Determinants of Farmers’ Preparedness and Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change: A Study of Smallholder Farmer of Kapurkot, Salyan Nepal

Abstract

Smallholder farmers are highly vulnerable to climate change and require prioritized strategies to minimize the impacts. Challenges faced by smallholder farmers hinder the implementation of coping and adaptation strategies, limiting sustainable agriculture. This descriptive study was conducted in Kapurkot Rural Municipality, Salyan, Nepal aimed to investigate and understand how smallholder farmers view and react to climate change along with their primary adaptation practices to mitigate adverse effects. 170 households were surveyed using snowball sampling method and data were analyzed with MS Excel and SPSS version 23. Over 90% reported rising summer temperatures and decreased monsoon and winter rainfall. Between 1981 and 2022, a clear warming trend was observed in study area, with a greater increase in both maximum and minimum temperatures during winter compared to summer. Concurrently, a declining trend in average precipitation was noted, particularly during the monsoon season, reflecting growing climatic variability and potential implications for agriculture and water resources. Age, ethnicity, education, income, farm size, cooperative membership, and farmer group involvement significantly influenced adaptation strategies to climate change. The results indicate that increased droughts, crop failures, rising disease and insect infestations, and forest fires are major climate-related challenges. Farmers have adopted mixed cropping, adjusting sowing dates, mulching, increased use of fertilizers and pesticides, weather-based planning, temporary migration, and communal irrigation. Main barriers to adaptation were lack of knowledge about climate change, inadequate capital, lack of government support, poor access to credit and resistance to change. Therefore, we recommend future adaptation strategies should focus on improving climate change information access, increasing capital access, enhancing government support, expanding credit facilities, and addressing resistance to change.