Adaptation of small scale farmers to climatic risks in India - Sustainet

Adaptation of small scale farmers to climatic
risks in India
Grain storage by farmers Figure in i Traditional Andhra pradesh grain storage in the villages of Andhra Pradesh
Report By:
Dr. Poonam Pande
Kaspar Akermann
Sustainet India
B-4 GK II, New Delhi, 110048, Website: www.sustainet.org
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Acknowledgement
The authors express their gratitude towards partners of Sustainet, who have been so kind to commit all
their resources available to the study team during their visit to their respective regions. We thank
CECOEDECON based in Rajasthan; Navdnaya in Uttrakhand; Center for Sustainable Agriculture
based in Andhra Pradesh, Agragamee in Orissa, and Chetana Vikas in Maharashtra, which were
partners, not only during the study preparation, but also gave a wider and a deeper perspective during
the course of our interaction.
The main proponents were farmers, who in spite of their hardships were eager to understand the issues
looming large over their livelihood and proactively contributed to this report. The interviewed farmers
were eager to be part of a solution and supported the study team with active collaboration.
We acknowledge with thanks the time and information imparted by the Government officers especially
the Indian Meteorological Department and their regional offices that were eager to explain the trends
and scenario.
During the course of the study, the Sustainet partners extended their support by inviting local NGOs,
which added more substance by sharing their views and analysis of the data collated by the study
team.
We thank the consultant of the project, Mr. Anish Chatterjee, colleagues from gtZ, Germany and the
supportive team from Welthungerhilfe India.
We put our appreciation in record for the GTZ and Misereor for their financial support to carry out this
project study.
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Disclaimer
This report is the result of a study undertaken with the sole aim to understand the traditional
mechanism / practices adopted by farmers and local communities in the selected regions to cope
with climatic variability. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are
based on feedback shared by stakeholders including farmers, community leaders, local NGO’s as
well as government officials.
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Table of Contents
ADAPTATION OF SMALL SCALE FARMERS TO CLIMATIC RISKS IN INDIA 1
1 CLIMATE CHANGE INDIA: AN INTRODUCTION 9
1.1 Climate Change – Impact on Agriculture: Indian perspective 10
1.2 Government of India’s Initiatives 11
1.2.1 National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) 12
1.2.2 National Farmers Policy 2007 13
1.3 Objective of the study 13
1.4 Methodology 14
1.5 Why a focus on small-scale farmers? 16
2 CASE STUDY RAJASTHAN 19
2.1 Background information 19
2.1.1 Climate 19
2.1.2 Land use and cropping patterns 20
2.2 Evidences of Climate change 20
2.2.1 Scientific evidence 20
2.2.2 Farmer’s experiences 20
2.3 Climate Change impacts 21
2.3.1 Impact on agriculture and livestock 21
2.3.2 Impact on water availability 22
2.3.3 Impact on Livelihood 25
2.4 Adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers 26
2.4.1 Agriculture sector 26
2.4.2 Water sector 29
2.4.3 Other adaptive measures 31
2.5 Recommendations for future action 33
2.5.1 Special emphasis on water sector 33
2.5.2 Agriculture sector 33
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3 CASE STUDY ANDHRA PRADESH 35
3.1 Background information 35
3.1.1 Climate 35
3.1.2 Land holdings and cropping patterns 36
3.2 Climate Change - observations and future trends 37
3.2.1 Scientific evidence 37
3.2.2 Farmers’ experiences 38
3.3 Climate Change Impacts 39
3.3.1 Agriculture Sector 39
3.3.2 Water sector 41
3.4 Adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers 42
3.4.1 Coping through migration and sales of assets 42
3.4.2 Agricultural practices 42
3.4.3 Water sector 44
3.4.4 Other practices 45
3.5 Recommendations for future action 46
3.5.1 Shortcomings of Extension Services 46
3.5.2 Sustainable Water Management 47
3.5.3 Improved land use 47
3.5.4 Agricultural practices 48
3.5.5 Income diversification 48
3.5.6 Input reduction strategies 48
3.5.7 Providing crop insurance 49
3.5.8 Smart Subsidies 49
4 CASE STUDY UTTARAKHAND 50
4.1 Background information 50
4.1.1 Climate 51
4.1.2 Land holdings and cropping patterns 51
4.2 Observed changes in climatic variability 52
4.2.1 Scientific Reviews 52
4.2.2 Farmer’s Experiences 54
4.2.2.1 Evidence 55
4.3 Climate Change impacts 56
4.3.1 Agriculture sector 56
4.3.2 Water sector 57
4.4 Adaptation to Climate Change 58
4.4.1 Agriculture sector 58
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4.4.2 Other Sector/s 63
4.5 Recommendations 63
5 CASE STUDY ORISSA 65
5.1 Background information 65
5.1.1 Rainfall and Temperature 65
5.1.2 Land holdings, soil information and cropping patterns 66
5.2 Evidences of Climate change 67
5.2.1 Scientific Reviews 67
5.2.2 Farmer’s experiences 68
5.3 Issues of concern for the study region 68
5.3.1 Infrastructure and socio-economic deficits 69
5.3.2 Deforestation 69
5.3.3 Soil erosion and water run-off 70
5.3.4 Climate Change impacts on agriculture 70
5.4 Promising adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers 71
5.4.1 Tribal farming systems: crop diversification and traditional varieties 71
5.4.2 Land management 73
5.4.3 Watershed management: Strengthening linkages between conservation and production systems 74
5.4.4 Building resilience through better management of forests 77
5.4.5 Income generation by growing vegetables 78
5.4.6 Horticulture 78
5.5 Recommendations 78
5.5.1 Improved infrastructure 78
5.5.2 Agriculture related 79
5.5.3 Water related 79
5.5.4 Income Diversification 79
6 CASE STUDY MAHARASHTRA 80
6.1 Background information 80
6.1.1 Climate 80
6.1.2 Rainfall 81
6.1.3 Soil information and cropping patterns 81
6.2 Evidence of climatic changes 81
6.2.1 Scientific Reviews 82
6.2.2 Farmer’s experiences 83
6.3 Climate Change impacts 83
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6.3.1 Agriculture sector 83
6.3.2 Impact on Water sector 84
6.3.3 Major issues of concern in the study area 85
6.4 Existing adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers 87
6.4.1 Agriculture sector 87
6.4.2 Water sector 90
6.5 Recommendations 91
6.5.1 Financial support for the promotion of sustainable land use practices 91
6.5.2 Water management 91
6.5.3 Improve access to marketing systems 91
6.5.4 Awareness and knowledge-sharing 91
6.5.5 Focus on advisory and extension services 92
7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: 93
8 FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS 94
9 REFERENCES 99
Figures:
Figure i Traditional grain storage in the villages of Andhra Pradesh....................................................... 1
Figure ii Farmer's group exercise in action........................................................................................... 15
Figure iii Farmer presenting the results from group works.................................................................... 17
Figure iv Consultation workshop with the farmers................................................................................ 18
Figure v Study regions in Rajasthan .................................................................................................... 19
Figure vi An ancient water conservation structure (Bawri) at village Aliyabad, Dist. Jaipur, Rajasthan..24
Figure vii A women farmer separating good seeds for storage............................................................. 27
Figure viii Fodder storage in one of the village in Rajasthan……………………………………………….32
Figure ix Study region in Andhra Pradesh……………………………………………………………………35
Figure x Groundnut field after harvesting the crop…………………………………………………………..40
Figure xi Study regions in Uttarakhand ................................................................................................ 50
Figure xii Field terraces in Uttarakhand (Source: Dunja, 2007) ............................................................ 51
Figure xiii Paddy nursery in the village Nala of Uttarakhand ................................................................ 52
Figure xiv Heavy landslides in the mountains due to deforestation ...................................................... 58
Figure xv Indigenous variety of paddy in Uttarakhand.......................................................................... 61
Figure xvi Study region in Orissa ......................................................................................................... 65
Figure xvii Farmer's fields with tree boundaries ................................................................................... 73
Figure xviii Rejuvenated forests after watershed development project of Agragamee.......................... 75
Figure xix Watershed management plan painted in the wall of the community house in a village ........ 77
Figure xx Study region in Maharashtra ................................................................................................ 80
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Tables:
Table 1. Variations in total number of rainy days in eastern Rajasthan (1975 to 2005) ........................ 20
Table 2: Comparative achievements of NREGA in Rajasthan (Source: Rural Development &
Panchayati Raj. Department, Government of Rajasthan)..................................................................... 25
Table 3. Water management in Bhipur: selected technical measures and their impacts ...................... 30
Table 4: Land holding pattern of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.............................................................. 36
Table 5: People’s perceptions of weather conditions before (30 years ago) and now .......................... 55
Table 6: People’s perceptions on climate change in central Himalaya (Source: Maikhuri et al. 2003).. 55
Table 7: Comparative cost benefit analysis of mono cropping (paddy) and mixed cropping (finger millet,
foxtail millet, French beans and Amaranth) Navdanya, 2006 ............................................................... 60
Table 8: Traditional bio-diverse agriculture system in the tribal belt (Rayagada dist.) of Orissa ........... 71
Table 9: Impacts of a watershed project on agricultural activities......................................................... 75
Table 10: Cropping pattern in Wardha district of Maharashtra ............................................................. 81
Table 11. Annual Rainfall data of Wardha District from 1997 to 2005 .................................................. 82
Table 12: Depletion of ground water in Maharashtra............................................................................ 85
Table 13: Degree of self-reliance achieved from one hectare of rain fed dry land - average of three
years (2004-2006) ............................................................................................................................... 88
Table 14: crop combination in the “self-reliance” model ....................................................................... 89
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1 Climate Change India: An Introduction
Climate change impacts and associated vulnerability are of particular concern to developing countries,
where large parts of the population depend on climate sensitive sectors like agriculture and forestry for
livelihood. By adversely affecting freshwater availability and quality, biodiversity and desertification,
climate change tends to disproportionately affect the poorest in the society, exacerbating inequities in
access to food, water and health. The capacity to adapt is a function of access to wealth, scientific and
technical knowledge, information, skills, infrastructure, institutions and equity and therefore varies
among regions and socio-economic groups. Climate change therefore is intrinsically linked to other
environmental issues and to the challenge of sustainable development.
