Abstract
Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to its unique geographical position, the dominance of floodplains, low elevation, high population density, high levels of poverty, and overwhelming dependence on nature, its' resources, and services. Increasing temperatures, irregular rainfall, drought, and cyclones are adversely affecting agricultural production, in turn creating a high risk to the food security of the large population of Bangladesh. Large-scale climate resilient technologies practices are being implemented in High Barind Tract of Bangladesh, which have the potential to reduce the vulnerability and risks associated with climate change and contribute to increasing capacity of the farmers for rice production. The main purpose of the study was to determine the farmers' capacity on using climate resilient technologies for rice production in High Barind Tract of Bangladesh. The study was conducted in a severe drought-prone area of Bangladesh known as the High Barind Tract. Two upazilas under Rajshahi district, namely Tanore and Godagari, were selected for the field survey. Questionnaire survey was conducted to determine farmers' capacities on using climate resilient technologies for rice production. Data were collected from a sample of 459 farmers through personal interviewing by using a pre-tested structured interview schedule during February to June 2016. Appropriate scales were developed and used to measure the concerned variables. Fifteen selected characteristics of the farmers were considered as the independent variables, while farmers' capacity was the dependent variable. Climate data on temperature and rainfall (1948-2016) for all over the Bangladesh were collected from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) and analyzed using linear trend model. The result reveals that the time trend is statistically significant for all three major climate related variables. This implies that climate has changed over the whole period (1948-2016). However, the findings revealed that an increase in annual temperature from 1948 to 2016 has been recorded for the High Barind Tract of Bangladesh, whereas annual rainfall has not exhibited any trend. The capacities of the farmers were categorized into high, moderate and low. A simple regression model was used to determine the influential factors of farmers' capacities on using climate resilient technologies for rice production. Results of farmers' capacities revealed that 54 percent belonged to moderate capacity group while 41 percent of them had low capacity and 5 percent of the farmers had high capacity. The overall farmers' capacity was low to medium. Among the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, age, education, household annual income, family size, farm size, household assets value, extension media contact, farming experience, training exposure, use of weather information, knowledge on climate change, and perception on climate change of the farmers were significantly correlated with their capacity. Education, annual household income, use of weather information, knowledge on climate change, and farm size had significant contribution on the farmers' capacity. Path analysis revealed that education, extension media contact, use of weather information, access to irrigation facilities, knowledge on climate change and perception of climate change had positive and direct effects on farmers' capacity. Aberrant weather conditions, lack of need based training on climate change, less availability of climate resilient technologies or inputs or materials and fragile and marginal environments were identified as the major problems faced by the farmers in rice field. Attention and necessary funds should be provided by the respective authorities (The Ministry of Agriculture and other organizations) to solve the problems and also increasing capacity of the farmers' on using climate resilient technologies for rice production in High Barind Tract of Bangladesh.