FARMERS' PERCEPTION TOWARDS HARMFUL EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the farmers’ perception towards harmful effects of climate change on agriculture and to describe the selected characteristics of the farmers and to identify the factors that influence farmers' perception towards harmful effects of climate change on agriculture. The study was conducted in four villages of Maizbari and Natuarpara union under Kazipur upazila of Sirajgonj district. Data were collected by using interview schedule from the randomly selected 113 respondents during 1 January to 30 January, 2018. Descriptive statistics, multiple regressions (B) were used for analysis. Majority (70.8 percent) of the respondents had moderately agreed perception while 18.8 percent and 10.6 percent of them had respectively lower agreed perception and highly agreed perception towards harmful effects of climate change on agriculture. Among nine selected characteristics, organizational participation, extension media contact and knowledge on climate change had significant positive contribution to the farmers’ perception towards harmful effects of climate change on agriculture. The remaining characteristics of the farmers, namely age, education, farm size, annual family income, training received and cosmopoliteness did not show any significant contribution with their perception. The findings of the study indicated that farmers’ perception towards harmful effects of climate change on agriculture has not satisfactory. Still there is a scope to improve farmers’ perception through more involving with organizational participation, extension media contact and increasing knowledge