The impacts of agricultural supports for climate change adaptation: Farm level assessment study on paddy farmers

Abstract

Problem statement: The climatic factors are changing very rapidly in Malaysia. To adapt farmers with the changes, government and other external agencies are providing several kinds of supports, but yet the adaptability is not that high. Approach: To analyze the climate change adaptability of the farmers in Malaysia, this study uses primary data that have been collected through questionnaire survey on paddy farmers in the Integrated Agricultural Development Area (IADA), North-West Selangor, Malaysia. Data have been analyzed by using descriptive statistics and ordered regression. Results: Most farmers believe that buying additional fertilizer from market is not important for their current adaptation capability with climate change. As a consequence, 75.3% of the farmers never used extra fertilizer beyond the fully subsidized quantity. But, 41.4% farmers agree that government's supports are not enough to adequately cope with climate change. Conclusion/ Recommendations: It is found that sustainability of agriculture and farmers' livelihood are strongly dependent on the external supports. Therefore, farmers' adaptability to climate change needs to be addressed through steps beyond the incentives and subsidies. Farmers need training and motivational supports for the necessary adaption. © 2010 Science Publications.