Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies in South India: Empirical evidence

Abstract

The phenomena of climate change pose multifaceted challenges to crop and livestock farming, with severe implications on smallholder farmers' income and livelihoods. Climate change has profound implications (economic, environmental, and social) predominantly on rainfed regions in developing countries like India, where agriculture constitutes the backbone of the economy. In this context, the current study analyzes how farmers perceive climate change in the rainfed ecosystem in India, farmers' adaptation strategies, and their major determinants in addressing climate change. Data were collected from 400 sample farmers in South India. Discriminant and multinomial logit models were employed to identify the adaptation strategies of the farmers. It was evident that the factors such as off-farm income, farm income, and farming experience significantly influenced the adaptation strategies for tackling climate change. Furthermore, access to climate change information and literacy level are vital determinants in different climate change adaptation strategies, including crop diversification, integrated farming system, contingency plans for farm operations, and adoption of soil and water conservation techniques. However, the study highlights the increasing role of institutions (government and private) in future to safeguard the interests of farmers by offering a wide range of policy, research, and technology interventions. In a nutshell, R&D focus on climate-resilient agriculture, application of ICTs in agro-advisory services, and creation off-farm employment opportunities for the farmers is crucial to sustaining their livelihoods as these serve as potential mitigation strategies to impart resilience to climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture in rainfed ecosystems in India or any other countries.

Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies and intensity of use; micro level evidence from crop farmers in Kenya

“…The more frequently farmers receive climate-related information, the greater their awareness and influence on the adoption of different adaptation strategies, as reported by Atube et al (2021). This implies that farmers are better prepared and are able to plan their adaptation strategies in advance based on the information provided and make informed decisions (Kumar et al, 2023). This result is supported by Mabe et al (2014), who found a positive association between weather information and the adoption of tree planting as an adaptation strategy in Northern Ghana.…”

“…While existing research has explored climate change adaptation strategies in agriculture (Gebru et al, 2020;Saddique et al, 2020;Getahun et al, 2021;Mogaka et al, 2021;Kumar et al, 2023;Molla et al, 2023;Moniruzzaman et al, 2023), there remains a critical gap in understanding the uptake and determinants of employing multiple adaptation strategies. This limitation restricts the ability to optimize agricultural productivity, ensure sustainable crop production, and build robust household resilience in the face of a rapidly changing climate (Francis et al, 2017).…”