Factors Affecting Farmers' Perceptions of Climate Change (Case Study: Zanjan Province)

In recent years, climate change has affected the agricultural sector worldwide as well as Iran. Farmers in each region have a different understanding of these changes, and many factors influence their perception. The purpose of this descriptive study is to evaluate farmers' perceptions and factors affecting their perceptions. The statistical population was all 83261 farmers’ households in Zanjan province. Using the Krejcie and Morgan sampling table, 393 farmers were identified and selected through randomized multistage sampling method. The results showed that 74.6% of the farmers had average climate change perception. Results of Correlation showed that there was a significant and positive relationship between farmers' perceptions of climate change and thier education level, social capital, climate change consequences, educational course, rainfed area, access to inputs, agricultural income, age, rainfed quality, irrigated area, information resources used and agricultural experience. Multiple regression showed that social capital, climate change consequences, educational course, dryland area, agricultural income, and information resource used accounted for 58 percent of farmers' perceptions of climate change.