The Impacts of Climate Change, Livelihood Assets and Farming Strategies on PaddyFarmers Livelihood in Malaysia

Abstract

Climate change has a negative impact on planting schedule due to its disruption of weather patterns, prolonged periods of drought, and occurrence of extreme rainfall events. Consequently, it leads to higher costs related to cultivating paddy, reduced paddy yield, and decreased income for farmers. The decline in income worsens poverty, whereas temporary unemployment therefore results in unfavourable livelihood conditions. In order to combat climate change, Malaysian paddy growers utilise several farming strategies including the cultivation of heat-resistant rice varieties, modifications to planting schedules and the implementation of water-conserving irrigation systems. The implementation of farming strategies is impeded by various problems including a lack of education, financial limitations, restricted resources, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient acceptance of modern agricultural technologies, and fragmented land ownership arrangements. The objective of this study is to identify the degree of the impacts of climate change based on farmers perception. And to measure the livelihood assets factors that influence paddy farmers perception on the impacts of climate change. This study employed a method of stratified random sampling. It utilized descriptive analysis to outline the socio-demographic characteristics of paddy farmers in Malaysia and percentages in descriptive analysis were applied to assess paddy farmers' perceptions of climate change impacts. Multiple regression analysis was subsequently employed to investigate the livelihood assets that affected these impacts, encompassing socio-demographic factors, technology readiness index (TRI) and farming management. The perception on the impact of climate change had a significant influence on the adaptation of farming strategies in the sample of farmers analysed. Farming experience, total farm size, KADA, IADA BLS, technology readiness index (TRI) and farming management are factors that significantly affecting farmers perception on climate change and were shown to affect the farmers’ perception on decision- making process considerably, leading to the adoption of diversified farming strategies.