Farmers Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Municipality of Inzá, Colombia

Climate change and the increase in the frequency and severity of extreme events have had direct consequences on land systems. As such, the food security of millions and the soils used for agriculture have been affected negatively by the variable climatic conditions. Agriculture systems impact and are impacted by climate change, and appropriate mitigation and adaptation policies are demanded to address this challenge. Traditionally, the agriculture and climate change scholarship has focused on the impact of climate change on agriculture. By the turn of the century, more attention has been given to the coping strategies to the already felt effects of climate change. One of the central questions in the field is how the adoption of adaptation strategies occur. In this context, the present investigation aims to examine whether perceiving the risks of climate change is a predictor of adaptive behavior among the farmers of the municipality of Inzá, Colombia. Survey data were collected and a Heckman two-step model was used to study the factors influencing both the perception and the adoption of new practices. The results show that discussing the weather conditions with the neighbors and the number of remembered extreme events influence positively the perception of weather variability. On the other hand, none of the hypothesized factors affecting the adoption of a practice exhibited significant estimates. Nevertheless, the models confirm the existence of a latent correlation between perception and adaptation. Based on these results it is recommended to design a public policy that encourages the discussion of the weather conditions within the community, paying special attention to the past weather extreme events and their consequences to the municipality. Hopefully, increased awareness of the risks derived from climate change will increase the chances of adopting adaptive strategies.