The Influence And Mechanism Of Social Capital On Farmers’ Adoption Of Climate Change Adaptive Behavior

Under the background of long-term climate change in China and the increasingly severe problem of frequent occurrence of extreme disasters caused by climate change,the negative impact of climate change on agriculture is greater than the positive impact,and social capital plays an important role in the "acquaintance society",have farmers in Henan Province,the major province of grain production,adopted adaptive behaviors to cope with climate change? What adaptive behaviors are adopted? Are there information barriers and funding barriers? In addition to relying on government,can farmers rely on social capital to reduce or remove these barriers and thus promote the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviours? It is very important to study these problems to improve farmers’ adaptability to climate change.This paper is based on the meteorological observation data and micro survey data of each city in Henan Province.Firstly,the development status of farmers’ social capital in Henan Province and the adaptive behaviors adopted by farmers in the face of climate change are understood from the overall situation.Secondly,the effects of social trust,social network,social participation and social capital on the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviors were analyzed.Again,the mediating effects of financial difficulties and information difficulties on the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviors by social capital were verified.Finally,the differences in the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviors by social capital under different scales and different incomes are analyzed.The main conclusions are as follows: First,social capital can promote the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviors by farmers.Trust in agricultural technicians and participation in cooperative,family farm or village collective affairs can promote the adoption of climate change adaptive behaviors;Secondly,the function mechanism of social capital is mainly manifested in the information transmission mechanism(i.e.reducing the difficulty of obtaining meteorological or technical information).Social capital can promote farmers to adopt climate change adaptive behaviors by reducing their difficulty in obtaining meteorological or technical information.Thirdly,the impact of social capital on the adoption of climate change adaptive behavior is different in different household groups.Social capital has a greater impact on the adoption of climate change adaptive behavior in the group with cultivated land size greater than 10 mu and the group with income less than or equal to 4.78.In addition,the aging of agricultural labor force is serious and age has a negative effect on the adoption of farmers’ adaptive behavior.The policy recommendations are as follows: improve rural households’ social capital through multiple channels;enhancing the heterogeneity of social capital by expanding cultivated land scale;guide young people into agricultural production to alleviate the aging of agricultural production.