ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Factors Influencing Rice Farmers’ Risk Attitudes
and Perceptions in Bangladesh amid
Environmental and Climatic Issues
More details
Hide details
1
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
2
Department of Agribusiness and Marketing, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
3
School of Political Science and Public Administration, Neijiang Normal University, Neijaing, China
4
Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF), BARC Campus, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Submission date: 2020-02-14
Final revision date: 2020-04-09
Acceptance date: 2020-04-09
Online publication date: 2020-07-24
Publication date: 2020-10-05
Corresponding author
Md Nazirul Islam Sarker
School of Political Science and Public Administration, Neijiang Normal University, 614000, Neijiang, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(1):177-187
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Rice farmers in Bangladesh face various environmental, climatic and market price-related risks.
Choices of various operational tactics used for farm management are mostly influenced by farmers’
risk perception and attitude. This study intends to discover the influencing factors of a farmer on the
risk associated with environmental and climatic issues. This study quantifies the risk perceptions
of rice farmers, their perceived behavior, and various associated underlying factors using a crosssectional
dataset on 600 rice farmers from three major rice-growing districts in Bangladesh. Equally,
Likely Certainty Equivalent approach has been used to rank the farmers’ perceptions of three major
risk dimensions such as the risk of market price fluctuation, the risk from various natural hazards, and
risk of pest and disease. Probit regression is also used to discern the underlying factors affecting risk
attitudes and perceptions. The results show that farmers’ age, total family income, distance from the
farm gate to the main market, savings, agricultural credit, off-farm income, access to information, and
frequent contact with extension officers are significant determinants that affect farmers’ risk attitudes
and perceptions. This study provides in-depth insights for farmers, extension service providers, and
agricultural planners on the real situation of farmers in developing countries, particularly those where
crop insurance is still uncommon.