Modeling smallholder livestock herders’ intentions to adopt climate smart practices: An extended theory of planned behavior

Abstract

Climate change is persistently causing adverse effects to the agriculture sector of developing countries, specifically in Asia. Pakistan is no exception to this effect and is ranked among the top 10 countries, which are most vulnerable to climate change. A huge upcoming challenge is to sustain an equilibrium among production and environmental protection. In this context, adaptation to climate change is considered as a win-win strategy for agriculture sectors in developing countries. However, numerous studies have focused on current farm-level adaptation while a scant interest has been shown on the role of physiological factors in the process of shaping small livestock herders' intentions towards environmental enrichment measures. A possible explanation of their lagging intentions is particular significance as they may comply with requisite climate adaptation measures or not. For deeper understanding, the current study investigates different psychological factors that affect the small livestock herder's intentions on adopting climate smart practices by using theory of planned behavior (TPB) with additional constructs (moral norms, risk perception, and social attributes). To this end, 405 small livestock herders from Punjab, Pakistan, were selected on the basis of multistage random sampling. The results of structural equation model showed that all constructs accounted for 57% of the variances in small livestock herders' adoption intentions. The outcome of this research offers a new indication regarding the interrelationship of numerous variables which are crucial to understand behavioral changes and psychological interventions. Overall attitude was the most prominent construct in the extended TPB model, which is mainly influenced by risk perception awareness. The results suggest that veterinary experts and extension agents should focus on psychological factors to explore different prospects to increase the involvement of livestock herders in environmental enrichment measures with little effort rather than tackling with traditional practices because it will be more likely to affect people's consideration of the external obstructions to act. Findings also offer public and private intervention for enabling technical and policy environment and strengthen social networks to keep livestock herders on track of updates of running government policies to ensure them to adopt climate change measures for their prosperous future.

Perceptions, Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change Effects among Small Livestock Herders in Punjab, Pakistan

“…A structured questionnaire for data collection was divided into different sections, including general information, household characteristics (socio-economic characteristics), farm characteristics, institutional characteristics, accessibility and availability of resources, assets (livestock and household assets), household income (off/on-farm income), and household perception of climate (risk perception, risk experience, and impacts) to assess exposure to CC, adaptive capacity at the household level, and intentions to adopt practices in response to CC. The indicators used in the current study were primarily based on authors' own understanding of the study location, in addition to peers' knowledge and the published literature [4][5][6]8,11,16]. Data collection was undertaken between January and June 2019 by the trained interviewers through face-to-face questioning in the local (Saraiki and Punjabi) languages.…”

“…Climatic variations, in the form of erratic rainfall, intermittent droughts, deadly cyclones, and heat waves, pose threats to all sectors of the economy and walks of life, both marine and land-based [4]. Due to its high dependence on natural resources, such as water, temperature, light, soil, and oxygen, and vulnerability to events that may result from any natural imbalance, the agriculture sector is one of the most sensitive to CC, thus threatening millions of subsistence farmers who heavily rely on the sector's performance [5,6]. In developing countries, the level of vulnerability of small farmers to CC is further intensified because of their low adoptive capacity, poor institutional support, and the temporary nature of resilience-enhancing infrastructure [7,8].…”

“…The current risk to households' wellbeing and food security is higher in these countries because smallholders' livelihoods are more exposed to CC [9][10][11]. It is expected that CC will affect the occurrence of diseases, increase the severity and frequency of floods and droughts, increase the probability of crop failure, decrease yields, and increase livestock mortality [6,[11][12][13]. Considering the close association between individuals' income and agricultural production [14], the negative impact of CC on livestock may increase the vulnerability of small livestock herders.…”

“…Various approaches are taken by individuals and societies to safeguard themselves against the effects of the weather. The extant literature has examined the multidimensional perspectives of CC with an emphasis on risk perception, potential barriers, impacts, adoption intensions, and adaptations in different areas [6,11,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. Ahmad and Ma [16] highlight individual perceptions of CC extreme events, and compare these with meteorological data on temperature and rainfall.…”

“…Surprisingly, no study has been performed in Pakistan in the context of region-wise assessment of livestock herders' perceptions and vulnerability to CC, including a comparison to meteorological data. Comprehending individuals' perceptions of CC and vulnerability would be beneficial for the formulation of effective adaptation strategies [5,8,14] that would ultimately help achieve sustained social and economic development among nations and regions [6,11]. Moreover, CC adaptation measures have numerous benefits [11].…”