Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change in Pakistan: Perceptions, Options and Constraints

Agriculture in Pakistan is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Adaptation of the agriculturesector is imperative as it contributes 20 percent to the GDP and supports directly or indirectly about 68percent of the population for their sustenance. Farmers’ perception about climate change, current adaptationmeasures, and decision-making process is important for farmers’ successful adaptation strategies. Using dataof 205 conventional farmers from three district of Punjab province, this study provides insights into farmers’perceptions about climate change, on-going adaptation practices, and constraints to various adaption strategies.We found that majority of the farmers do not consider climate change as a potential threat to agriculture;therefore, they do not make any intentional efforts to change their farming practices. However, a few adaptationmeasures like use of different crop varieties, tree planting, and drip irrigation methods are prevalent inthe research area. The major hurdles that farmers perceived in adaptation are limited access to credit, lack ofaccess to information, and institutional support. As expected, no significant variations were found across districtsin the characteristics of respondents (age and income) that can affect their perceptions, their adaptationstrategies, and obstacles faced in adaptation. The results of the study need to be interpreted with caution, aswe did not focus on other determinants like education, role of media, and government policies that can affectfarmers’ choices to adopt climate resilient farming practices.