Assessment and adaptation strategies of climate change through the prism of farmers' perception: A case study

Climate change has posed a serious threat to agriculture over the last few decades. It has become a source of concern for a country like Bangladesh, which is heavily reliant on agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to understand possible changes in climatic variables and their impact on agriculture on a microscale. The present study was designed to assess the farmer's perception of climate change in Rajshahi and Bogra Districts of Bangladesh. This study also investigated whether farmers' perceptions of climate change were consistent with climatic records. Furthermore, the study investigated the selection of various adaptation strategies taken by farmers to cope with climate change and mitigate its effects. The annual rainfall trend from the MK/mMK test portrayed that most stations experienced decreased rainfall. Similar results were also achieved on a seasonal scale. In contrast, the annual and seasonal temperature trends had shown an increase in most of the stations. The results were perfectively in line with the farmers' perception. Results also showed that farmers had adopted four broad strategies to deal with the climate change scenario viz. technological development, government programs, farm production, and financial management. However, the dominant strategies adopted by farmers were changes in planting dates, crop rotation, supplementary irrigation, and fertiliser changes. Overall, the study's findings highlight the need for immediate actions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and help develop sustainable adaptation strategies to maintain agricultural productivity.