The discrepancy between climate change perception and adoption levels: Limit the use of climate-smart technology in agriculture

Agriculture is a sector extremely influenced by fluctuating climatic circumstances. The present study was carried out for 180 respondents in three districts selected randomly of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.100 percent of the respondents of the study have experienced extreme climatic events in the last 5–10 years, making the region climate-prone. The climate Change Perception Scale by Maiti et al. (2016) was used with modification to analyse the perception of farmers towards the impact of climate change on crop farming. During the pilot survey, a list of nine adaptation strategies followed by farmers in response to the impact of climate change was prepared. The Climate Change Adaptation Index was prepared to delineate the adoption level of farmers related to adaptation strategies. The results showed that 97 per cent have considered crop diversification as the major adaptation strategy to climate change. For multiple comparisons between perception and adoption levels between all three districts, Duncan Multiple Range Test was used and Z statistics were calculated based on the Mann-Whitney U test. Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP) gap was found as the adoption level was low as compared to the perception level of farmers towards the impact of climate change which in turn could restrict the adoption of climate-smart practices by the farmers.