Addressing Compatibility of the Farm Management Strategies with Climate Change: The Case of Fars Province

Agriculture sector plays an important role in provision of food security and poverty alleviation. However, climate change has created substantial challenges for this sector. It is while climate change is projected to exacerbate in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. On the other hand, addressing various challenges of climate change requires enhancing the adaptive capacity and mitigation potential of agricultural systems and farm households. Therefore, this survey aimed to investigate the efforts of farmers regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation. The paper also identified the barriers to achieving climate smart agriculture. A multistage stratified random sampling method was used to collect the data set and a total of 251 Fars farmers were interviewed using a questionnaire. A panel of experts verified face validity and a pilot study was used to assess the reliability of the measuring instrument. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the choice of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and adaptation measures were adopted more by farmers. Also, the findings revealed different levels of contribution towards climate smart agriculture, specifically the low, moderate and high, which were principally distinguished by various degrees of mitigation and adaptive capacity. Moreover, climate smartness of different farmers was determined by a variety of physical-environmental, financial, natural and knowledge-information barriers. Some recommendations and policy implications are offered to acquire climate smart agriculture.