Impacts of Farmers’ Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events on Rice Productivity

Abstract Floods and droughts are major concerns for rice farmers in Thailand, particularly those in the Chao Phraya River Basin (CPRB). To mitigate the impacts of these extreme weather events on their rice cultivation and livelihoods, some farm households have implemented adaptation strategies, such as adjusting the crop calendar and changing rice varieties. Using data from a survey of farm households in the CPRB, this study highlights the adaptation strategies adopted and analyzes their impacts on rice productivity through an endogenous switching model. Our results indicate that adaptation to floods in the CPRB increases wet-season rice productivity. The unconditional impact of adaptation on wet-season rice productivity is approximately 120 kg per rai (about 0.16 hectares). The treatment effect, which captures the hypothetical scenario where farm households that adapted chose not to adapt, shows that the impact of adaptation on wet-season rice productivity is around 31 kg per rai. This means that farm households that adapted to extreme weather events would have produced 31 kg less per rai if they had not adapted.