Agriculture Scientists Perceptions about Climate Change and its Impacts on Agriculture

This investigation was aimed at assessing agricultural scientists' perceptions regarding climate change in the context of agriculture. The study was conducted in MPKV, Rahuri and DBSKKV, Dapoli agricultural universities and random sampling procedure was followed in selection of respondent scientists and total sample size was 60. Agricultural scientists' perceptions were assessed through a summative rating scale which consisted of five dimensions: scientific understanding of climate change, its causes, changes in climatic parameters, impacts on agriculture and adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change in agriculture. During the investigation, significant and positive relationship was observed between age, education, professional experience, information sources accessed and the trustworthiness of the information source. Regression analysis indicated that work experience and source of information were high predictors of climate change science consistent perceptions and 37 per cent of the variance in climate change perceptions was explained by the regression model.