Farmers' Knowledge of Climate Change in Northern Bangladesh

The present study was undertaken to measure farmers' knowledge of climate change, to explore the relationships of the selected characteristics of the farmers with their knowledge of climate change and the contributing factors to farmers' knowledge of climate change and to identify the constraints faced along with their suggested solutions. A total of 98 farmers were selected as sample by multistage random sampling method from two Sadar upazilas of Thakurgaon and Rangpur districts. Data were collected by a structured interview schedule during 15 February to 30 March 2017. Eight questions on different aspects related to climate change were constructed to measure the knowledge of climate change. Scores were assigned for different responses of the selected questions as per difficulty. The highest proportion of the farmers (56.1 percent) had good knowledge, while 29.6 percent had excellent and 14.3 percent had fair knowledge of climate change. Out of eight independent variables, educational qualification, farm size, training exposure, farming experience and perceived effects of climate change showed significant positive relationships with knowledge of climate change. The regression analysis indicates that perceived effects of climate change by the farmers contributed highest in predicting their knowledge followed by farm size, training exposure, farming experience and educational qualification. 'Working at crop field has become difficult due to hotness' was the top ranked constraint faced by the farmers due to climate change. The majority of the farmers suggested that, afforestation and reforestation programs should be conducted and deforestation should be stopped to overcome the problems regarding climate change.