Nurul Amiera Khalid, Nik Ahmad Sufian Burhan, Jasmin Arif Shah, Hayrol Azril Mohamed Shaffril, Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah, Haliza Abdul Rahman, Nobaya Ahmad, Shaufique Fahmi Ahmad Sidique, Samsul Farid Samsudin, Fredolin Tangang, Liew Juneng
The Muda River Basin (MRB), Malaysia’s main rice region, is increasingly vulnerable to climate change. This study examines how economic, political, cultural, and institutional sensitivities influence farmers’adoption of climate adaptation technologies. Despite MRB’s agricultural importance, empirical research on these social dimensions remains limited. A quantitative survey involving 382 farmers across five districts in Kedah was conducted using homogeneous convenience sampling. Data were collected through validated questionnaires and analysed using descriptive, correlation, and regression techniques. On a five-point Likert scale (1 to 5), the results showed that farmers had moderately high levels of technology adoption (3.68), economic (3.46), and political (3.10) sensitivity, and moderately low levels of cultural (2.04) and institutional (2.52) sensitivity. Correlation analysis indicates that technology adoption was positively related to economic, political, and institutional sensitivity, but negatively related to cultural sensitivity. Regression results indicated that economic and institutional factors encouraged technology adoption, while cultural factors hindered it, and political influences were minimal. Among the sensitivity dimensions, cultural sensitivity exerted the strongest influence on technology adoption, followed by institutional and economic sensitivity. Although the model’s explanatory power was modest (R2 = 0.295), findings underscore the need for stronger institutional support, culturally sensitive extension services, and financial incentives to build farmers’ adaptive capacity and resilience. Findings suggest that policymakers should promote technology adoption by fostering cultural integration, strengthening institutions, offering economic incentives, diversifying communication, and prioritising institutional over political support for climate adaptation. © Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Social and Development Sciences, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; Institute for Social Science Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Social Science Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang City, Indonesia; Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; School of Business and Economics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Library and Information Science, Faculty of Art and Social Science, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam
