Sugarcane Farmers Perception, Comprehension Regarding Climate Change and its Mitigation Through Adoption of Cultural Practices

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important cash crop in Pakistan. Recently, the average per hectare production of sugarcane is low due to climatic variation. Therefore, sugarcane farmers are threatened by this emerging issue that has drastically affected their livelihoods, food security, and sustainability. This study was designed to analyze the perception, comprehension, and adoption of cultural practices in the mitigation of the impact of climate change. For this purpose, district Rahim yar khan was selected purposively from the Province of Punjab as the universe of the study; as one of the highly cultivated areas among all districts of Punjab. From selected districts, two tehsils were randomly selected, namely Sadiqabad and Kanpur. From each selected tehsil, 5 villages were selected using randomized sampling technique. In each selected village, 18 sugarcane farmers were selected randomly thus, making a total of 180 respondents. The data were collected through quantitative methods. A pre-tested and well-structured interview schedule was developed for the collection of information from sugarcane farmers.  Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups, adopter and non-adopters of mitigation strategies towards climate change. The results revealed that the majority (98.3 % and 75 %) of the growers reported that an increase in temperature and deforestation for the last five years respectively. Moreover, residues burring and deforestation were major causes of climate change followed by an excess of CO2 from agriculture activities and farm operations. The study recommended that the adoption of cultural practices in mitigation of the impact of climate change should be promoted through information sources.