Farmers' Awareness of the Concept, causes and Effects of Climate Change in Rural Areas of South Khorasan province

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Faculty of Agriculture, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan, Iran

Abstract

Farmers' awareness of the concept, causes and process of climate change is directly related to their adaptation to the effects of climate change. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to investigate the level of farmers' awareness about climate change in Nehbandan city which was located in South Khorasan province. The number of 180 farmers were calculated as a sample population by Cochran's formula. To select cases through the county, the multi-stage sampling method and among villages, random sampling was used. The main data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient to 0.76. Data was analysised in SPSS19 software. The results showed that about 11% of farmers had no knowledge about the concept of climate change. In fact, this concept is not yet known among farmers, and there is no consensus on whether climate change is short-term or long-term. However, they percieved climate change as a serious threat to Nehbandan because they fully experienced its environmental, economic and social effects, such as frequent droughts, declining rainfall, rising unemployment and migration, declining agricultural production and purchasing power in the county. Variables like education level and attendance at training courses showed a positive relationship with farmers' awareness of climate change and variables such as age and number of children had a significant negative relationship.Therefore, it is recommended to increase Framers’ awareness about climate change and how to adopt with it trough holding more qualified educational courses.

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