Many countries are confronting climate change
that threatens agricultural production and farmers’ lives.
Farmers’ perceived risks of climate change and factors
influencing those perceived risks are critical to their
adaptive behavior and well-planned adaptation strategies.
However, there is limited understanding of these issues. In
this paper, we attempt to quantitatively measure farmers’
perceived risks of climate change and explore the influences
of risk experience, information, belief in climate
change, and trust in public adaptation to those perceived
risks. Data are from structured interviews with 598 farmers
in the Mekong Delta. The study shows that perceived risks
to production, physical health, and income dimensions
receive greater priority while farmers pay less attention to
risks to happiness and social relationships. Experiences of
the events that can be attributed to climate change increase
farmers’ perceived risks. Information variables can
increase or decrease perceived risks, depending on the
sources of information. Farmers who believe that climate
change is actually happening and influencing their family’s
lives, perceive higher risks in most dimensions. Farmers
who think that climate change is not their concern but the
government’s, perceive lower risks to physical health,
finance, and production. As to trust in public adaptation,
farmers who believe that public adaptive measures are well
co-ordinated, perceive lower risks to production and psychology.
Interestingly, those who believe that the disaster
warning system is working well, perceive higher risks to
finance, production, and social relationships. Further
attention is suggested for the quality, timing, and channels
of information about climate change and adaptation.