Perception of and Adaption Capacities to Climate Change Adaption Strategies by the Rice Farmers: A Case of Rajshahi District in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper evaluates rice farmers’ perception and climatic variability using climate record. Adaptive capacities of rice farmers to climate change adaption strategies for the Rajshahi district were also identified. Forty two years of climate data on temperature and rainfall (1972-2013) from the Bangladesh Metrological Department (BMD) for Rajshahi weather station were collected and analyzed using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test. Questionnaire survey was conduct to understand farmers’ perception and adaptations in response to changing climate and variability. The results revealed that an increase in annual temperature of +0.04º C form 1972 to 2013 has be recorded for the Rajshahi district, Bangladesh, whereas annual rainfall has not exhibited any trend but Sen’s slope is negative for rainfall implies decreasing trend with time. The adaptive capacities of rice farmers were estimated quantitatively and categorized into high, moderate and low adaptive capacities. Result of adaptive capacities revealed that on the average the farmers’ interviewed are moderately adaptive to climate change. As high adaptive farmers obtain higher amount of rice therefore, the more a farmer has the ability to adjust to climate change, the more the amount of rice he or she obtain. Rice farmers should be empowered through better extension services in order to attain high adaptive capacity status so as to help them obtain more rice output. Keywords: Adaptive Capacities, Adaptive Strategies, Climate Change, Farmers’ perceptions, Rajshahi District, Bangladesh