Farmer’s vulnerability to climate hazards in Armenia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine the main types of climate hazards in Armenia, to study farmers’ vulnerability to unpredictable weather events as well as to examine how Armenian government is planning to respond to these natural disasters. This research paper discusses the major climate events which negatively affect agricultural sector worldwide and elaborates about farmers’ vulnerability to those events in Armenia. The qualitative data (in-depth interviews) were collected and analyzed to determine the steps which the government of Armenia is going to take in order to reduce farmers’ vulnerability to climate hazards. Then, the quantitative survey was conducted among the farmers of Armenia to understand their expectations and response to the measures proposed by the government. All the findings state that climate hazards have a negative impact on agricultural productivity in Armenia. The government of Armenia considers agro-insurance as an effective way of overcoming the climate hazards and begins to take concrete steps towards the implementation of agro-insurance. However, the implementation of agro-insurance and the reduction of farmers’ vulnerability to climate hazards is a long process which needs trust towards the government, efforts of the farmers and time.