Examining complementary relationships among climate change adaptation practices of rice producers in Chitwan, Nepal

ABSTRACT This study examines how the complementary relationships among multiple climate change adaptation strategies (improved varieties, irrigation practices and direct-seeded rice, referred to as ‘DSR’) are influenced by access to Extension services, training related to farming practices and weather-related information (referred to as ‘institutional factors’). This study hypothesizes the influence of institutional factors and the resulting effects on their joint adoption using survey data collected from 359 rice producers in Chitwan district of Nepal in 2019. The results indicate: (1) adoption of all the three climate change adaptation practices are complementary to each other; (2) all three institutional factors enhance the likelihood of the adoption of variety, access to Extension and training enhances the likelihood of the adoption of improved irrigation, and information enhances the likelihood of the adoption of DSR and (3) access to Extension and training enhance the complementarities among all three pairs of adaptation practices (variety and irrigation; variety and DSR and irrigation and DSR), while information enhances the complementarity between variety and DSR only. The impact of complementary relationships among multiple climate change adaptation strategies influenced by the institutional factors is particularly valuable for policy makers and government agencies to allocate and prioritize resources.