Fostering adaptation to climate change among farmers in Pakistan: the influential role of farmers’ climate change knowledge and adaptive capacity

Introduction Adaptation to climate change (ACC) is imperative to avoid deleterious consequences of climate change in agriculture. However, the uptake of adaptation measures has been slow among farmers because of low adaptive capacity (AC) in developing countries, particularly in Pakistan. Farmers and their supporting institutions have been successful in introducing technological innovations to respond and adapt to environmental challenges. The present study intended to determine the impact of farming technologies, along with human, financial, social, physical, natural, and climate information resources that support AC and hence ACC. Methods The study collected data from 360 farmers in Punjab through a multi-stage random sampling technique. A binary logit model and odds ratio were used to identify the factors affecting ACC. The study also utilized correlation tests to show the correlation between each pair of variables included in the analysis. Results The results indicated that physical capital such as ownership of tube wells, transportation, and sowing and harvesting tools by the farmers builds farmers’ AC and consequently determines the ACC such as change crop variety (CCV), change crop type (CCT), change planting date (CPD), soil conservation (SC), water conservation (WC), and diversification strategies (DSs). The findings also revealed that human capital (age, education, family size, and labor), financial capital (off-farm employment, access to the marketing of produce, and agricultural credit), social capital (farmers-to-farmers extensions, access to extension services, and the farm association membership), and natural capital (land ownership, tenancy status, and the location of the farm) were importantly related to farm households’ ACC strategies. The odds (likelihood) of adaptation were higher for the users of farm technology as compared to non-users. Discussion The analysis conducted in this study showed that climate information resources amplify the adaptation to climate change: technology allows farming to be much more efficient, while climate change knowledge (CCK) self-motivates farmers to adopt more ACC measures. Our findings provide evidence that suggests the need to provide credits and financial support for farming technologies that speed up the ACC in the long run, while in the short run, climate information should be spread among farming communities.