Survey finds more than 90% of farmers in the North want to reduce the impacts of climate disaster on their livelihoods

A preliminary result from a recent survey conducted in the Northern Division has found that more than 90 percent of root crops and rice farmers want to prioritize to reduce and recover quickly from the impacts of climate disaster on their livelihoods.

The research was conducted in collaboration with the UN Capital Development Fund, USP, UN University and the University of the West Indies.

489 farmers from 28 villages were interviewed for the survey.

The data will inform relevant stakeholders in creating disaster risk financing products for disaster prone countries.

A senior lecturer at USP, Lau Dr. Viliamu Iese who was part of the research team says they have found that farmers have savings but these are also for other purposes as well.

Lau Dr.Iese says they have also found out that some of the reasons why farmers do not have insurance is that there is a lack of information available or bad experiences with some financial institutions.

The senior lecturer adds that farmers are interested in financial mechanisms and sometimes there is an element of dependency.

The full results are expected to be released soon.