In India, climate change will put additional stress on ecological and socioeconomic systems that are
already facing tremendous pressures due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and economic
development. With its huge and growing population, a 7500-km long densely populated and low-lying
coastline and an economy that is closely tied to its natural resource base, India is considered to be
especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Various studies conducted in the country have shown that the surface air temperature in India is rising
at the rate of 0.4 o C per hundred years, particularly during the post-monsoon and winter season. Models
project that mean winter temperatures will increase by as much as 3.2ºC in the 2050s and 4.5º C by
2080s. Summer temperatures will increase by 2.2º C in the 2050s and 3.2º C in the 2080s.
Extreme temperatures and heat spells have already become common over Northern India, often
causing loss of human life. In 1998 alone, 650 deaths occurred in Orissa due to heat waves.
Specific Climate Change Projections for India are:
• An annual mean surface temperature rise by the end of the century, ranging from 3 to 5°C
under A2 scenario and 2.5 to 4°C under B2 scenario, with warming more pronounced in the
northern parts of India. A 20% rise in all India summer monsoon rainfall and further rise in
rainfall is projected over all states except Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, which show a
slight decrease. 1
Observed changes in climate reported by India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the past 130 years
are as follows:
1 Predictions based on Regional Climate Modeling (RCM) system, known as PRECIS developed by Hadley Center and applied for India using
IPCC scenarios A2 and B212
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• Monsoon rainfall at all India level does not show any trend but there are some regional
patterns. Areas of increasing trend in monsoon rainfall are found along the west coast, north
Andhra Pradesh and north-west India, and those of decreasing trend over east Madhya
Pradesh and adjoining areas, north-east India and parts of Gujarat and Kerala (-6 to -8% of
normal over 100 years).
• A recent study indicates that the intensity and frequency of heavy to very heavy rainfall events is
showing an increasing trend during the past 50 years over the region covering parts of Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Mean annual surface air temperatures show a significant warming of about 0.5 0 C/100 year
during the last century and recent data indicates a substantial acceleration of this warming after
the 1990’s. This is comparable to the global warming trends reported.
Sustainable development issues are of core concern to the country providing the best mechanism to
address most of these issues. Commitment to the UNFCCC as well as many other Multilateral
Environmental Agreements highlights India’s concerns related to these issues besides other steps that
have been taken to address to push socio- economic development and eradicate poverty.
The challenges lie in identifying opportunities that would facilitate sustainable development by making
use of existing technologies and development policies that make climate-sensitive sectors resilient to
climatic variability. This strategy will require developing countries to have access to appropriate
technologies, information, and adequate financing. As it is, the coping mechanisms in developing
countries are stretched to deal with natural calamities. Adding the climate change dimension implies
additional burden and adaptation will require anticipatory planning; failure to prepare systems for
projected changes in climate variability and extremes could lead to capital intensive development of
infrastructure or technologies that are ill suited to future conditions.
1.1 Climate Change – Impact on Agriculture: Indian perspective
Scientific evidence about the seriousness of the climate threat to agriculture is now unambiguous,
although the exact magnitude is uncertain because of the complex interactions and feedback
processes in the ecosystem and in the economy. The Fourth Assessment Report by the Inter-
Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, projects for India an acceleration of warming
above that observed in the 20th century, a decrease in precipitation, and an increase in the occurrence
of extreme weather events. Climate change is expected to have adverse effects on agriculture, the
eradication of poverty, food security, and the water supply (IPCC, 2007).
Agriculture plays a prominent role in the Indian economy. India is a land of small cultivators and 80 per
cent of its farmers owning less than 2 ha of land. In other words, the land provides livelihood security
for 65 per cent of the people, and the small farmers provide food security for 1 billion people (Vandana
Shiva, 2007). Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry, logging and fishing accounted for 16.6% of the
GDP in 2007, employed 60% of the total workforce (CIA Fact book , 2008) and despite a steady decline
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of its share in the GDP, it is still the largest economic sector. More than one billion people in India,
directly or indirectly are involved in the agricultural sector (O'Brien et al., 2004).
Climate change is likely to affect all the natural ecosystems as well as socio-economic systems as
shown by the National Communications Report of India to the UNFCCC (INC, 2004). Various studies
have indicated a probability of 10 to 40 per cent loss in crop production in the country due to the
anticipated rise in temperature by 2080. Studies conducted by Indian Agricultural Research Institute
(IARI) have pointed to a possible loss of 4 to 5 million tonnes in the overall wheat production with every
1 degree centigrade increase in temperature throughout the growing period of the crop.
With the growing evidence of climate change over the last few years, an increasing emphasis was put
on studying the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture (Lal et al., 1998; Kumar and Parikh,
2001; TERI, 2003; Mall et al., 2006). A number of crop simulation modeling studies, based on future
climate change scenarios, with a focus on the vulnerability of rice and wheat yields has been carried
out. According to the latest results of the crop simulation modeling studies published in the AR4, the
drop in yields of non-irrigated wheat and rice in India will be significant: a temperature increase beyond
2.5 °C would incur a loss in farm-level net revenue between 9 and 25 percent (Lal, 2007 cited in IPCC,
2007). Net cereal production in India is projected to decline at least between 4 and 10 percent by the
end of this century under the most conservative climate change scenario (Lal, 2007 cited in IPCC,
2007).
Mall et al. (2006) provide an excellent review of climate change impact studies on Indian agriculture,
mainly from the perspective of physical impact. While yields of important cereal crops like rice and
wheat are expected to drop significantly with impacts of projected climate change, biophysical impacts
on some of the important crops like sugarcane, cotton and sunflower are yet to be studied adequately.
1.2 Government of India’s Initiatives
The Government has been trying to mainstream climate change concerns into the relevant sector
policies. Several ongoing efforts to promote sustainable agriculture, forestry and coastal zone
development, address some of these vulnerability concerns, although they are primarily driven by the
objective of sustainable livelihood and poverty alleviation.
India faces the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth in order to lift large parts of its
population out of poverty. Climate change represents a serious threat to India’s ambitious poverty
reduction goals. The Government of India recognized the need for a national strategy to firstly, adapt to
climate change and secondly, to further enhance the ecological sustainability of India's development
path. Currently, India spends around 2.6% of its GDP on adaptation activities.
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1.2.1 National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which was pre-pared by the Prime Minister‘s
Council on Climate Change and published in June 2008, is the government of India’s official response
to address the upcoming climate challenges. The plan formulates the government’s climate strategy
and addresses both adaptation and mitigation issues. The implementation of the Plan would be through
appropriate institutional mechanisms suited for effective delivery of each individual Mission's objectives
and include public private partnerships and civil society action. The focus will be on promoting
understanding of climate change, adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency and natural resource
conservation. The NAPCC plans to institutionalize the identified eight national missions by the
respective ministries. The eight missions are, i) National Solar Mission ii) National Mission for
Enhanced Energy Efficiency iii) National Mission on Sustainable Habitat iv) National Water Mission v)
National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem vi) National Mission for a Green India vii)
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture and viii) National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for
Climate Change.
In accordance with this, the concerned ministries were requested to submit their respective strategies
with a definite plan of action and timeline to the Prime Minister‘s Council on Climate Change. The
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture, has put special
thrust on the following key aspects:
• Strategic Research on varietal improvement (through biotechnology).
• Sustained Increase in food-grain production (through environment friendly, organic, conserving
farming practices)
• Improvement in water-use efficiency.
• Strengthening Risk Management Systems (through efficient early warning systems and easy
insurance schemes)
• Measures for Capacity Building for farmers and Information Management at block levels.
This is only a very recent initiative. The Ministry of Agriculture had earlier (2007) formed a
Parliamentary Committee to investigate the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture. The Ministry
had also identified specific research needs for Agriculture development in 2007. For adaptation to
climate change, the Ministry stressed the development of new genotypes (of both plant and cattle),
development of new land use systems, enhancement of value-added weather management services
and develop a compendium of indigenous traditional knowledge for its utilization.
