Determinants of farmers’ adaptation to climate change in agricultural production in the central region of Vietnam

Abstract

This paper discusses the likely changes in farm cultural practices that farmers would adopt to minimize agricultural production losses as a response to the increasing occurrence of extreme weather conditions due to climate change in the Central Region of Viet Nam. Using binary logit model and multivariate probit model, this paper examined different factors influencing farmers decision on adaptation to climate change in their agricultural production. Training attendance, farm size, damage level, educational level, farming experience, access to credit, and gender were the factors that influenced significantly the probability that farmers would adapt to climate change. Of these factors, attendance in climate change training and farm size were the most important factors affecting the farmers decision on adaptation to climate change, while labor availability and membership in local organizations were not. Three policy recommendations were proposed to enhance small-scale farmers adaptive capacity to climate change in the region. These include: i). broadening of training courses on climate change; ii). institute policies that would promote consolidation of farmlands; and, iii). integrate concepts of climate change and climate change adaptation into the operation of the local organizations.