44
Z. Bird et al.
regions (medium confidence), and the probability of drought and precipitation deficits
in some regions (medium confidence)” (IPCC 2018, p. 9). Thus, the time period of
1988–2050 was chosen to capture farmer’s perception over the period of 62 years to
assess their observation (1988–2019) and their perception or projection of climate
change impacts on their food production by 2020–2050.
Data Analysis
Primary data for the field survey was transcribed and organised into Microsoft Excel,
and then uploaded into the NVivo 10 software package. NVivo10 is a non-numerical
software that handles most audio files (including WAV, MP3, and WMA), image
files (including BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF), and video files (including MPEG, AVI,
WMV, MP4, and QT) (Hoover and Koerber 2009). The transcriptions were translated
from Solomon Islands’ Pidgin into English before they were entered into NVivo 10.
Once entered, a thematic analysis approach was used to identify the common ideas,
concepts, words, topics, or patterns, which were then organised into specific themes.
These themes are presented in the results and discussion sections.
Results
Social-Demographic Profile
Of the 98 participants, there were 22 female and 29 male from Malu’u and 21 female
and 26 male from Sikwafata. About 83.0% were primarily involved in farming
activities, specifically crop farming while 17.4% were engaged in both farming
and other activities like small businesses, trades like carpentry, and formal employment as teacher and other forms of employment. The analysis showed that 56.1%
of the farmers were male whilst 43.9% were female. The participants fell within the
following age groups: youth (18–35 years), middle-age (36–55 years) and elderly
(above 56 years). The majority of the farmers were part of the middle-age group
(35.7%) for both genders. Most had completed only primary education (43.8%)
followed by early childhood (11.3%), junior high (11.3%), secondary high (7.1%) and
tertiary (5.1%) while 18.4% had no formal education, which was slightly higher for
the elderlies (11.2%) compared to youths (3.1%) and the middle-age group (4.1%).
Three percent refused to mention their education status. For the elderly group, none
of the farmers reached tertiary education. Around 48.0% of participants came from
households with 5–7 family members. The mean household size of communities
surveyed was 5.1.
Most of the farmers were low-income earners (65.3%) earning only USD2-35 on
a weekly basis. Weekly household income ranged from USD2-212, depending on the
Z. Bird et al.
regions (medium confidence), and the probability of drought and precipitation deficits
in some regions (medium confidence)” (IPCC 2018, p. 9). Thus, the time period of
1988–2050 was chosen to capture farmer’s perception over the period of 62 years to
assess their observation (1988–2019) and their perception or projection of climate
change impacts on their food production by 2020–2050.
Data Analysis
Primary data for the field survey was transcribed and organised into Microsoft Excel,
and then uploaded into the NVivo 10 software package. NVivo10 is a non-numerical
software that handles most audio files (including WAV, MP3, and WMA), image
files (including BMP, GIF, JPEG, and TIFF), and video files (including MPEG, AVI,
WMV, MP4, and QT) (Hoover and Koerber 2009). The transcriptions were translated
from Solomon Islands’ Pidgin into English before they were entered into NVivo 10.
Once entered, a thematic analysis approach was used to identify the common ideas,
concepts, words, topics, or patterns, which were then organised into specific themes.
These themes are presented in the results and discussion sections.
Results
Social-Demographic Profile
Of the 98 participants, there were 22 female and 29 male from Malu’u and 21 female
and 26 male from Sikwafata. About 83.0% were primarily involved in farming
activities, specifically crop farming while 17.4% were engaged in both farming
and other activities like small businesses, trades like carpentry, and formal employment as teacher and other forms of employment. The analysis showed that 56.1%
of the farmers were male whilst 43.9% were female. The participants fell within the
following age groups: youth (18–35 years), middle-age (36–55 years) and elderly
(above 56 years). The majority of the farmers were part of the middle-age group
(35.7%) for both genders. Most had completed only primary education (43.8%)
followed by early childhood (11.3%), junior high (11.3%), secondary high (7.1%) and
tertiary (5.1%) while 18.4% had no formal education, which was slightly higher for
the elderlies (11.2%) compared to youths (3.1%) and the middle-age group (4.1%).
Three percent refused to mention their education status. For the elderly group, none
of the farmers reached tertiary education. Around 48.0% of participants came from
households with 5–7 family members. The mean household size of communities
surveyed was 5.1.
Most of the farmers were low-income earners (65.3%) earning only USD2-35 on
a weekly basis. Weekly household income ranged from USD2-212, depending on the