We hope that this study is a small yet daunting endeavor in assisting the Ministry in its efforts to
prepare a compendium of traditional knowledge.
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1.2.2 National Farmers Policy 2007
The Ministry of Agriculture has brought out a comprehensive National Policy for Farmers in 2007, so far
the only policy, which explicitly spells out the vulnerability of farmers to climate change. It has a full
section devoted to Climate Change where it mentions forming “Climate Managers” to be trained to face
floods, droughts and monsoon aberrations. The policy recommends “Proactive measures based on
simulation models, contingency plans and alternative land-use and water-use strategies for each major
agro-climatic zone, to reduce the vulnerability to climate change”.
The policy also emphasizes the fact that credit facilities need to be made available to the farmers.
Financial services would be galvanized for timely, adequate and easy reach to the farmers at
reasonable interest rates. The policy also admits that the present National Agriculture Insurance
Scheme is not farmer-friendly and states: “Since agriculture is a high-risk economic activity, farmers
need user-friendly insurance instruments covering production, right from sowing to postharvest
operations. The insurance should also cover the market risks for all crops, in order to insulate the
farmers from financial distress and in the process make agriculture financially viable. Steps would be
taken to revamp the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme to make it more farmer-friendly”.
The National Agriculture Policy, 2002, seeks to achieve growth in a sustainable manner and with
equity. The section most relevant from a climate change point of view is the Risk Management section.
Price fluctuation and natural calamities are recognized as main factor for imparting instability to
condition of farmers.
The NAP suggests putting emphasis on following aspects: (1) enhancing flood proofing and drought
proofing (2) ensuring remunerative prices through announcement of Minimum Support Prices (MSP)
and (3) future trading in agriculture products. Risk proofing in agriculture through insurance is a very
complicated process. Covering all crops and all farmers through this seems to be gigantic, rather
ambitious task. Technological and infrastructural solutions are more appropriate in the Indian
circumstances. Announcement of MSP in itself does not ensure that farmers get remunerative price or
price above the ceiling level. Future trading is allowed with more and more agricultural products in India
in order to minimize price fluctuations and for hedging price risk.
1.3 Objective of the study
The present case study focuses on the potential of traditional adaptation measures being practiced by
small farmers through sustainable management of agriculture and natural resource management.
Strengthening resilience involves adopting practices that enable vulnerable people to protect existing
livelihood systems, diversify their sources of income, change their livelihood strategies or migrate, if this
is the best option. This report focuses on communities in five states of India, namely, Rajasthan,
Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. The chapters take a closer look at people’s
perception and experiences of climate variability and change. It uses household surveys to investigate
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communities’ responses and identify traditional adaptation measures to cope with these changes.
Finally, it synthesizes the key findings to recommend some strategic intervention priorities to address
climate change adaptation that complement and support the Govt’s developmental objectives and
effectively support farmers in the most sensitive areas.
With this background the study is proposed to:
1. Develop recommendations for future action on the basis of the assessment of
a) existing strategies of communities/small-scale farmers to cope with climatic risks
b) limits of adaptation driven and financed by the communities themselves),future needs of
communities. The results shall thereby:
a) assist the communities to become aware of future challenges and options to adapt to climate
change
b) give recommendations which external support is needed for future adaptation in the
communities
c) The results will be spread through the Sustainet and other networks and thereby aid other
smallholders / communities to adapt to climate change.
1.4 Methodology
The study was conducted from February 15 th to July 15 th and used mainly qualitative methods to collect
data, which ensured maximum participation of the key stakeholders. The methodology adopted for
achieving the stated objective was solely field based collection and collation of data. The methodology
was designed as per standard of Qualitative Research that included the formulation of a structured
questionnaire, pre-testing and finally interviewing the subjects by visiting the identified sites. Qualitative
research methods included participatory methods (PRA) involving focus group discussions and key
informants at village level trough workshops and direct observations among others. The key informants
are heads of communities, community chiefs, the spokesmen, elders and other opinion leaders. These
informants are privileged to know the communities very well. The information collected was to ascertain
the present status of farming system, the traditional farming system practiced and its continuation,
people’s perception about climate change issues etc. Considerable time was devoted on assessing the
potential of traditional practices to adapt to climatic risks.
A. Preparation of Questionnaire: A detailed questionnaire was prepared by keeping the objectives as the
central theme. The questions were formulated that sought information with respect to social data, farm
holding etc. In addition to this, a detailed account of the topography, perception of soil fertility of the
farm by the farmers, presence of water resources and its adequacy was collected. An entire section
was devoted on the various aspects of farm management, wherein the performance of crops under
mono and mixed farming were specified. Questions on the crop agronomy including farm inputs,
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maintenance of soil fertility both in mono-cropping and mixed cropping were discussed in detail. A
separate section on Climate change information to collect data on farmer’s perception was present.
B. Identification and selection of sites: The scope of the study extended in five different sites among the
various agro-climatic zones to give the study a representative picture of the selected parts of the
country. The regions that were identified and included in the project ranged from Uttarakhand in the
north to Orissa in the eastern part of India.
C. Data collection: The survey was designed to collect data on farm characteristics (e.g., type of
production system, landholding size, agricultural practices, income sources etc.) and sensitivity to
climate impacts (e.g., frequency and extent of crop losses). Data retrieved from the survey and the
interviews were used to systematize adaptation techniques to current climate risk already applied by
the farmers as well as to document the barriers they face in incorporating such adjustments. Interviews
were conducted with individual farmers, as well as with representatives of farmers’ cooperatives,
agricultural services, meteorological department personnel and researchers from the Agriculture
research Stations.
Figure ii. Farmer's group exercise in action
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Focused group discussions (FGD) were held separately with the various groups of the communities
that were sampled. The groups include the elderly men, the women group, NGO people and then the
youths. The project team also relied on existing literature or documentation on the area to complement
the information that was collected during the field work. Such information was sourced from relevant
government and academic institutions and from traditional institutions in the area.
The selection of the study areas was done on the basis of association and guidance/advice from the
Sustainet partners. The selected villages varied both in terms of irrigation as well as the socioeconomic
parameters such as total land area; households, human and cattle population, literacy and
average family income. Most of the villages selected for the survey were dependent on rain fed
agriculture and had little to no irrigation facilities at their disposal. This report, by documenting five case
studies, makes an effort to strengthen the knowledge base on local climate change adaptation
initiatives being practiced in different states of India, which will definitely facilitate the Govt of India’s
efforts of developing a climate resilient national policy for agriculture development. An assessment of
the factors influencing farm-level adaptation can facilitate the formation of policies and investment
strategies that help moderate potential adverse consequences of long-term climate change. Because
smallholder farmers tend to have a low capacity to adapt to changes in climatic conditions, policies that
help these farmers adapt to global warming and associated climatic extremes are particularly important.
Therefore the present study assesses smallholder farmers' adaptation to climate change in India. The
study identifies farmers' perceptions of climate change and the determinants of farm-level adaptation
strategies, and recommends policies that could help stabilize national and regional food security given
the anticipated adverse effects of climate change.
1.5 Why a focus on small-scale farmers?
Climate change poses particular challenges for India, due to its immense diversity, geographical,
physiographical, social and economic. In India, climate vulnerability and impacts are likely to vary
substantially across regions and populations. Although many impact studies have been carried out for
the agriculture sector (as discussed in the above section) one must acknowledge the fact that climate
change, though a global phenomenon will be mainly faced by resource poor farmers. Agricultural
production remains the main source of livelihood for rural communities in India, providing employment
to more than 65 percent of the population. With likely long-term changes in rainfall patterns and shifting
temperature zones, climate change is expected to significantly affect agricultural production, which
could be detrimental to the region's food security and economic growth. The severe impacts of climate
change have to be managed by these farmers, at a local level. It affects current conditions of
production and their access to resources, including land, water and seeds, as well as their capacity to
apply acquired knowledge.
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Figure iii Farmer presenting the results from group works
Understanding the existing coping and adaptive strategies of small farmers in specific geographic
contexts is a first step toward the identification of appropriate options to increase the potential for
adaptation of particular farmer groups. Local-level analyses can help highlight the primary constraints to
adaptation and the different nature of vulnerability of particular groups. Local-level analyses can further
contribute to prioritize adaptation interventions and thus facilitate the creation of a more sustainable and
equitable production environment (IUCN / IISD / IISDnet, 2004; Wehbe et al., 2005a).
Local methods of agricultural production have climate adaptation (and mitigation) potential. Peasantbased,
low-input agriculture and artisanal methods provide key solutions for reducing climate stress as
they use limited resources for sustaining livelihoods. There is a need to capture local knowledge and
experiences for devising efficient adaptation options for resource-poor farmers. Adaptation happens on
the local level and farmer’s knowledge and experiences of their region are important in this respect.
Climate change adaptation is very site specific; there can be no one-size-fits-all approach. Therefore,
there is a need to consult with smallholders and the resource poor to build on their local knowledge and
experiences, including indigenous practices, and technical options at the local level in order to help
them face the challenges of ensuring food security in a changing climate.
