Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2024

Climate change is a pressing issue, particularly in the agriculture sector, due to impacts on cacao farmers’ yield. With this, implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies is crucial. Thus, this study aimed to examine how cacao farmers in San Isidro, Davao del Norte adapt to climate change and what drivers affect their choice of strategies. A total of 212 response were gathered and analyzed. The main econometric too used for the study was Multivariate Probit Regression (MVP). The results of the study show that men and women farmers’ implement different adaptation and mitigation strategies to ease perceived climate change impacts. It also shows that they have a high level of awareness and perception of climate change. Among all of the adaptation and mitigation strategies, top eight strategies in the model include crop diversification, increased use of fertilizer, IPM, planting of trees for shade, pruning, raising and selling poultry or livestock, shift to wage or non-farm livelihood and reforestation/afforestation. The factors that significantly influence the decision of farmers to adopt these strategies include age, sex by birth, educational attainment, monthly income, farm size, land ownership, farming experience, access to credit/loan, member of an organization, access to trainings or seminars, access to climate change, support, and level of perception. Female farmers were found to be less involved in physically demanding tasks in farming and have limited access and control of resources. Strengthening institutional support and promoting gender-focused policies that take it into account women’s care responsibilities are recommend interventions to cater the adaptive capacity of male and female cacao farmers