Perception of producers regarding climate change and the resilience of horticultural systems: tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, L) and chiltoma (Capsicum annum, L)

Abstract

Background: Nicaragua is a country with climatic conditions suitable for agriculture, allowing for the cultivation of various vegetables, including tomatoes and bell peppers. This study aimed to determine producers' perceptions of climate change and the resilience of horticultural systems. Methodology: The evaluation was carried out by applying a semi-structured survey to 66 farmers, within which data was collected from eight variables. Results: 36.36% indicate that deforestation is the main cause of climate change, 24.2% indicated that it is due to environmental pollution, 51.52% stated that they would be interested in continuing to produce tomatoes and/ or bell peppers, regardless of the weather, 27.27% consider that they do not choose to belong to a cooperative, 69.7% of farmers occasionally carry out some soil and water conservation practice, 66.7% have received training on climate change, 39.4% of members classified the cooperative's support as good, on the other hand, 51.5% mentioned that the pandemic had little impact
on production systems and 49.4% argue that rainfall will be irregular in the coming years. Conclusion: Producers agree that horticultural systems have low resilience to climate change, even though they use and apply ancestral knowledge to determine some climate variations. However, cultural and ancestral predictions have low credibility given their low certainty.