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Figure iv Consultation workshop with the farmers
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2 Case Study Rajasthan
2.1 Background information
Rajasthan is the largest state of India with an area of 342,239 km 2 and a population of 56.47 million, of
which 76.6 percent is rural and 23.4 percent urban (Census 2001).The present study was conducted in
the semi arid eastern plains of Rajasthan in 4 villages of Tonk and Jaipur district, namely Chaksu,
Kawanpura, Suvadyari and Aliyabad. Most of the villages are located around the town of Malpura in
Tonk district.
2.1.1 Climate
Figure v Study regions in Rajasthan
The annual rainfall of the study region varies from 500 to 600 mm 3 . Summer and winter temperatures
are not as extreme as in the arid west but the summer temperature may reach around 45 o C. In winters,
minimum may reach 8 o C. The groundwater table varies from 15 to 25 meters but the annual
fluctuations are high, especially in the years when the south-west monsoon fails and the yearly
replenishments rates are low. 2 Surface water sources are scarce and so harnessing of ground water
resources has been going on at an accelerated pace. A very common feature of the area is drought,
which appears in regular cycles (3 or 7 years) and continues to exert a toll on production.
2 http://waterresources.rajasthan.gov.in/1climate.htm
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2.1.2 Land use and cropping patterns
The main occupation of the people residing in these villages is agriculture. The majority of the
population is completely dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. The land holdings are categorized
into small (1-2 ha), medium (2-10 ha) and large (over 10 ha) size and mostly rain fed. According to
farmers, the average crop production ratio is 5 years of poor production, followed by one year of
average crop production. Over 90 % of the farm holdings in the visited villages are small and medium
farms. Bigger farms are very rare as traditionally farmland is passed on in equal shares to the male
heirs of a family. This practice is splitting up farm holdings into smaller and smaller parcels and it is
common to find fields of a size of less than one ha. The most common crops sown in the study area are
bajra (pearl millet), jowar (sorghum) and pulses in the Kharif (Rainy) season, and wheat, barley, gram
and mustard in the Rabi (winter) season.
2.2 Evidences of Climate change
2.2.1 Scientific evidence
Low rainfall coupled with erratic monsoons makes Rajasthan vulnerable to drought. A recent report of
the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology analyzed the rainfall patterns all over the country and
indicated an overall decreasing trend in the rainfall in Eastern Rajasthan. The study, analyzing more
than 100 years of regional rainfall data found decreasing trends in overall, winter and summer-monsoon
rainfall, while pre- and post-monsoon summer rainfall showed increasing trends (Sontakke et al. 2008).
Government sources indicate a similar development, as they claim to observe a decrease in total
number of rainy days (see Table 1.) As most of the agricultural activity in the study area is rain fed
farming, this is not a good indicator for the farmers.
Table 1. Variations in total number of rainy days in eastern Rajasthan (1975 to 2005)
Year No. of Rainy days
1975 53
1985 34
1995 42
2005 21
Source: www.waterresources.rajasthan.gov.in
2.2.2 Farmer’s experiences
Based on the results of the interviews with the farmers most of the farmers mentioned that the villages
face climatic conditions, characterized by high natural variability and thus frequent climatic extremes as
very high temperatures, prolonged dry spells or heavy precipitation. High natural variability of the
climate in Rajasthan makes it difficult to attribute weather events unambiguously to climate change.
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20

According to farmers, the weather situation has changed drastically compared to some decades ago. In
interviews, farmers reported experiencing recent changes in climate in terms of increasing
temperatures and generally in terms of a decrease in precipitation during the monsoon season.
Farmers observed as well that the monsoon rains are delayed regularly by several weeks and that
rainfall is not distributed equally over time. Intensity of rain has increased in the region instead of three
to four days of steady precipitation per week. Dry spells during the monsoon season are also on the
rise. More untimely rains, in pre- and post monsoon periods, pose additional problems by damaging
harvested or freshly sown crops.
2.3 Climate Change impacts
The following paragraphs contain information that was collected in the course of the farmer’s interviews
and if not otherwise specified is based on oral interactions.
2.3.1 Impact on agriculture and livestock
Temperature and rainfall changes have already affected crop production in many parts of Rajasthan
and the area of arable land as well as pasture land has decreased significantly.
Many interviewed farmers claimed that there are important reductions in crop yields due to changes in
rainfall patterns. Crop losses due to untimely rains have multiplied and low yields due to insufficient
monsoon rains are becoming the rule rather than the exception. The same is true for the winter season.
Higher temperatures reduce the length of the growing period for winter crops, especially wheat.
Farmers are constrained to sow the crops later, which also results in decreased yields. Insufficient
rainfall in December and January contributes to the problem according to farmers in the villages of
Chaksu, Kanwarpura, Suvadyari, and Aliyabad.
The important challenges identified by farmers:
• Lower crop production
• Lower production of fodder crops
• Loss of agro biodiversity
Most of the farmers have lost their indigenous seed varieties and are now dependent on the market for
the supply of seeds. According to interview respondents, Traditional seed varieties were much more
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21

esistant to dry spells, high temperatures and other detrimental weather influences. While planting
traditional crop varieties, farmers used to get some yields under conditions where the new varieties fail
completely. Three decades ago, most of the farmers were using indigenous seed varieties. Now this
ratio is reduced to 50%. Around half of the farmers are completely dependent on the market for their
seed supply.
Climatic variations have indirectly affected livestock population: Due to deficient rainfall and droughts,
the fertility of natural pastureland has reduced significantly. In order to maintain the cattle population,
farmers are constraint to use increasing shares of their land for fodder production. Most of them cannot
afford this and have to sell part of their livestock. Farmers claimed that the number of cattle was
reduced by 70 % when compared to 1990!
2.3.2 Impact on water availability
Important problems related to water availability in the
region:
• Drying up of ponds and wells and thus shortages
of water for irrigation purposes
• Shortage of safe drinking water during longer
periods of the year
• Lowering of ground water table due to over
extraction and insufficient recharge
Farmers in the region claimed that they receive around 25 percent less rainfall in the last decade. This
is a subjectively perceived amount and cannot be backed by scientific proof. Official statistics only
indicate a moderate decrease in total annual rainfall despite an important reduction in rainy days (see
3.2.1).
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Reduction in rainfall is considered the major cause of droughts and
lower availability of ground water. According to farmers, in 1981 ground
water was available at 20-30 ft as compared to 100-120 ft in the year
2009. On further probing, some of the farmers pointed out that water
drawn by using pump sets are one of the reasons for a depleting
ground water table. Earlier communities used to decide on the depth of
the wells and the bore depth used to be similar across a village. This
assured at least an equal distribution of available water resources
among the villagers. Nowadays, individuals can bore as deep as they
want if they can afford it, competition for accessing ground water
through new tube wells is spreading and pressure on groundwater is
increasing. Due to the retreat of the groundwater level, some villages
face fluoride contamination in their drinking water. Villagers reported to
suffer from diseases related to over consumption of fluoride e.g.
Fluorosis.
The following factors have contributed in various degrees to the
hydrological drought in the region:
• Consecutive failure of monsoon in the last 10 years and
reduction in natural recharge of groundwater
• Erratic rainfall led to use of ground water even during Kharif
(monsoon season) in recent years
• Delayed regulations on use of groundwater
The people in the study area perceive drought primarily as the result of
failure of rainfall. Some attribute the failure of rainfall to vagaries of
nature (which no one can influence) and some others perceive it to be
manmade. Those who feel that it is manmade, think that the loss of
vegetative cover in the region plays an important role. People recall that
the Aravali mountain was covered with good forest cover 20-25 years
ago. The forests contained a rich diversity of fauna (including tigers)
and flora. Most of it has vanished now due to the widespread cutting of
trees for various purposes. Perennial rivers and streams that originated
from these hills have also partially disappeared nowadays. Even though
there were cyclical failures of rainfall in the past, the livelihoods of the
people were in the opinion of the farmers not as gravely affected as
today. The study revealed that many of the ancient water reservoirs
have dried up due to low rainfall in the region. One such example exists
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23
Kalyan Mal, President
of Kisan Sewa Samiti
(KSS) informed that
village ponds are
drying out more
frequently and having
long period of
recharge when
compared to earlier
times. Sometimes,
even the hand pumps,
installed by the
government don’t help
due to depleting
ground water source.
This at times results
in non-availability of
safe drinking water.
The reasons
attributed to none
availability is the
erratic rainfall
distribution in this part
of the country. The
challenge is more
grave as the whole
region depends on
monsoon for
replenishment.

the in the village Aliyabad, in Jaipur district, where one of oldest Bawari 3 (traditional water reservoir)
has dried up.
Figure vi An ancient water conservation structure (Bawri) at village Aliyabad, Dist. Jaipur, Rajasthan
One of the farmers from the village remembered that before 1981 the Bawri mostly contained water
throughout the year. After the rainy season, a depth of up to 80 ft was possible. In March 2009, the tank
has dried up completely for the third year in a row.
Farmers claimed that some of the rivers flowing through the region have dried up or even disappeared
eg. Bagru, Bandi, Masi, Khera Khusi. According to farmers, these rivers were having sufficient water to
fulfill the need of the villagers for agriculture as well as livestock purposes back in the 1980’s.
