EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE IN THE SALINE PRONE AREAS OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

The study examined effect of climate change on agriculture in the saline prone areas, and estimate the level of contribution of the selected characteristics of the farmers to the effect of climate change on agriculture. The methods of the study is an integration of quantitative and qualitative methods based on data collection. Data were collected from 88 farmers under study group and 30 farmers under control group from 16 March, 2017 to 15 April, 2017. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression, t-test were used for data analysis. There was a negative effect of climate change on agriculture comparing the study and control group changed score from 2015 to 2017. In case of study group, 61.4 percent of the farmers had medium effect, 17.0 percent had low effect and 21.6 percent of the farmers had high Effect of climate change on agriculture. Among the variables: age, level of education, annual family income, farming experience, training exposure, agricultural knowledge and knowledge on climate change had significant contribution to the effect of climate change on agriculture in the saline prone areas. It is concluded that climate change may play a significant role in decreasing the yield of cereal crops, yield of vegetables, yield of pulses and increasing number of adopted new varieties of agricultural crops by the farmers. It is recommended that the Bangladesh government should take initiative for reducing effect of climate change on agriculture for a sustainable agricultural development.