Exploring climate change adaptation practices and household food security in the Middle Eastern context: a case of small family farms in Central Bekaa, Lebanon

Agriculture is the most natural resource-intensive and climate-sensitive sector. This study examines the perceptions and attitudes of small family farmers toward climate change and identifies adaptation strategies supporting household food security in the Middle Eastern context, Lebanon. The study uses cross-sectional, primary data of households that own small family farms in the Central Bekaa region. The results show that the majority of the households believe that climate change is occurring, has adverse impacts on livelihoods, and is attributable to human factors. They perceived an increase in temperature and a decrease in rainfall patterns over the last 20 years. In response, the households used multiple agricultural practices to adapt to climate change. Based on the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) scores, only 7.5% of the households were food secure, while 89% were mild to moderately food insecure. Generally, the households had modest access to nutritious diets. All the households used two or more environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. However, the use of multiple environmentally sustainable practices did not correlate with improved food security. This latter result may be due to the limited knowledge of the farmers about trade-offs between various climate change adaptation measures. The findings suggest the need to refocus research from the question of whether small family farmers are willing to adopt (or not) climate change adaptation practices to identifying those practices that are capable of balancing economic, social, and environmental goals in a specific context.