3 Bawri is the local names given to step wells. These ancient water-harvesting systems were mainly set up in cities and big towns to provide a
water supply to the community. They were constructed at exorbitant cost and were often monumental, beautiful mansions with fine embroidery
stone works covering large areas and were associated with religion and culture
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2.3.3 Impact on Livelihood
Farmers in the study area almost completely depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. This economic
activity is closely linked to the natural resource base and is therefore highly sensitive to changes in
climatic conditions, especially in the absence of irrigation facilities. The developments described in the
previous sections have a decisive impact on smallholder’s income in the study area. Some of the
farmers claimed that their income, mainly due to crop losses and high input prices, has fallen by one
third. Many farmers are not able to live solely from the income gained through agricultural activities
anymore and are compelled to look for other livelihood options. Some of the villagers find work
provided by the government through its “National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” (NREGA) 4 . This
employment scheme guarantees poor households a maximum of hundred workdays a year in public
construction programs.
Table 2: Comparative achievements of NREGA in Rajasthan (Source: Rural Development & Panchayati Raj.
Department, Government of Rajasthan)
Indicator
Person days
generated (lakhs per
dist)
Average days of
employment provided
to a household
Completion of 100
days employ
Average expenditure
per dist (Crores)
Performance
2006-07 2007-08
Raj. All India Raj. All India
166 45 139.86 40.14
85 44 77 41
54% 34% 42% 11%
116.60 44.06 125.97 44.01
Many interviewed farmers are taking advantage of this offer, despite the very hard working conditions
and the minimum wages of 100 rupees a day. It is common knowledge however, that many of the
illiterate farmers get cheated by the administrators and work much less than 100 days a year. Still,
4 More Information under: www.nrega.nic.in
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NREGA in Rajasthan plays an important role and is one of the major sources of income for many poor
farmers and land less laborers. Compared to other states in India, NREGA in Rajasthan is particularly
active. The relative importance of NREGA in Rajasthan compared to the Indian average is shown in
Table 2.
Migration: NREGA has the advantage of providing work close to the villages, but not all farmers find
work through the government schemes. One direct impact of declining agricultural production is the
increase in migration rates. During the survey, it became clear that a substantial percentage of the
village population is migrating every year to Jaipur or even to other states in order to find work and
supplement their income. Around 70% of the household in the study area have at least one person
migrating every year. However, the ratio of people migrating varied strongly from village to village and
is depending on the year in question as well. A study examining migration rates in Rajasthan during
drought periods reports important changes in occupation patterns. A severe drought in 2002-03 forced
80% of the farmers to quit the fields and join the labor force, both at relief sites or in the regular
economy (Rathore, 2004).
2.4 Adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers
A old folklore from the Marwar area of Rajasthan says: “A century is made up of seven years of famine,
twenty-seven years of plenty, sixty-four years of semi-drought, and two years of extreme drought”
(Aparna 2001). Small-scale farmers in Rajasthan have continuously adapted their farming practices to
climate variability inherent to their environment. The experience of centuries has taught the traditional
farmer an “empirical art of practicing agriculture”, in tune with nature’s vagrancies (Randhawa et al.
1961). In this sense, traditional knowledge of Rajasthani farmers can prove extremely useful to address
climate change challenges in Rajasthan or other areas. However, some local NGO specialists claim
that farmers were better adapted to their environment a few decades ago than they are now. High input
agriculture introduced in the area in the name of technological progress made farmers more vulnerable
to climate hazards, rather than improving their livelihoods.
Nevertheless, this traditional knowledge still exists in the villages and some practices could prove very
useful as adaptation measures to new climate change threats. They are described in the following
section.
2.4.1 Agriculture sector
Sustainable soil and crop management: Instead of relying on high input agriculture by using hybrid
seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, some farmers still trust on the force of traditional soil and
crop management practices. Such practices consider the highly variable environment and the fragile
ecosystem in a far better way than agricultural activity, solely aiming at maximizing outputs. Such
sustainable practices include among others:
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26

Adoption of biodiversity based organic farming: In the study area, some innovative farmers are partially
practicing organic farming on their plots by using compost based fertilizer and bio pesticides, produced
out of locally available weed. Such practices help maintaining an intact biodiversity, which provides
resilience to the ecosystem against adverse impacts impact of climate change. Soil fertility and
moisture content of the fields are improving rapidly with reduced input of chemical fertilizers. Farmers in
the study villages are practicing summer ploughing. This is one of the important traditional methods to
control insects and diseases. Summer ploughing helps to kill weeds, hibernating insects and diseasecausing
organisms by exposing them to the summer heat.
Use of indigenous seeds and crop varieties: Many farmers in the study area are dependent on seeds
provided in the local markets. These seeds are essentially high yielding hybrid varieties, which are sold
at high prices. The inherent problem with those hybrid seeds has been described in section 3.2.3.
However, many farmers are still using indigenous seeds. According to them, the indigenous seeds are
more resistant to drought as compared to hybrid ones and do not need the same amount of fertilizer
input to produce decent yields. In addition, farmers can save considerable amounts of money by
conserving their own seeds, which buffers financial losses in case of crop failure.
Figure vii A women farmer separating good seeds for storage
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27

To offset crop failure arising from rainfall variability and unpredictability, farmers cultivate several
hardier (or drought-tolerant) types of the same crop species. Many prefer the use of local grains such
as millets and sorghums that are more drought-resistant than
many maize or wheat varieties. In rain deficient years, such
crops fare considerably better in term of yields, than the more
water demanding species. During interviews, women farmer
provided the information on the existence of indigenous wheat
known as deshi gehu (local wheat), or lal gehu (red wheat).
Deshi or indigenous wheat has just about vanished from this
region and was not planted in any of the visited villages.
According to these elderly women, this wheat variety grows
with far less water than modern wheat, and might be life saving
in drought years.
Shifting cropping patterns and delayed sowing: Due to reduced
water availability, some farmers have stopped growing crops,
which require greater amount of water such as cotton and
wheat. They have successfully shifted cropping patterns to
species requiring less water. They started growing cumin
seeds, gram, black gram, and some oilseed crops like mustard.
A diversity of crop types and varieties are grown in rotation and
in different areas of farm properties, which spreads the risk of
losing an entire year's production. The important crops grown
in the mixed cropping system are Pearl millet, Sesame, Green
gram, Sorghum and Maize.
By necessity, farmers shift their sowing periods according to
the weather. Earlier, farmers were taking decisions about their
cropping pattern and sowing time on Krishi Panchang
(agricultural vedic calendar), which includes a climate forecast
for an entire year based on planetary positions. Such traditional
weather forecast is not working appropriately anymore and
28
We plant less wheat and
no chickpeas anymore as
these crops failed too
often. We shifted cropping
patterns to local varieties
of pulses, green gram,
millets and mustard, which
are less water demanding.
Rotating green gram and
mustard works very well
and both crops have a
ready market. We use the
money to buy additional
wheat for our rotis”,
explains Ram Prasad Jat
from Kaanwarpura village.
farmers adapted to changing weather conditions by taking more spontaneous decisions. In the absence
of efficient weather forecast such decisions are however risky and many farmers reported to be
helpless facing increased weather variability. Where possible, some farmers are re-introducing native
grasses for pasturing. These grasses are drought resistant and even support rotational grazing,
reducing thereby the fodder penury.
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2.4.2 Water sector
The most limiting factor for agricultural activity in the study region is
water availability. Therefore, water conservation practices and
ensuring efficient use of available resources are key to any
successful adaptation strategy in this dry region.
Water conservation: Traditionally, rainwater harvesting is practiced
in arid and semi-arid areas of Rajasthan to provide water for all
purposes. Every household, who can afford it, builds its own small
tank to meet their daily water needs. These household tanks only
provide water during a limited time of the year and hand-pumps are
necessary to pump up groundwater during the dry season. With the
increased intervention and focus by the government, every village
in the study area has several pumps at their disposal and drinking
water is only a problem in severe drought periods.
In the study area, communities have developed water management
systems adapted to the local conditions. Water harvesting
structures are owned and maintained by the community and access
rights managed by a village committee. Renovation and
construction work is financed by contributions and labor input of the
villagers. In exchange, water for irrigation and livestock purposes is
provided free of cost.
Sustainable water management
More important for the village as whole are the communal storage
facilities. The rainwater is generally stored in tanks or directed into
mechanisms as earthen ponds, which serve as source for basic
canal irrigation and recharge the local aquifer. Almost every village
in the study area has at least one of these communal water storage
facilities, called bawari, jhalara ore nadi. This method is centuries
old but still is a cost-effective way to get water for irrigation and
livestock without overusing the groundwater. When properly
maintained, such structures mitigate drought impacts at least
partially. Unfortunately, most of the structures are in a very bad
shape or simply too small to provide water throughout the year.
Community-level water management: A very good water
management project in Biphur village was established through a
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29
Farmers recognized the
need to improve their
rainwater storage
capacities. During field
visits, it was observed that
communities have taken the
initiative to restore or
enlarge old structures, or
construct new storage
facilities without any
outside help. Due to
financial constraints,
lacking knowledge or
insufficient organization at
the community level, such
initiatives are however not
possible everywhere.
