Farmers perception to climate change under sodic environment of Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Most of the Indian population is considered more vulnerable to climate change because of its direct or indirect dependence on agriculture. Successful adaptation to changing climate is vital for sustainable productivity. Adaptation and mitigation are two essential solutions to avoid the ill effects of climate change. Adapting to changing climate is a continuous process. Strategic planning is required to reduce the consequences of long-term climate change, which may severely affect the livelihood security of people with low incomes. Several global studies have indicated that India is particularly vulnerable to climate change, and the country will likely suffer damage to agriculture, food and water security, human health and cattle populations. When these impacts of climate change are combined with other stresses like salt stress in the sodic environment, the overall problems for practising agriculture increase manifolds. Agriculture practices in a sodic environment face different challenges, such as salt stress, poor soil structure, restricted water movement, and nutrient toxicities, which are significant constraints to plant growth. Structural degradation arises from clay dispersion, plugging of the soil pores and developing a calcareous hard layer in the sub-soil. High pH may persist throughout the soil profile, hampering essential plant nutrient availability. Overall, the situation for agriculture under a sodic environment becomes complex as several direct and indirect effects of climate change on precipitation patterns, higher atmospheric temperatures, increase in the frequency of droughts, floods and storms, and greenhouse gas emissions-would drastically limit agricultural productivity, particularly in sodic soils under arid and semi-arid regions in the country. In context to the above, it has been realized that at the farmers' level, the awareness of climatic problems in combination with existing problems due to the presence of salt is low. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about the right set of practices/technologies to adopt under these scenarios and their poor socioeconomic conditions. Considering this, farmers' perceptions and their level of awareness about the changing climate in the Unnao and Hardoi districts were recorded and presented, which may help plan the appropriate strategies while sensitizing the farmers about the current scenario of climate change, providing knowledge about the required technologies and practices in hand and their capacity building.