Adopting Paludiculture as a Farming Model Resilient to Climate Change: Insights from Farming Communities in the Peatlands of South Sumatra, Indonesia

Paludiculture, which involves growing crops and managing forests on rehydrated peatlands, is seen as a viable option to balance agricultural production with peatland conservation. However, the adoption of this practice by farmers remains inconsistent. This study investigated factors related to socioeconomic status and behavior that influence paludiculture adoption among communities living in peatland areas in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra, Indonesia. We surveyed n = 150 farmers and used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess how perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of implementation (PEI), institutional support (IS), economic capacity (SEC), and perceived climate risk (PCR) influenced adoption intention (AI) and actual adoption (AA) of the practice. Our findings indicate that adoption intention is positively correlated with perceived usefulness (β = 0.34, p < 0.01) and perceived ease of implementation (β = 0.26, p < 0.05). In contrast, perceived climate risk negatively impacted intention (β = −0.23, p < 0.05). Institutional support contributed positively, albeit to a lesser extent (β = 0.17, p < 0.10), while economic capacity had a slight positive correlation (β = 0.19, p ≈ 0.10). Intention to adopt was a strong predictor of actual adoption (β = 0.48, p < 0.01). The model explained 56% of the variance in adoption intention (R2 = 0.56) and 38% of the variance in actual adoption (R2 = 0.38). These results suggest that promoting paludiculture will require increasing perceived economic benefits, reducing concerns about risks through ongoing training and demonstrations, and improving supporting conditions such as extension services and financing. Policies that combine technical assistance with institutional support and market development are likely to accelerate adoption and enhance climate resilience in peatland farming systems.