According to farmers, also
NREGA projects focus
increasingly on restoring
traditional harvesting
structures. In this case, the
government covers labor
and material costs and
villagers even earn
additional income by
improving their
infrastructure.

cooperation of the village committee with a local NGO called CECOEDECON 5 . Measures taken were
tuned to resolve the most urgent issues identified by the villagers. The technical knowledge of
Cecoedecon assured a good quality of the work, which was carried out by the villagers themselves. For
an overview of the technical measures undertaken in Biphur and their impacts on water availability, see
Table 3.
Table 3. Water management in Bhipur: selected technical measures and their impacts
Technical measures Impacts of the measures
Construction of bunds around fields to
preserve water and topsoil
Digging of feeder channels to collect and divert
additional rainwater into the village pond
Construction of gully plugs to slow down water
runoff and increase water up-take of the soil
Deepening of wells for allocation of drinking
water
Increase of soil moisture and prevention of
erosion
Year round availability of water in the pond
that can be used for irrigation, to keep fish and
to grow water chestnut
Less soil erosion
Formation of natural ponds behind the plugs,
serving as additional drinking sources for
cattle
Guarantees drinking water in time of drought
Such community based adaptation projects as in Biphur have indeed a very good chance of success.
Integrating the local communities in project design and follow up facilitates effective interventions and
ensures adequate maintaining of the infrastructure. Financial and technical constraints faced by the
villagers are solved by NGO intervention. Non-governmental organizations active in the study area
encouraging farmers to use a number of water conserving techniques in order to improving soil
moisture content and increasing water efficiency. Among others such techniques include:
Mulching: cover the fields with plant residue to preserve soil moisture
Planting of vegetation in strategic locations to limit erosion and support soil fertility
5 See: www.cecoedecon.org
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30

Furrow irrigation: small trenches inside the field in order to
increase water uptake
Farm bunding: small earthen walls around a plot in order to avoid
water runoff and maximize water uptake of the crops
The above-mentioned measures cannot resolve the problem of
water scarcity in the region but ensure a more efficient use of
available water. Standing alone, such actions will not be sufficient
to deal with actual and future impacts of climate change. In
combination with increased water storage capacity and an efficient
resource management, they can however have a considerable
impact.
2.4.3 Other adaptive measures
Stocking food and fodder: Stocking food and fodder during good
crop years and accumulating other assets that can be sold when
necessary is a common practice in the arid and semi arid areas of
Rajasthan (Rathod, 2005).
Fodder for cattle is difficult to get and very expensive during dry
periods. Hence, farmers stock it whenever there is a surplus. They
use a traditional technique of storage, where fodder is arranged in
the form of small huts, deflecting rainwater and keeping the inside
parts dry.
In the visited villages, farmers still obtain a significant portion of
their subsistence requirements from wild plants in and around crop
fields. Farmers collect for example pods of the Acacia species for
medical purposes and to prepare certain dishes. Neem, a local
weed, is used as an ingredient for bio-pesticides.
Diversification of income: Shifting livelihood patterns away from
agriculture is already an important strategy in the study area to
cope with the impact of climatic variations. Seasonal migration in
search for wage labor is very common. Nearly 70% of all
households surveyed reported that at least one member of their
family is migrating regularly in search of work.
31
.
31
Most farmers in the study
villages store food and fodder
for drought periods. Every
farmer has a small mud
granary to stock grain
(sorghum, millets, and maize -
for a shorter period of time),
especially the ones resistant
to post-harvest pests. They
use ash and neem oil to
control insect- and pest
infestation. Grain can be
stored for several years inside
the mud granaries, protecting
them from excessive heat and
humidity. The quantity of
grains possible to store in this
traditional granaries, is
however only sufficient to
meet food requirements for
one year. This is not sufficient
to mitigate impacts of longer
drought periods

Figure viii Fodder storage in one of the village in Rajasthan
In drought periods, this ratio is going up dramatically and a substantial part of the village is moving to
cities in search for work. Farmers sometimes move long distances together with their cattle, in search
for pastures in less drought struck areas. Farmers reported that many community members, mostly
women have partially changed their occupation from agriculture to casual wage labor, which helps
maintaining income levels on an acceptable level during drought periods. Such strategies are likely to
play an increasingly important role in the near future. According to farmers, conditions for agriculture
are getting worse and worse and many, especially younger people have left the villages and migrated
permanently in search for a better live. As an older farmer from Badpthraj village puts it: “We are
increasingly facing deteriorating weather conditions. If this continuous like this, we will have no other
option than to migrate permanently to the city,”
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2.5 Recommendations for future action
When asked about the need for outside help, farmers where not hesitating to suggest possible
intervention areas. The following recommendations are based on outcomes of farmer interviews and
their priorities as well as subjective impressions of the study team.
2.5.1 Special emphasis on water sector
The most limiting factor in the study area is water availability. Thus, the key to build up climate
resilience in Rajasthan lies in the water sector. According to farmers, several interventions in the area
are desirable:
• Improve rainwater-harvesting capacities through direct benefit to the farmers: Take advantage
of existing traditional harvesting structures. Renovate, extend and build new tanks and ponds in
order to enlarge storage capacity for water.
• People’s participation in Watershed management projects (WMP’s): In order to efficiently use
available resources, specialists need to analyze watersheds of the villages and design adequate
harvesting plans. Well designed WMP’s could have a huge impact on water availability as seen
in Biphur. Support local NGO’s active in the area is probably an efficient solution to achieve this
goal.
• Assure sustainability by building up local management bodies: Help villagers build up
committees, which take care of management task as well as maintain existing infrastructure.
• Capacity building in the area of water saving agricultural techniques, as biodiversity based
organic farming practices.
2.5.2 Agriculture sector
Cattle conservation programs: Many farmers complained about declining cattle populations. As
livestock is an essential part of agriculture in the study area, programs designed to maintain or increase
cattle population are desirable. Among others, farmers suggested these concrete measures:
• Abolish subsidies for foreign breeds and support local breeds.
• Fodder banks or subsidized fodder should be available in drought periods.
• Possibility to bring cattle to gaushalas (cattle camps) in case of drought.
• Veterinary services are needed in the villages.
Increase grain and fodder storage capacities: Improve food security through construction of larger grain
storage facilities, coupled with encouragement to stock larger quantities of food for calamity times.
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33

Extension services: Extension services for agriculture related activities are needed. Diversify production
into agro-forestry or adopting more sustainable land use practices requires adequate training. This is
absent in most of the villages and is very much desired by the farming communities.
Assure access to weather forecast: According to government officials, weather forecast exists for most
of the visited areas. However, farmers seldom have access to such information or are simply not aware
of these services. Assure adequate distribution of information to remote villages through awareness
raising campaigns is a possibility.
Affordable crop insurances: Farmers mentioned several times that affordable crop insurance would
make a huge difference for them. Designing and implementing pilot projects in this area is desirable.
********
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3 Case Study Andhra Pradesh
3.1 Background information
The following case study was conducted in the villages of Madirapelli, Varige Redai Palli and Chinna
Jalal Puram, which are situated in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. Some workshops involved
farmers from neighboring villages as well. All of the villages are located in Singanamana Madal, south
of the city of Anantapur.
3.1.1 Climate
Figure ix Study region in Andhra Pradesh
Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh is one of the driest in the country as monsoons evade this area
due to its unfortunate location in a rain shadow region. Being far from the East Coast, it does not enjoy
the full benefits of North East Monsoons and being cut off by the high Western-Ghats, the South West
Monsoons often bring little rainfall as well. As a result, the district is deprived of both the monsoons and
frequently subjected to droughts. The area receives 553 mm average rainfall, mostly during southwest
monsoon in the months of June to September. The normal rainfall for the South West Monsoon period
is 338 mm, which forms about 60% of the total rainfall for the year. The absence of the South West
monsoon rains often leads to drought and thereby failure of crops in the District. The rainfall for the
North East monsoon period is only 156.0 mm, which represents around 28% of annual rainfall (October
to February).
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35

The remaining months of March, April and May are warm and dry. The normal daily maximum
temperature ranges between 29 degree C and 42 degree C. November, December and January are
cooler months when the temperature falls to around 17.2 degree C. 6
In Anantapur, rainfall intensity, frequency and distribution are highly erratic and dry spells with droughts
are a very common phenomenon. Generally, only 3 out of ten years are suitable for agricultural
production under rain-fed conditions. Since 2000-2001, there have been almost only drought years, as
rainfall exceeded the average only in 2007. 7 Farmers can never be sure when the rains will come and
how much precipitation they will get in a given period.
3.1.2 Land holdings and cropping patterns
The total area of the district is 19’130 km 2 , whereof 48.25 percent is used for agricultural activities. The
net sown area in the season 2006/2007 was 923’000 ha.
Land use: The cultivable land in the district is mostly under occupation of marginal (below 1ha -
34.47%), Small (1-2 ha - 31.03%) and medium (2-10ha - 33.03%) holdings. Bigger farms, above 10 ha
of arable land constitute only 1% of the total (see Table 4). 8
Table 4: Land holding pattern of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Category Holdings Area
Nr.
