PERCEPTIONS OF MALAYSIAN FARMERS REGARDING THEIR KNOWLEDGE IN AGRICULTURAL RISK MANAGEMENT
M. Ali1,2, N. Man2 and F. M. Muharam2
1Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Crop and Food Sciences, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan; 2Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Corresponding author’s email: aliupm115@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Climate change in the form of natural disasters affects farmers and their agricultural activities. The negative impacts stem from natural disasters influence perception of farmers to manage risks in agriculture on the basis of their knowledge. Therefore, the study was planned to assess perceptions of farming community towards knowledge in agricultural risk management. In order to fulfill the objective, multi stage cluster sampling technique was used. The data were collected from 360 farmers through pre-designed and pre-tested interview schedule in which likert scale items ranging from 5 (strongly disagree) to 1 (strongly agree) were used. The empirical findings revealed that farmers had knowledge about socio-economic impacts, how to manage, plan and crop risk management. However, farmers’ knowledge was inadequate about cost, at which stage, and concept and procedure to manage their risks in agriculture sector. Importantly, the knowledge level of farmers was also medium which could affect socio-economic fabric and food security of the country. Thus, the study recommends that knowledge of farmers should be improved through capacity building initiatives by public and private sectors particularly by agricultural extension agencies to tackle risks originating from climate changes and natural disasters.
Keywords: Perceptions, Knowledge, Agricultural risk management, Agricultural extension, Malaysia
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