Do climate disasters make farmers more willing to cooperate? Evidence from rural communities in southern China

Purpose This article aims to explore the impact of climate disasters on small-scale farmers’ willingness to cooperate and explore the mediating effect of social capital. Design/methodology/approach The study investigates farmers’ willingness to cooperate through a framed field approach and surveys the information of individuals and villages, including climate disasters and social capital, using a structured questionnaire from rural communities in Jiangxi and Sichuan, China. Findings The results show that climate disasters and social capital are significant and positive determinants of farmers’ willingness to cooperate. In specific types of climate disasters, drought is positively associated with farmers’ cooperation willingness. Moreover, the mediation effect of drought on farmers’ willingness to cooperate through social capital has been demonstrated to be significant although negative, whereas the mediation effect of flood on farmers’ willingness to cooperate through social capital is significant and positive. Originality/value First, given the limited studies focusing on the impact of climate disasters on small-scale farmers’ willingness to cooperate, the authors complement the existing literature through a framed field experiment approach by designing a scenario that every farmer may encounter in their production activities. Second, the study figures out the roles of drought and flood as different kinds of climate disasters in farmers’ decision-making of cooperation and sheds light on the positive impact of climate disasters on small-scale farmers. Finally, this paper provides empirical evidence of social capital as a potential channel through which climate disasters could possibly affect farmers’ willingness to cooperate.