Holdings
of % of Total Area in ha % of Total
Marginal ( > 1 ha) 206345 34.47 113984 9.51
Small (1 – 2 ha) 185702 31.02 272947 22.79
Medium (2-10 ha) 197727 33.03 673986 56.26
Large (

satisfying basic food requirements. As growing paddy is relatively water intensive and crops often fail
due to insufficient rainfall, only farmers with access to irrigation are now able to grow it (personal
interaction with farmers). Where irrigation is available, farmers also cultivate some vegetables such as
ladyfingers, tomatoes and eggplant for sale in the local markets.
In the winter (Rabi) season, Bengalgram, Sunflower, Groundnut and Paddy are the most common
crops. In the last decades, a majority of the farmers in the area specialized in growing groundnut. It is a
relatively drought resilient crop, which is in principle well adapted to the local weather and soil
conditions. Its wide spread use reflects farm-level adjustments to arid conditions. Most often, groundnut
is cultivated in monocultures but intercropping with pigeon pea is a common practice as well.
Cash crops: Groundnut is a cash crop, which has a ready market in Anantapur. However, the heavy
reliance on groundnut sales makes the farmers more dependent on good market prices of the same. A
recent study by “The Energy and Resources Institute” (TERI), identified the area as double exposed to
climate change and Globalization in the sense that farmers are exposed to growing import competition
and stagnating market prices of groundnut as well as to detrimental weather changes. The study
concludes that: “there is a lack of alternative, drought-tolerant, and economically viable crops because
institutional barriers have made them unprofitable… Without irrigation, water harvesting systems, or
alternatives to groundnuts, dry land farmers in Anantapur are highly vulnerable to both climate change
and trade liberalization” (TERI, 2008).
3.2 Climate Change - observations and future trends
3.2.1 Scientific evidence
There is an observed warming trend over Andhra Pradesh in the years from 1901-2005. Warming in the
order of 0.3 degree C during the 20 th Century was observed for the whole of Andhra Pradesh but
significant regional differences exist (Sotake et al, 2008).
The actual consequences of the warming on rainfall patterns are difficult to assess. Lacking data on a
local level and high natural variability of rainfall patterns in the area impede a precise statement. For the
total of the state, a slight increase in total annual rainfall is observable over the 20 th century. However,
this is not the case for Anantapur district (Nair et al, 2007, Sotake et al, 2008). Possible future changes
of climate under the assumption of the commonly used ‘A2’ 10 greenhouse gas emission scenario are as
follows: Future warming in the order of 2-3 degree C is very likely to occur during the 21 st century. A
combination of various General Circulation Models (GCM) project temperature increase of a magnitude
of 1.28–2.75 degree C by 2020; 2.60–3.65 degree C by 2050; and 4.75–4.95 degree C by 2080. This
10
A2 scenario falls in the category of ‘Medium-High’ emissions. The cumulative global carbon emissions between
2000 and 2100 for this scenario is taken to be 1862 Gt C (1GtC = 1 giga or Bt of Carbon; 1 tone of Carbon = 3.67
tones of CO2).
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increase occurs in all seasons of the year but is more pronounced in the cold season (Sotake et al,
2008).
For the study area, the coarser-resolution global climate models project that this site will become
warmer, with more frequent heat waves and fewer frost days by mid-century. The models project that
this site will become wetter, characterized by increased rainfall intensity. Runoff (precipitation minus
evapotranspiration), a measure of water availability, and the maximum period between rainy days are
expected to increase. 11
3.2.2 Farmers’ experiences
Climate change at the local level is difficult to assess due to lack of data and poor understanding of
microclimate. Most of the farming communities cannot classify the term climate change but are well
capable of describing changes in weather. Farmers in Anantapur are already witnessing changes in
• Higher minimum and maximum temperatures in general but especially in
winter
• Increase in untimely rainfall (pre and post monsoon showers)
• Delayed beginning of monsoon and thus shorter growing seasons
• Less stable monsoon rains
• Less rainy days characterized by heavier precipitation
• Less rain in the winter months
climatic conditions. Interestingly, the named changes correspond well to possible future changes
anticipated by the scientific community for later in the 21th century. Asked about concrete, observable
changes, farmers replied to experience the following:
All farmers observed changes in weather conditions reduce crop yields. Especially groundnut does not
support untimely rainfall and yields decrease significantly if rain falls at inappropriate times. In addition,
higher temperatures have detrimental effects on the health of the villagers and the expenditures for
health care are on the rise. Especially elderly people and young children are vulnerable.
11 World Bank, Climate Change Data Portal:
http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/home.cfm?page=globlemap
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3.3 Climate Change Impacts
The following paragraphs contain information that was collected in the course of the farmers interviews
and if not otherwise specified is based on oral interactions.
3.3.1 Agriculture Sector
In the arid regions of Andhra Pradesh, the yields of all the major
crops – rice, groundnut, and jowar – are expected to decline,
although groundnut is expected to fare better than others due to its
resistance to prolonged dry spells (TERI, 2008). Under a modest to
harsh climate change scenario - a substantial rise in temperatures
(2.3 C – 3.4 C) and a modest but erratic increase in rainfall (4% to
8%) - small farmer incomes could decline by as much as 20%
(World Bank, 2008). This suggests that in the near future,
agriculture as currently practiced may not be capable of sustaining
large populations on small rain-fed farms anymore.
Future projected temperature rise is likely to enhance weather
variability further and weather conditions becoming increasingly
unpredictable for farmers. Projections indicate a modest rise in
rainfall quantity. This increase is however not beneficial for farmers
as additional rainfall is projected to fall in the pre- and post
monsoon periods. Such “untimely” rainfall is rather damaging crops
and reducing yields than providing a valuable additional water
supply.
Growing groundnut: Nowadays, a large majority of the farmers grow
groundnut in the study area because the crop is well adapted to dry
conditions. Despite the apparent advantages of growing groundnut,
farmers, during interviews, mentioned several problems, which are
directly related to groundnut mono cropping: “In the first few years I
managed to get decent yields without applying a lot of external
inputs. After three seasons of mono cropping, I realized that the
yields started to decline. I am now applying substantial amounts of
chemical fertilizer and still do not get yields like in the first years. The soils of my fields are just not that
fertile as they used to be,” says another farmer from Madirepalli.
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39
Farmer R. Kumar, from
Madirepalli village explains:
“Groundnut is the major crop
since the late nineties. Almost
80% of the sown area in my
village is now under
groundnut cultivation. The
crop does not need a lot of
water to produce decent
yields and we normally get
good prices for it in the local
market. With the money we
buy rice and other groceries
we don’t produce our self.”

Figure ix Groundnut field after harvesting the crop
According to most of the farmers, pest attacks and plant diseases are also increasing in frequency
since they mainly grow groundnut. In case of untimely rainfall, groundnut mono-cultures are prone to
fungus infestation, which can destroy whole harvests.
Fertility loss of the soils, pest problems and therefore increased dependency on expensive external
inputs as chemical fertilizers and pesticides was one of the major concerns farmers raised during
interviews. Hence, despite groundnut's suitability to the harsh conditions there are well-recognized risks
that prolonged mono cropping brings: pests and diseases as well as fertility loss of soils.
Decreased livestock and fodder availability: Cattle constitute a substantial part of agriculture in
Anantapur. Cow dung is used as fertilizer, cow urine is an ingredient for bio-pesticide production and
milk sales often provide a substantial part of farmer’s income. In rainfall deficient years, marginal land
used for fodder production does not provide sufficient output to sustain the cattle population.
As fodder prices in such times are prohibitively high, selling parts of the animal stock is the only option.
According to farmers, cattle stock has reduced significantly in the study area over the last 10 to 15
years. Cattle per family dropped from around 6-8 animals to only 1-2.
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Reduced income and food security: According to farmers, a variety of factors has reduced food
security of the communities in Anantapur: One of the factors is specialization on one crop, mostly
groundnut. Earlier, farmers used to grow a large variety of different food crops. If, due to unfavorable
weather conditions, one or two of the crops failed, there was still enough food available from crops that
were less affected. Nowadays, if for one or the other reason the crop fails, there is not enough money
available to buy food for the rest of the year and whole families have to search for employment in
nearby towns or work as laborers on other’s fields.
A majority of small-scale farmers reported that they are not able to
support their families solely through agriculture anymore. A warmer
climate, erratic rainfall, reduced growing seasons, declining soil
fertility and thus declining yields push farmers closer to the margin
of subsistence. 20% to 30 % of the population in the studied
villages has to migrate every year and find additional income
sources in order to survive.
Government employment schemes as the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 12 , where poor families work
for minimum wages in public projects as road construction,
nowadays form a vital part of income for many families.
3.3.2 Water sector
As shown in section 3.1.1, water is a very scarce resource in
Anantapur. Open wells frequently dry up during the dry season and
water for drinking purposes and irrigation has to be brought to the
surface with pumps. Low rainfall and increased use of groundwater
for irrigation have lowered the groundwater table significantly
during the last decades. According to farmers, the groundwater
table before the rainy season can fall as deep as 300 feet
(approximately 100 m).
