Climate induced vulnerability and adaptation by rural households

Abstract

The focus on the impacts of climate variability and change on Indian agriculture with reference to the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of farming households is important as the agricultural sector is considered to be one of the highly sensitive sectors to the impacts of climate change. Besides food production, agriculture is also the largest provider of employment; so any impact due to climate change either directly or indirectly on this sector would affect the lives and livelihood of millions in India. However, the vulnerability of farm households to climate change depends not only on the physiological response of the affected crops, but also on the ability of the affected households to cope with weather uncertainty, fluctuations in yields, increase in the frequency of droughts or floods, etc. Thus, analyzing the role of socio-economic factors is important to understand the vulnerability and adaptation actions of farm households. Our study examined factors affecting the vulnerability of rural farm households and different adaptation actions undertaken by farm households and their determinants in four villages of two drought prone districts i.e. Balangir and Nuapada in Western Orissa. newlineFirst, we examined the trends and patterns in rainfall and temperature at the district and selected rain gauge station level. Our analysis of rainfall and temperature trends at the district level reveals that there is clear evidence of a decreasing trend in the annual rainfall pattern in both the districts. Further, we also examined the trends in the number of rainy days and mean of number of rainy days over two periods of time.