FARMERS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGES AND ITS IMPACT ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN DISTRICT JHANG

Abstract

Both emerging and developed nations see climate change as having a great deal of unpredictability. When it comes to climate change, Pakistan is among the world's most vulnerable nations. There is a vast population in the nation, and the poverty rate is quite high. Additionally, the country is extremely vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural disasters. The current study is essential to understand farmers' perceptions of climate change and its impact on agricultural productivity in district Jhang. A multistage sampling technique was applied to selected study area and farmers. At first stage, one tehsil (Tehsil Jhang) out of 4 tehsils of district Jhang was chosen randomly. At the second stage, 2 union councils were selected randomly. At the third stage, 4 villages (two from each UC) were selected randomly and at the last stage, 120 farmers (30 from each village) were chosen randomly.  The data were collected via an interview schedule. It was found that a significant proportion of the farmers observed increases in dry-season temperatures (82.5%), rainy-season temperatures (76.7%), fog (50.0%), smog (78.3%), windstorms during summer (73.3%), shortage of winter season (93.3%), longer summer season (91.7%) and length of hot periods (81.7%). It was noted that a big proportion of the farmers observed unpredictable rains (85.8%), high temperature (79.2%) and rising input prices (85.8%) had a negative impact on agricultural production. It is recommended that modern technology be integrated into agricultural practices, as a significant majority of respondents (78.3%) believe it has the potential to enhance crop production.