Environmental knowledge and behavior of cane growers as an adaptive response to climate change in Junín, Manabí, Ecuador

Abstract

This research was conducted at the Agua Fria site, Junín canton, Manabí, Ecuador. The objective of this research was to evaluate the environmental knowledge and behavior of sugarcane producers as an adaptive response to climate change during the 2024 period. The research used descriptive, non-experimental, field, bibliographic-documentary methods with a mixed approach. Thus, the initial environmental knowledge and behavior of sugarcane growers was diagnosed through an eight-question survey conducted with 25 producers. Subsequently, environmental knowledge and behavior were strengthened through a learning-by-doing strategy, through eight-week, weekly training workshops. Finally, the impact of the environmental strategy was evaluated through a pre- and post-training test. It was evident that before the training, 68% of the sugarcane growers obtained regular grades (1.00-4.00 points); While after the training, their learning level improved significantly, reaching 64% of grades with excellent and outstanding criteria (8.01 - 10.00 points), thus contributing to the improvement of the adaptive response to climate change of sugarcane growers.