Climate change and Chinese farmers: Perceptions and determinants of adaptive strategies

作     者：ZHAI Shi-yan SONG Gen-xin QIN Yao-chen YE Xin-yue Mark Leipnik 

作者机构：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 Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science Ministry of Education East China Normal University Department of Geography Kent State University Department of Geography & Geology Sam Houston State University 

出 版 物：《Journal of Integrative Agriculture》 (农业科学学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第17卷第4期

页      面：949-963页

核心收录：

学科分类：120301[管理学-农业经济管理] 12[管理学] 1203[管理学-农林经济管理] 07[理学] 070601[理学-气象学] 0706[理学-大气科学] 

基　　金：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) 

主　　题：climate change Chinese farmers adaptive strategies Henan Province 

摘      要：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.