The Role of Agricultural Extension in Field-Crop Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change in Samarra District

• Hussam Khalid Taha*1 Sahab Ayid Yousif*2

  Author

This study investigated the overall role of agricultural extension in supporting field-crop farmers’ adaptation to climate change in Samarra District. It further assessed farmers’ perceptions of extension services in strengthening their adaptive capacityto adapt to climate change in each domain, ranked the study domains by percentage weight, examined their associations with selected personal and farm-related characteristics—age, educational attainment, participation in training courses, and years of farming experience—and identified and prioritized the constraints that impede farmers’ adaptation to climate change.

The study was conducted in Samarra District, Salahuddin Governorate, between November 2025 and February 2026 using a descriptive–analytical survey design. The accessible study population comprised 244 farmers. Of these, 25 farmers participated in a pilot study to assess the reliability of the measurement scales. A total of 219 questionnaires were distributed for the main survey; 200 usable responses were obtained, while 19 incomplete questionnaires were excluded, yielding a final analytical sample of 200 respondents. Data were collected using a three-section questionnaire. The first section covered four independent variables. The second measured the dependent construct—the role of agricultural extension in farmers’ adaptation—through 87 items distributed across three domains. The third section comprised 23 constraints affecting farmers’ responses to climate change. The instrument demonstrated excellent internal consistency, with an overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.974. Data were analyzed using SPSS. The findings showed that the overall role of agricultural extension in farmers’ adaptation was moderate but tended toward the lower end of the scale: 39% of respondents fell within the moderate category and 31% within the low category. Farmers’ perceptions of extension support for capacity building were moderate and tended toward the higher end, whereas extension services were comparatively weak in developing scientifically grounded perceptions of climate change. Adaptation practices were relatively high, with 38.5% of respondents in the high category, indicating that much of the observed adaptation was autonomous and experience-based rather than the outcome of systematic extension programs. Significant associations were found between the extension role and age (negative association), educational attainment, participation in training courses, and years of farming experience. Participation in training courses showed the strongest association (r = 0.508), followed by educational attainment (r = 0.464). The leading constraints were declining rainfall and rising temperatures, market-price volatility, and the absence of agricultural insurance. The study recommends intensifying specialized extension programs on climate adaptation, shifting from general awareness raising to structured practical training, expanding farmers’ access to training courses, and adopting a climate-smart agriculture framework.

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