Adaptation to extreme weather conditions and farm performance in rural Pakistan

Extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change pose a formidable challenge to many farmers worldwide. In this article, we analyze farmers' adaptation to extreme weather conditions using climate-smart farm practices (CSFP), and the impact of adoption of these adaptation strategies on farm performance, using recent farm-level data from three agro-ecological zones of Pakistan. Most of the earlier studies on Pakistan used methods that did not account for unobserved characteristics such as innate skills and risk preferences, resulting in inconsistent estimates. We employ an endogenous switching regression model to account for potential endogeneity and selection bias arising from observable and unobservable factors. The empirical results show that adoption of CSFP contributes to higher farm net returns. The findings further reveal that adoption of these practices significantly reduces volatility of farm net returns and farmers' exposure to downside risk. We also find that access to extension services and education of the household head positively influence the likelihood of adapting CSFP in response to extreme weather conditions.