Farmers' Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events through Farm Management and Its Impacts on the Mean and Risk of Rice Yield in China

Abstract

Abstract We explore how rice farmers adjust their farm management practices in response to extreme weather events and determine whether their adjustments affect the mean, risk, and downside risk of rice yield. Based on a survey of 1,653 rice farmers in China, our econometric analyses show that the severity of drought and flood in the study areas significantly increases the risk and downside risk of rice yield. The applied farm management measures respond to severe drought and flood and can be considered as adaptation to climate change, an issue often ignored in previous studies. We model adaptation and its impact on rice yield for adapters and non‐adapters. Utilizing a moment‐based approach, we show that adaptation through farm management measures significantly increases rice yield and reduces the risk and downside risk of rice yield. Several policies, including scaling up the cost‐effective farm management adaptation and providing public services related to natural disasters, are recommended to improve adaptive capacity of farmers, particular the poor, in response to extreme events.