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CR 87:1-12 (2022)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01683

Socio-economic, social-capital, and psychological characteristics and climate change adaptive behavior of farmers in Iran

Abbas Mirzaei1,*, Hassan Azarm2, Masoud Yazdanpanah3, Mostafa Mardani Najafabadi1

1Department of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani 6341773637, Iran
2Department of Agricultural Economics, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71441-13131, Iran
3Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Mollasani 6341773637, Iran
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: In recent years, climate change in Iran has led to frequent droughts and reduction of available water resources. Iranian farmers are extremely vulnerable to unexpected drought. Despite the undesirable impacts of climate change on their vulnerability, farmers have not sufficiently used adaptive strategies; accordingly, we investigated factors affecting farmers’ choice of adaptive strategies to lessen the consequences of climate change in Iran. We propose a framework that covers household, farm, socio-economic, social-capital, and psychological characteristics. Farmers (n = 366) in Fars province, Iran, were selected using a multistage, stratified random sampling method, and data were collected through questionnaires during 2018-2019. Considering the adaptive strategies of changing crop varieties, crop patterns, and irrigation technologies, a multinomial logit model was used. The results showed that off-farm income and access to credit had a significant positive effect on adopting costly and efficient strategies, including changing crop varieties and irrigation technologies. Moreover, our results indicated that when farmers actively participate in social groups, their beliefs and risk perception of climate change become stronger, providing greater incentives to employ adaptive strategies. This study revealed the effective role of social-capital and psychological characteristics in the adaptive behavior of farmers in Iran.


KEY WORDS: Climate change · Adaptive strategies · Social capital · Psychological characteristics · Multinomial logit model


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Cite this article as: Mirzaei A, Azarm H, Yazdanpanah M, Mardani Najafabadi M (2022) Socio-economic, social-capital, and psychological characteristics and climate change adaptive behavior of farmers in Iran. Clim Res 87:1-12. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01683

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