IJAER

International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research™

ISSN 2455-6939

Title:
DETERMINANTS OF FARMERS' ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN SOUTHWEST CAMEROON

Authors:
Defang Taku Julie, Manu Ibrahim and Amungwa Fonteh. A

Abstract:
In recent times, increasing temperature, declining precipitation, increasing sunshine, drought and flood incidents have become a primary concern. A plethora of studies have shown how changes in climatic conditions negatively affect agricultural production in Cameroon. Adaptation is considered as a resilient measure to negative effects of climate change, reducing impacts and giving hope to livelihood. However while some farmers have taken measures to adapt, some have simply remained dormant. This research uses binary logit regression model to determine factors influencing farmers' decisions to adapt to climate change in Southwest Cameroon. Results revealed that female farmers are less likely to adapt to climate change than male farmers and the value is significant at p-value <.05. Also, the age group 40-49 years positively influences adaption even though the effect is not significant. Education positively influence adaptation and the effect is significant for farmers who have attained tertiary education (pv=0.01). House hold size also negatively influences farmers' adaptation to climate change and the negative sign indicates that as household size increases, the probability of farmers' adapting to climate change decreases. There is a negative relationship between land ownership, farm size and adaptation to climate change. The positive value of B is an indicator that farming experience influence farmers' adaptation even though the effect is not significant. There is a negative relationship between awareness of causes of climate change and adaptation thus farmers who are not aware of the causes will likely not take measures to adapt and the effect is significant at (pv=0.00).

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