Assessment of Goat Farmers’ Knowledge on Climate Change and It’s Association with the Socio-economic Variables

Abstract

Climate change has emerged as one of the most pressing global challenges with several stresses on goats impacting them directly and indirectly. The sustainability of goat farming depends on farmer’s knowledge of the changing climate. The current study was conducted to assess the knowledge level of goat farmers’ on climate change and its association with selected socio-economic variables. This study followed a descriptive research design and was carried out in the Cuttack district of Odisha from August to November 2025.  A structured interview schedule was used to collect data from 120 goat farmers. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistical analysis. The findings of the study revealed that 100 per cent of the farmers were aware about the changing climate i.e. changes in temperature, rainfall patterns and wind flow. However, only 2.5 per cent of the respondents knew that gases like CO2, methane and nitrous oxide are responsible for causing climate change. Overall, the majority of the respondents (73.3%) had medium level of knowledge, followed by high (15.0%) and low (11.7%) levels of knowledge. Further analysis revealed that knowledge level on climate change was significantly affected by land holding and access to weather forecast at 1 per cent level of significance, while income from goatery, extension participation and extension contact were significant at 5 per cent level. The study concluded that while goat farmers are generally aware of climate changes, their scientific understanding of climate change remains moderate and is strongly influenced by resource availability and access to information.