Determinants of Farmers’ Knowledge of the Risks of Climate Change on the Agricultural Sector in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate - Egypt

Abstract

This research aims to identify the level of knowledge of the respondents about the risks of climate change to the agricultural sector, the reasons for their occurrence, and to determine the relative importance of their sources of information, and the problems they face in adapting in this field. This research was conducted in Kafr ElSheikh Governorate, by selecting two district and a village from each district, and a regular random sample of 5% was taken from farmers in the selected villages included 160 farmer respondents. The most important results were:

• 80% of the respondents have a low or medium level of knowledge about the risks of climate change on the agricultural sector.
• 7% of the respondents have a low or medium level of knowledge about the causes of the phenomenon of climate change.
• The respondents' sources of information in this field were arranged in descending order as follows: family and relatives, neighbors and friends, rural leaders, agricultural guides, and extension seminars
• The most important problems facing the respondents to adapt in this field were: the high prices of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the high wages of agricultural labor, the unavailability of seeds for varieties resistant to climate change in sufficient quantities, the high prices of agricultural crop seeds, and the weak role of agricultural extension in the field of climate change.

Keywords: knowledge - risks - climate change - agricultural sector.