The impact of climate change disaster to the socio-economic of paddy farmer in Malaysia

Abstract

The uncertain climate nowadays has devastated the agricultural sector, particularly the rice sector and has become a natural disaster to paddy farmer. In fact, climate change has influenced the socio-economic status of farmers by decreasing crop yields. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of climate change such as precipitation, on the net income of farmers. With the assistance of the questionnaire for data collection, a quantitative approach will be adopted. Descriptive statistics will be carried out to explore the socio-demography of respondents. The Ricardian method will be used to analyse the impact on farmers' net incomes of changes in the level of precipitation. The marginal impact analysis was carried out to investigate the effect of an infinitesimal change in rainfall. The study found that the relationship between household income and weather variables between the two seasons is nonlinear. Net revenue decreased in the low season as rainfall increased. In the absence of an adaptation model, net revenue fell to RM3/hectare due to climate change. With the adaptation model, net revenue would be a loss of RM1/hectare.