Farmers’ Adaptation Behavior to Climate Change: The Case of Central Colombia

Abstract

Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture, particularly for small-scale farmers who must continuously adapt to changing conditions to ensure food security and reduce rural poverty. These issues are especially critical in central Colombia, a region located between the Central and Western Andes Mountain ranges, where historical data indicate a rising frequency of extreme weather events, such as landslides and droughts, that affect rural livelihoods. Although the literature on adaptation to climate change has increased in recent years, to the best of our knowledge, there is not an integrated approach to studying farmers’ adaptive behavior in central Colombia. This thesis bridges this gap by systematically examining all the drivers of adaptive behavior and focusing on the financial, experiential, and cognitive factors that shape farmers’ adaptation decisions, using a three-step analytical approach. First, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted to identify the key factors of adaptation decisions. A total of 179 drivers were identified and categorized by type, leading to the development of the Farmer-Farm-Financial-Situational-Experiential-Cognitive (3F-SEC) framework, which was published in the first article of this cumulative thesis titled “Drivers of farmers’ adaptive behavior to climate change: The 3F-SEC framework”. This framework provided the basis for studying the adaptive behavior of farmers in central Colombia across three types of drivers: financial, experiential, and cognitive. Given this, a mixed-method approach was designed to analyze the different aspects of farmers’ adaptive behavior, forming the empirical foundation for the second and third articles. A total of 12 villages were selected, with a sample of 360 farmers that were visited between November 2022 and March 2023. The research locations were selected according to their exposure to weather shocks: four villages that experienced landslides, four with recurrent droughts, and four with no reported events as reference villages. A structured questionnaire was administered alongside in-depth interviews with some of the farmers, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the factors shaping their adaptation decisions. The second article, titled “The Role of Financial Literacy in Climate Mitigation: The Case of Central Colombia,” employs a mixed-methods approach, combining logit models with qualitative data from interviews. It examines farmers’ financial decisions in response to weather shocks, with a particular focus on the role of financial literacy in borrowing behavior. The findings reveal that financially literate farmers are more likely to seek loans following weather shocks. However, informal lending sources remained the dominant financial strategy due to easier access and distrust of formal financial institutions. The third article, titled “Farmers’ Climate Change Perceptions in Central Colombia: A Propensity Score Matching Approach Using Protection Motivation Theory and Psychological Distance,” compares farmers living in droughts and landslide-prone villages, assesses how direct exposure to these events influences climate change perceptions. The findings indicate that droughts significantly increased farmers’ awareness of climate change severity and vulnerability, while landslides had a more limited effect. Taken together, the findings of this thesis highlight the relevance of considering multiple behavioral drivers when analyzing adaptation decisions. From a policy perspective, adopting an integrated approach that considers different behavioral drivers may offer a more comprehensive understanding of farmers’ adaptative capacity to climate change. If the goal is to improve farmers’ access to formal credit, strengthening tailored financial literacy programs may help farmers navigate borrowing decisions. Similarly, integrating localized climate data into training on sustainable agricultural practices could support more informed decision-making, particularly in drought-prone regions. Additionally, communication strategies that draw on farmers’ direct experiences with extreme weather events may reinforce climate risk awareness. Ultimately, adopting a broader perspective that accounts for financial, experiential, and cognitive drivers can provide deeper insights into the complexities of farmers’ adaptive behavior in the face of climate change.