Tropentag 2020, September 9 - 11, virtual conference, Germany "Food and nutrition security and its resilience to global crises"

Adaptation to Climate Change by Smallholder Coffee Farmers in the Central Highland of Vietnam

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences - Dept. of Economics and Development, Czech Republic

Abstract

Smallholder farmers are facing many obstacles regarding climate change adaptation. This is also applicable for the Vietnamese coffee growers, whose livelihoods, in many cases, depend solely on coffee production, and face limited access to financial resources. The objective of the planned presentation is to demonstrate the theoretical framework and the factors that are expected to influence the farmers' adaptation behaviour in Vietnam based on the literature review. A descriptive analysis of Vietnam's coffee policy and its credit policy together will be provided. The study aims to explore drivers and barriers to Vietnamese coffee farmers' attention to adaptation strategies by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as the theoretical background. The TPB, specifically, contains three suggested groups of factors to predict people's behaviour: attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. Access to credits and finances, among the perceived behavioural control factors, will be an in-depth study.
The planned empirical study will be performed in Dak Lak and Lam Dong province, Vietnam, in 2021. These study areas are selected not only because they are the main coffee-cultivating regions in Vietnam, but also for their current situations in facing climate changes. A mixed-method approach will be used to collect the data, in detail, a semi-structured quantitative questionnaire survey will be conducted (min. 300 respondents) together with 30-50 qualitative interviews with coffee sector actors. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) will be used to analyse the relationship between behavioural factors and the adaptation intention of the surveyed farmers The research targets, in particular, to extend the knowledge in the field of adaptation behaviour of small farmers.

Keywords: Adaptation strategy, climate change, coffee, credit policy, structural equation model, theory of planned behaviour, Vietnam

Contact Address: Phuong Anh Nguyen, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Fac. of Tropical AgriSciences, Kamýcká 129, Prague, Czech Republic, e-mail: nguyenpftz.czu.cz