Factors Influencing Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in Bophloi District, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand
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Abstract
Thailand is very vulnerable to droughts and floods and has experienced several extreme climatic events. Thai farmers have usually developed coping strategies to adapt to or reduce the negative impacts of climate change on their farming operations. This study aims at identifying the strategies that Thai farmers adopt in relation to the ongoing changes in climatic events and to determine the factors influencing farmers’ adoption of adaptive strategies. The present study drew upon a survey of 364 farmers in Bophloi district, Kanchanaburi province of Thailand. Results showed that a majority of the farmers self-reported as having employed in adaptive behavior. The use of drought tolerant varieties was the most common adaptation strategy used. Whilst zero tillage was the least common adaptation strategy employed among the farmers. Using binary logistic regression, the results found that younger, more educated respondents with larger household size, access to credit, and possessing smaller land size, and/or contact with agricultural extension agents were more likely to employ adaptation strategies to climate change. These results provide a policy insight that government should facilitate infrastructure, support financial access, and encourage agricultural extension services to the farmers, all in order to promote adoption of coping strategies so as to tackle the adverse effects of climate change.
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