Farmers’ adaptation choices to climate change: a case study of wheat growers in Western Iran Yousof Azadi, Masoud Yazdanpanah, Masoumeh Forouzani and Hossein Mahmoudi ABSTRACT Climate change is expected to disproportionately affect farmers by further exacerbating the risks that they face. These risks have a huge negative impact on their livelihood. However, mounting evidence has revealed that farmers can effectively manage this negative impact by adapting their farming practices to climate change. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the farmers’ ongoing adaptation measures, and to identify factors that influence their choice of adaptation methods in wheat production in the Kermanshah district in Western Iran. A sample of 350 farmers living in this region was selected through a multi-stage stratified and random sampling method. Principal component analysis revealed that three components play a role in the farmers’ decisions on adaptation methods, namely, farm production practices, farm financial management, and government programs and insurance. The relative influence of the factors listed under each of the three components was assessed using a multiple linear regression analysis. Our analysis showed that these factors accounted for 50%, 25%, and 40% of the adaptation responses analyzed, respectively. In sum, our findings yield recommendations for agriculture extension and risk communication strategies that could promote adaptation behavior among Iranian farmers. Yousof Azadi Masoud Yazdanpanah (corresponding author) Masoumeh Forouzani Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Khuzestan, Iran E-mail: yazdanm@ramin.ac.ir Hossein Mahmoudi Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Key words | adaptation behavior, agriculture extension, climate change, Iran, risk perception INTRODUCTION The 2014 IPCC report (IPCC ) confirms that climate change negatively affects different sectors of society and eco- systems. Studies revealed that agriculture is the most vulnerable to climate change, particularly in developing countries that rely heavily on their environmental resources (IPCC ; Hayati et al. ; Yazdanpanah et al. a, c; Yegbemey et al. ; Limantol et al. ). The nega- tive impact of climate change, resulting in changes in weather patterns, precipitation, as well as other related fac- tors, can both lower yields and increase production risks. Consequently, farmers’ livelihoods, food security, and health may all suffer (Mazur et al. ; Swe et al. ; Kibue et al. ). Findings by Nelson et al. () have indi- cated that climate change may cause yield losses ranging from 3% to 30%, and the extinction of 15–37% of land plants and animal species by 2050. According to the 2007 IPCC report, rain-fed crop yields will decline by 10–20% by 2050, and crop revenue may decrease by 90% by 2100. Furthermore, the 2008 IPCC report (Bates et al. ) con- firms that climate change has led to a decrease in the production of cereals such as rice, maize, and wheat in many parts of Asia. In addition, the same 2007 IPCC report states that the rise in temperature may cause an increase in pest populations and disease occurrence, which in turn, may directly affect the food security and pov- erty level among farming communities (IPCC ). However, empirical evidence has revealed that farmers can effectively manage the negative impact of climate 102 © IWA Publishing 2019 Journal of Water and Climate Change | 10.1 | 2019 doi: 10.2166/wcc.2018.242 Downloaded from http://iwaponline.com/jwcc/article-pdf/10/1/102/533113/jwc0100102.pdf by guest on 25 April 2021