Comparative analysis of farmers engaged in participatory research to cope with climate change versus non-participants in Northeast Thailand

To assess the extent of improvement of rainfed rice production by using a participatory approach, we compared research project participants and non-participants (total of 206 rice-growing households) with regard to yield variability and their perspective on climate change at seven sites in Northeast Thailand. The participants were characterized by membership in local groups, an active learning attitude, and confidence in their farming. Compared to non-participants, the participants produced crops with higher yield and had more knowledge about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) message and advanced farming technologies. Both groups had similar reactions to past climatic damage experiences, but the participants tended to have a more positive attitude about adaptation to climate change and mitigation by refraining from residual straw burning than the non-participants. The farmers' attitude about adaptation to climate change was positively associated with their active learning and close relationship with researchers. There was a large yield gap between the bottom 10 percentile farmers (0.63 t/ha) and the top 10 percentile farmers (4.05 t/ha), with an average yield of 2.18 t/ha. Yield was associated with the level of market orientation, with the market-oriented farmers attaining higher yield, including yield from broadcast seeding (2.71 t/ha), than the subsistence farmers (1.66 t/ha). Our findings suggest that technical improvement of rice production in the region by using the participatory approach could be enhanced by selecting participants who are linked with local groups, tend to be market orientated, and are willing to learn with researchers.