Farm-level adaptation to climate and environmental changes: a triple hurdle model of coping strategies

This paper applies a triple hurdle decision making model in order to understand adaptation decisions by using farm level data from the 2011 National survey on household life conditions and agriculture in Niger, a landlocked country of the Sahel. In fact, farms decision making process is often taken sequentially and the model used in this paper takes into account the sequences and the diversity of the different adaptation decisions. The results show that the farmers adoption decision-making process and the different coping mechanisms depend on their characteristics and exposition to environmental and climatic problems. Health, age, available labor, and past climatic and environmental damages are crucial determining factors in explaining the decision, the choice, and the intensity of adaptation. These results can help to better understand the adoption decision making process in order to assist farmers, especially those who are the most vulnerable to environmental and ecological problems resulting from climate change.