Climate change impact on food security: Household-level adaptation barriers to Charland community in Bangladesh

Abstract

Food security is a major concern in the era of climate change, as it is extremely susceptible to ongoing climatic fluctuations. Recent harsh weather due to climate change has caused significant crop loss, resulting in food insecurity in Bangladesh. The influencing factors for farmers’ selection of climate change adaptation strategies and the resulting implications for household food security and poverty were assessed in this study. This study utilized extensive data from 380 farmers (from two upazilas, and each upazila comprised 190 samples) from the Kurigram district. The Probit, censored least absolute deviation (CLAD), and propensity score matching (PSM) models were used to examine the factors affecting climate-change adaptation practices, number of practices, food security, and poverty. The CLAD and PSM suggested that income diversification effectively enhances food security. Age was negatively associated with the number of strategies; young people have been adopting more adaptation strategies. The livestock rearing (87% of households) and change in planting time (82%) were the principal adaptation strategies at the household level in the study area. The homestead gardening had a negligible impact on poverty reduction. The number of adaptation strategies depended on the household head’s decision, education level, and income. Implementing climate change adaptation methods at the farm level can result in substantial development benefits, in addition to mitigating vulnerability to climate-related risks. This study suggested that a specific vulnerable group of people might be considered for food insecurity. The policymakers would be able to make rules and regulations for such a group of people, and NGOs could help.