Perception of climate change of semi-urban and rural farmers of León, Guanajuato

Abstract

The perception of the people on climate change is important, as well as to identify if adaptation practices at the local level have been carried out. Studying environmental perception assumes the relationship between an organism and environmental variables. An analysis of variance and statistical correlation can be used to find general relationships. The triangulation method of meteorological data and surveys were used for this study. In León, Guanajuato, the majority perception of peri-urban and rural farmers is that there has been an increase in temperature, which coincides with that reported by local meteorological systems, indicating that the maximum temperature in the last thirty years (1961-2009) increased 0,092 °C per year. Given this change in temperature, farmers have used adaptation strategies as shifting cultivation, use of native seeds and incorporation of organic matter to the soil, which agrees with that reported in recent literature. However, agriculture is in a difficult moment because of its loss of profitability; in the case of the peri-urban, the real growth of the city makes obstructs the agricultural production specially when competing for space. However, the extra income from a plot subsidizes the agricultural production, in most cases without an effective return.