Farmers' perceptions and adaptation strategies to climate change in Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Abstract

This paper aimed to analyze farmers perception of climate change and adaptation strategies in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The general features of agricultural establishments, social-economics information of farmers and their perception to climate change are examined, as well as the adaptive measures adopted on a survey conducted during the 83^rd Farmer Week (UFV) held in 2012. Our results indicate that mostly survey respondents have knowledge about the discussions on climate change. Moreover, the main climatic issue is the precipitation change. Farmers have adapted themselves through changes in sowing or harvesting dates, use of irrigation or no-till farming. On the other hand, it was observed a low adaptive measures adoption, since only 24% of survey respondents have changed their farming practices to cope with the impacts of climate change. Thus low access to credit, information and technical guidance, among other obstacles, which compromise the adaptive capacity of farmers could explain these features.