Understanding the Psychological Factors Affecting Vietnamese Ethnic Minority Farmers to Climate Change

Farmers’ adaptation behavior is vital in adapting to climate change (CC) effects and is affected by many factors. However, the influence of psychological factors on the farmers’ behavior has been less investigated. This research demonstrates the effect of these factors on the “adaptation behavior” of ethnic minority farmers in Backan province, Vietnam. We selected randomly 362 farmers for interviews. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also applied for data collection. Psychological analysis based on “structural equation modeling” was employed to evaluate the relationships between the psychological factors that affected adaptation behavior. We found that psychological factors incentive, behavior barrier, perception of causes of climate change were significantly associated with adaptation behavior among farmers while risk perception, belief, trust, and constraints do not show a significant correlation. The influencing psychological factors can generate accurate policy options for the policymakers in terms of adaptation to CC in the future, providing structural support to farmers when designing and formulating policies that could encourage “adaptation behaviors” among farmers.