CLIMATIC CHANGE AND THE

SOCIOECONOMIC
SUSTAINABILITY OF THE
PADDY FARMERS IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia is a South-eastern tropical
country which borders with Singapore,
Indonesia, Brunei, and Thailand. Malaysia
tropical climate characteristic create optimal
conditions for the production of fruits and
vegetables. Malaysia is particularly strong in
tree crop agriculture which is involves the
processing and manufacturing of mainly
rubber and palm oil and other also
important, like cocoa, rice, coconuts or
pepper. Nowadays, the agriculture in
Malaysia is experiencing a diversification
process, which includes the development of
newer crops like oil palm, cocoa. Paddy is
the most agricultural that take more care to
grow.
The changing nature of climatic
factors has different impacts on paddy
agriculture based areas, periods and crops.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE
Agriculture practice and climate are
directly related exerting mutually effect. In
Malaysia, the climate change and
agriculture practice are generally seen to
have been connected one with other in a
circular way. Climate change affects most
significantly in agriculture out of the other
economic sector because of its worldwide
distribution and the strong linkage and
dependence of the climate and the
environmental factors.
Next, the effects of climate change
on the agricultural production impact the
socio-economical dimension at both the
macro and micro-scale. Floods and
droughts are the most common processed

directly affecting the relation between

agricultural and climate change. The direct
impacts to the agriculture can be decreasing
of the agricultural productivity, increasing of
the food insecurity and affection of the
supply chain caused by the sea level rise.
Focus
on
the
socioeconomic
sustainability of the farmers under the rapid
climatic changes in Malaysia, this article
obtained partial data from a research project
of Integrated Agricultural Development Area
(IADA), North-West Selangor, Malaysia. As
the agricultural productivity varies due to
climatic change, the income of the farmer
also declines and as a consequence,
poverty
increases.
The
unexpected
behaviour of climatic factors also causes
many negative impacts on human health
that affect more on the farming community.
Climatic change is also directly connected
to incidences of diarrhea, skin disease,
malaria, kala-azar, dengue fever, and other
illnesses.
Overall, climatic change influences
the agricultural sustainability negatively in
Malaysia; as a consequence people who
are dependent on agriculture are more
vulnerable in terms of socioeconomic
perspective than other social groups in
Malaysia. Adaptation is very essential in the
long run for agricultural and livelihood
sustainability in Malaysia.