Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

How do farmers perceive climate change? A systematic review

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, a systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize understanding on farmers’ perception on climate change. Farmers’ perception of climate change is conceptualized as comprising of three dimensions—first, as farmers’ “awareness”; second, “conceptual understanding”; and third, the “experience” of climate change. The review included 162 papers published during the period January 2000 to July 2019. The highest number of studies was conducted in Africa, followed by Asia. A large majority of farmers report being aware of climate change. However, only a few studies elicit the difference between climate variability and climate change from farmers. A negligible number of studies attempt to identify the role of agricultural activities in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Furthermore, authors compare farmers’ perception with meteorological evidence, which is more aligned in terms of change in “temperature” rather than “precipitation.” The insights from the review provide guidance on conceptualization and operationalization of the variable “farmers’ perception of climate change” for future studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “climate variability” is defined as variations in the mean state and other statistics of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales, beyond individual weather events. Climate change refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically decades or longer). In essence, climate variability looks at changes that occur within smaller time frames, such as a month, a season or a year, whereas climate change considers changes that occur over a longer period of time, typically over decades or longer. A key difference between climate variability and change is in persistence of “anomalous” conditions—when events that used to be rare occur more frequently, or vice versa.

References

  • Ahmed MNQ, Haq SMA (2019) Indigenous people’s perceptions about climate change, forest resource management, and coping strategies: a comparative study in Bangladesh. Environ Dev Sustain 21(2):679–708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0055-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chepkoech W, Nancy WM, Stober S, Lotze-Campen H (2018) Farmers’ perspectives: impact of climate change on African indigenous vegetable production in Kenya. Int J Clim Chang Strategies Manage 10(4):551–579. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-07-2017-0160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke CL, Shackleton SE, Powell M (2012) Climate change perceptions, drought responses and views on carbon farming amongst commercial livestock and game farmers in the semiarid Great Fish River Valley, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Afr J Range Forage Sci 29 (1):13–23. https://doi.org/10.2989/10220119.2012.687041

  • Cullen AC, Anderson CL (2017) Perception of climate risk among rural farmers in Vietnam: consistency within households and with the empirical record. Risk Anal 37(3):531–545. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.12631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Debela N, Mohammed C, Bridle K, Corkrey R, McNeil D (2015) Perception of climate change and its impact by smallholders in pastoral/agropastoral systems of Borana, South Ethiopia. Springerplus 4:236. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-015-1012-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Esan VI, Okedigba I, Lawi MB (2017) Evaluation of farmers’ awareness, perception and adaptation strategies of cocoa (Theobroma cacao Linn.) production to climate change in the south west parts of Nigeria. Oct Jour Env Res 5(3):169–181 http://www.sciencebeingjournal.com

    Google Scholar 

  • Falaki A, Akangbe JA, Ayinde OE (2013) Analysis of climate change and rural farmers’ perception in north Central Nigeria. J Um Ecol 43(2):133–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2013.11906619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ford JD, Berrang-Ford L, Paterson J (2011) A systematic review of observed climate change adaptation in developed nations. Clim Chang 106(2):327–336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0045-5

  • Idrisa YL, Ogunbameru BO, Ibrahim AA, Bawa DB (2012) Analysis of awareness and adaptation to climate change among farmers in the Sahel Savannah agro-ecological zone of Borno State Nigeria British. Br J Environ Clim Change 2(2):216–226. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJECC/2012/1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Synthesis Report in Pachauri RK and Reisinger A (eds) Contribution of working groups I II and III to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC Geneva Switzerland, pp104

  • Kabote SJ, Mamiro DP, Synnevåg G, Urassa JK et al (2017) Perceived and measured climate variability and change in semi-arid environments in Tanzania: experiences from Iramba and Meatu districts. Int J Environ Sustain Dev 16(1):1–24. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJESD.2017.080836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahsay HT, Guta DD, Birhanu BS, Gidey TG (2019) Farmers’ perceptions of climate change trends and adaptation strategies in semiarid highlands of eastern Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Adv Meteorol (2):1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/3849210

  • Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ (2012) Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109(19):7156–7161. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1115521109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komba C, Muchapondwa E (2012) Adaptation to climate change by smallholder farmers in Tanzania (ERSA working papers 299) https://efdinitiative.org/sites/default/files/wp299_0.pdf. Accessed 26 November 2018

