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| Climate change and Chinese farmers: Perceptions and determinants of adaptive strategies |
| ZHAI Shi-yan1, 2, SONG Gen-xin1, QIN Yao-chen1, YE Xin-yue3, Leipnik Mark4 |
1 College of Environment and Planning/Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions/Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development & Collaborative Innovation Center on Yellow River Civilization of Henan Province, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, P.R.China
2 Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, P.R.China
3 Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent 44242, USA
4 Department of Geography & Geology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville 77340, USA |
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Abstract Farmers’ perceptions, beliefs, adaptive strategies, and barriers regarding climate change are critical to promoting sustainable ecosystems and societal stability. This paper is based on an extensive survey of 1 500 farmers and their households in Henan Province in China during 2013–2014. Henan is the largest agricultural province in China with over 51 million farmers. The survey results showed that approximately 57% of the respondents perceived the direct impact of climate change during the past 10 years, with 70.3% believing that climate change posed a risk to their livelihood. Not surprisingly, most farmers reported that they have adopted new measures to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. The main barriers hindering farmers’ adopting adaptation measures were lack of funds and timely information. A multinomial logit model revealed that land ownership, knowledge of crop variety and the causes of climate change, as well as the belief of climate change, were all positively related to the likelihood of employing adaptive strategies. Moreover, the percentage of households engaging in agriculture activity, and years of engaging in farming were both negatively correlated with famer’s likelihood of adopting adaptation strategies. More importantly, farmers with high incomes were less likely to adopt adaptive strategies and more willing to engage in other business activities. In conclusion, it is important to communicate climate change related information and government policies in rural areas, promote farmer associations and other educational outreach efforts to assist Chinese farmers to deal with climate change.
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Received: 03 May 2017
Accepted:
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| Fund: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41301149), the National Major Scientific Research Project, China (2012CB955800), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation of the Fifty-Seventh Batch of Funds (2015M570626), the Open Research Fund of the Key Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Ministry of Education, China (JOF 201601), the Open Research Funding Program of Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education (KLGIS2014A03), the Science and Technology Innovation Team Support Plan Funded for University in Henan Province, China (16IRTSTHN012). |
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Corresponding Authors:
Correspondence QIN Yao-chen, Tel/Fax: +86-371-23881850, E-mail: qinyc@henu.edu.cn
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| About author: ZHAI Shi-yan, Tel/Fax: +86-371-23881850, E-mail: zsycenu@hotmail.com; |
Cite this article:
ZHAI Shi-yan, SONG Gen-xin, QIN Yao-chen, YE Xin-yue, Leipnik Mark.
2018.
Climate change and Chinese farmers: Perceptions and determinants of adaptive strategies. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17(04): 949-963.
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