Food security in Punjab, Pakistan: rural views on climate disasters and their impacts

Climate Change (CC) induced natural disasters, with the probable increase in duration, frequency, and intensity, are poised to expose globally millions of people to significant risks. These climate shifts are expected to have adverse effects on agricultural lands, leading to hurts in the production of crops and livestock. Hence threatening livelihoods and food security. To explore the perceptions of farmers regarding the shocks of climatic and natural disasters on food security, the current study employed primary data from 1080 households gathered using a multistage random sampling technique. In addition, a Binary Logistic Regression was used to assess the influence of disasters on the food security status of rural households. Most of the farmers surveyed concurred that climatic and natural disasters adversely affected food security. The results showed that floods, temperature extremes, smog, locust attacks, humidity, hailstorms, heat waves, extreme cold, sunshine, and biological diseases have a significant negative influence on rural food security. The novelty of the study is that it highlights the importance of farmers' awareness of the connection between climatic calamities and food security in the local context. The study's outcome has practical implications and potential strategies for improving food security for rural households. It suggests a need for educational and extension programs to teach farmers about risk management and adaptation strategies. Training and workshops related to climate-induced hazards should be conducted to educate farmers regarding the vulnerabilities of disaster and their mitigation measures. There is a need to design and implement early warning systems for the timely communication of hazards to the farmers. Furthermore, to enhance resilience against climatic shocks, the farmers should be encouraged to adopt crop diversification. Moreover, farmers should be encouraged to adopt multiple livelihood measures to ensure food security in the context of climatic and natural disaster.