  • Lelethu M (2014) Farmers’ awareness of climate change and variability and its effects on agricultural productivity: (the case of king Sabata Dalindyebo Municipalty in eastern cape) Department of Agricultural Economics and extension faculty of science and agriculture. University of Fort Hare Alice

  • Liu Z, Smith Jr. WJ, Safi AS (2014) Rancher and farmer perceptions of climate change in Nevada, USA. Climatic Change 122:313–327 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0979-x

  • Moyo M, Mvumi BM, Kunekweguta M, Mazvimavi K, Craufurd P, Dorward P (2012) Farmer perceptions on climate change and variability in semi-arid Zimbabwe in relation to climatology evidence. Afr Crop Sci J 20(2):317–335 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42025

    Google Scholar 

  • Nyadzi (2016) Climate variability since 1970 and farmers’ observations in Northern Ghana. J Sustain Agric Res 5(2):41. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.234992

  • Okunlola  (2014). Farmers’ awareness of climate change in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. JOSPA 17 (1 & 2):62–67

  • Ortega-Egea JM, Garcia-de-Frutos N, Antolin-Lopez R (2014) Why do some people do “more” to mitigate climate change than others? Exploring heterogeneity in psycho-social associations. PLoS One 9(9):e106645. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106645

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paudel B, Zhang Y, Yan J, Rai R, Li L (2019) Farmers’ perceptions of agricultural land use changes in Nepal and their major drivers. J Mt Environ 235:432–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.01.091

  • Raghuvanshi R, Ansari MA, Amardeep (2017) A Study of Farmers’ Awareness About Climate Change and Adaptation Practices in India. IJAAS 3(6):154-160 https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijaas.20170306.13

  • Sarkar S, Padaria RN (2015) Measuring farmers’ awareness and knowledge level about climate change and formulating future extension strategies. Indian Res J Ext Edu 15(1):107–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha UB, Shrestha AM, Aryal S, Shrestha S, Gautam MS, Ojha H (2019) Climate change in Nepal: a comprehensive analysis of instrumental data and people’s perceptions. Clim Chang 154: 315–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02418-5

  • Shukla R, Agarwal A, Sachdeva K, Kurths J, Joshi PK (2018) Climate change perception: an analysis of climate change and risk perceptions among farmer types of Indian Western Himalayas. Clim Chang 152(1):103–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2314-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teka O, Houessou GL, Oumorou M, Vogt J, Sinsin B (2013) An assessment of climate variation risks on agricultural production: perceptions and adaptation options in Benin. Int J Clim Chang 5(2):166–180. https://doi.org/10.1108/17568691311327578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terdoo F, Adekola O (2014) Perceptions knowledge adaptation and socio-economic cost of climate change in northern Nigeria. J Agric Sci 6(8). ISSN 1916-9752 Available from: https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/29238

  • Tesfahunegn GB, Mekonen K, Tekle A (2016) Farmers’ perception on causes, indicators and determinants of climate change in northern Ethiopia: implication for developing adaptation strategies. Appl Geogr 73:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2016.05.009

  • Traore B, Van-Wijk MT, Descheemaeker K, Corbeels M, Rufino MC, Giller KE (2015) Climate variability and change in southern Mali: Learning from farmers perceptions and on-farms trails/. Expl Agric 51(4):615–634. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0014479714000507

  • Tripathi A, Singh GS (2013) Perception anticipation and responses of people to changing climate in the Gangetic plains of India. Curr Sci 105(12):25

    Google Scholar 

  • Waibel H, Pahlisch TH, Volker M (2017) Farmers’ perceptions of and adaptations to climate change in Southeast Asia: the case study from Thailand and Vietnam. In: Lipper L et al. (eds.), Climate Smart Agriculture, Natural Resource Management and Policy, pp 52./https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61194-5_7

  • Zoundji G, Witteveen C, Vodouhe L, Simplice D, Lie R (2017) When baobab flowers and rainmakers define the season: farmers’ perceptions and adaptation strategies to climate change in West Africa. Inter J of Pla Ani And Env Sce 7(2):8–21

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Madhuri

  2. School of Public Policy, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Upasna Sharma

Authors
  1. Madhuri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Upasna Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madhuri.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 298 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Madhuri, Sharma, U. How do farmers perceive climate change? A systematic review. Climatic Change 162, 991–1010 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02814-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02814-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation