Farmer’s perception on climate-related disasters and their impacts to support food farming

Abstract

Changes and extreme climate events have an impact on and cause vulnerability to the food crop sub-sector. Extreme climatic events that have a significant impact on food farming are floods, drought, and pest/disease. The purpose of this study was to determine farmers’ perceptions of climate-related disasters and their impacts to support food farming. The survey and interviews were conducted in Leles Sub-District, Garut Regency in 2019, with the number of respondents was 28 people, were selected randomly. The results of the analysis showed that the climate-related disasters that occurred were pest/disease (43%), drought (18%) and floods (11%). The impact of extreme climates at the study site was a reduction in yields ranging from 5% to crop failure (puso). According to farmers, climate-related disasters occur as a result of weather factors, broken channels/embankments, excessive upstream water, closed drains, poor drainage and uneven water allocation to each land. The handling of this climate-related disaster by farmers was still limited. Farmers' perceptions, understanding and abilities in managing and anticipating climate disasters are needed in order to reduce the risk of food farming.