrial pesticides (mean = 2.50±.76) and practicing crop diversification (mean = 2.36±.81), increased use of irrigation (mean = 2.19±.89) and integrated farming system (mean = 2.15±.91) were the major coping strategies for controlling the effect of climate changes and copping strategies had positive impact on crop productivity. It was clear from the results that the fellow farmers (mean = 2.24±.54), private company dealer (fertilizer & pesticides) (mean = 1.70±.74), Burjij/Wall chalking (mean = 1.53±.66), TV (mean = 1.47±.72), field assistant/Agri. officer of the Deptt. of agriculture (mean = 1.43±.52) and mobile phone (mean = 1.42±.64) were the major sources of communication/information concerning climate change. Bivariate analysis showed that farming experience and coping strategies is negatively associated with the impact of climate change on crop productivity. It was concluded that long summer season, shorter winter season and high temperature were the main perception concerning consequences of climate change in the research area. The crop productivity was negatively affected by climate changes. It is recommended that farmers should use recommended crop cultivars, fertilizers and practice crop diversification. Investment on improved agricultural technology by government and other stakeholders are necessary for agriculture to be able to cope with future climate change.