According to farmers and NGO personnel, the frequency of drought
periods in Anantapur is increasing. In the late 20 th century,
droughts appeared in intervals of approximately 7 years. In the last
decades, this ratio almost doubled and farmers witness prolonged
dry spells every 3-4 years.
12 For more information see: http://nrega.nic.in/
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41
Water availability is the major
problem in our area. Some 20
years ago, water used to be
scarce as well, but we could
rely on a stable monsoon
most of the time. In a normal
year, rainfall was good
enough to support rain-fed
crops in the summer season
and provided sufficient soil
moisture to grow crops during
the winter season. The
groundwater table used to be
four times higher at the time
and open wells only dried up
in severe drought periods.
Nowadays, even tube wells
are not a reliable water
source anymore as the water
table often falls below the
bore depth,” say farmers
during a workshop in Chinna
Jalal Puram.

3.4 Adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers
Natural variability of weather has always been high in Anantapur, rendering agriculture often
precarious. Climate change is expected to further enhance weather variability and impose additional
challenges on small-scale farmers. Some adaptation and coping strategies farmers in Anantapur were
mentioning during interviews are discussed in the following paragraph. These practices may however
not be sufficient to deal with future impacts of climate change.
3.4.1 Coping through migration and sales of assets
One of the most common coping strategies in drought years was and still is migration. The male
members or whole families migrate to nearby towns to search for work in the non-agricultural, mostly in
the construction sector. In hard times, children are taken out of school and send to work to support the
family. If the whole family migrates, the cattle are taken along whenever possible. However, insufficient
fodder stocks and high prices for the same in dry periods, constrain the farmers to sell their animals.
This is not a sustainable practice as prices for cattle in drought periods fall drastically due to excess
supply. In better times, cattle have to be repurchased at higher prices as farmers are dependent on
additional income through milk sales and on cow dung for fertilizing purposes.
3.4.2 Agricultural practices
Delayed sowing: During interviews, farmers revealed that they are adjusting their cropping calendar to
changing weather conditions. According to them, the beginning of the monsoon season is constantly
shifting backwards, reducing the length of growth period for crops. Traditionally, end of April used to be
the time for sowing crops. Farmers could expect first monsoon rains soon after and rainfall was mostly
constant until August. Nowadays, the rains are frequently delayed by several weeks and are less
regularly distributed over the rainy season. Accordingly, sowing time has gradually shifted to mid May
or even beginning of June. This is adaptation per necessity, as a reduced growing season means less
crop yields. Farmers do not have a choice as sowing early without irrigation would produce crop failure.
Changing cropping patterns: As the growing seasons get shorter, farmers are constraint to adapt their
cropping patterns. Where no irrigation is available, farmers have stopped growing paddy as the crop
failed too often because of deficient rainfall. Pearl- and Finger-Millet as well as short duration pulses
(red gram) are planted instead. The disadvantage is that millets are very labour intensive to harvest and
growing them implies a decreasing social status. Millets are in fact considered to be “food for the poor”.
Also selling surpluses is not lucrative as the price for millets is very low. However, growing millets and
pulses instead of rice has several advantages: These crops are better adapted to local conditions: They
are more heat resistant, need less water and have shorter growing cycles. This allows for increased
food security for the farmers and their families and preserves scarce water resources. Additionally, crop
residues from millets are good fodder, which can be dried and stored over the year, allowing
maintenance of a bigger cattle population.
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However, the rainfall quantity is not the only problem: “If we get
rain nowadays, it is very common that it rains heavily and for a
shorter time than it used to earlier. The problem with this is that
the soils are not able to take up all the water and lots of it runs
off to unproductive areas. In general, we witness a decrease in
soil moisture and therefore in productivity of our fields.”
Mixed cropping is a promising adaptation strategy for small-scale farmers to reduce risk of complete
crop failure. Some farmers have started growing groundnut together with pigeon pea, which mitigates
the risk from reduced groundnut yields. Both crops are well adapted to water scarce conditions
prevailing in Anantapur and grow well even on relatively poor soils. Mixed cropping of different
vegetables like eggplant, tomatoes and ladyfingers together with corn and millets is working well too.
Despite mixed fields are more labour intensive for farmers, they do have several other advantages:
They are less prone to pest attacks, allow for a diversified diet, spread the risk of having no yields at all
from failure of one crop and thus generate additional income in the long run.
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3.4.3 Water sector
Sustainable water management practices are vital to adaptation in water scarce and drought prone
areas as Anantapur district. Deepening of existing and digging of new wells can bring some relieve in
the short run but is not a sustainable practice as the root of the problem is not addressed. Worse, new
extraction sites may distort incentives from using the scarce resource sustainably and encourage
overuse.
Social regulation systems, based on self-restriction and resource sharing is a viable adaptation
strategy, reducing water consumption and guaranteeing equal distribution of scarce resources. A
functioning example of sustainable groundwater management based on social regulation schemes is
found in Madirepalli village. This village has a history of managing surface water from the local river
through a traditional Gonchi system. With help of a local NGO named Rural Integrated Development
Society (RIDS) 13 , this traditional system was revived and applied to the groundwater resources as well.
The situation in Madirepalli in the year 2003 was characterized by increased competition for
groundwater among the farmers. In a village of only 166 households and a cultivable area of 690 acres,
there were 139 tube wells. More than half of them had no water, as they all use the same aquifer and
some of the farmers outwit their neighbour by drilling a few hundred feet deeper. Increasing amounts of
money went into digging of new wells, often without success. A race to access the limited water
resources was on, resulting in overuse and misallocation of existing groundwater (Dixit et al., 2007).
Since 2003, RIDS intended to stop the indiscriminate digging of wells and worked out a distribution and
allocation system to sustainably manage existing resources. RIDS worked out a water demand and
supply scenario for the village with the intention to show the benefits of sharing water resources among
all villagers. The inhabitants of Madirepalli agreed to draft a resolution for regulating the use of their
groundwater:
• No more new tube wells
• No more growing of high water consuming crops like paddy
• Farmers having water in their wells share a reasonable quantity of water with their neighbours
• Where possible invest in water saving devices like sprinklers and drip irrigation
13 Rural Integrated Development Society (RIDS)
# 13-724-39-A, Khaja Nagar, Anantapur - 515 001
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The results of the regulation scheme are promising: No more wells have been dug in the village since
2004 and overuse of groundwater is reduced to a sustainable level. The cultivated area has not
reduced but paddy crops were replaced with irrigated dry crops such as groundnut, pigeon pea, pulses
and horticulture crops.
Investment in drip irrigation or sprinklers is a good way to reduce water consumption in agriculture.
However, most of the time farmers are not capable of making investments of that scale. Farmers were
not aware of all government schemes, including schemes that had provisions of subsidies for such
irrigation facilities.
Mulching, trenches and canal building: To make efficient use of available rainwater, farmers practice
mulching by applying crop residues on their fields in order to keep soil temperatures relatively low and
preserve available soil moisture. Trenches are built around the field to collect and divert as much
rainwater as possible to the arable land. In steeper parts such trenches are built horizontally to the
slope in order to limit erosive forces of rainwater and augment water uptake of the soil. Canals, leading
from slopes towards the fields, are dug in order to maximize utilisation of rainwater and limit run-off.
3.4.4 Other practices
Gonchi System for surface water sharing
Gonchi refers to collective community efforts in bringing water from a stream and
distributing the same equally to irrigate a stipulated area. This system is in practice in
parts of Andhra Pradesh for well over a century. A users’ association manages
Gonchi, by laying down norms for use and maintaining of the system. One of the
major activities is building and maintaining channels through which water is
distributed to the fields. Users of the Gonchi contribute to the maintenance of the
system through labour or pay wages of the labourers.
Income diversification: As conditions in Anantapur are often precarious for the practice of agriculture,
farmers are now trying out options other than agriculture. Farmers practice several non-agricultural,
income generating activities:
• Woman groups produce artisanal products out of locally available materials and sell them at the
market (baskets, jewellery and jam)
• Precious stones are collected in the area and are used for jewellery fabrication or are directly
sold to merchants
Input reduction: Costs for chemical fertilizer, pesticide and (hybrid) seeds consume a large part of
farmer’s available resources. Replacing those inputs by cheap and effective substitutes made out of
locally available products, is a good way to maximize profits and mitigate losses in the case of crop
failure. Such strategies include:
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• Production of bio-pesticide out of neem and cow urine. According to farmers, this bio pesticide
is as effective as its chemical counterparts are.
• Apply traditional pest-management methods to prevent occurrence of pests, e.g. pheromone
traps.
• Use cow and goat dung instead of chemical fertilizer.
• Conservation of seeds from traditional varieties instead
of buying expensive hybrid seeds from the market
every year.
• Installation of vermi-compost facilities.
These practices reduce input costs and therefore reduce
farmer’s vulnerability to external shocks. Many of these
methods are currently not practiced in the villages. They need
to be reintroduced by external organisations still in possession
of such knowledge. Such training is provided by local NGO’s
as the Center for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) 14 or other
organisations active in the area and is essential to improve and
sustain agricultural production in Anantapur. Trainings and
extension services are essential for farmers to adopt and
practice these methods (see chapter 1.4).
3.5 Recommendations for future action
The recommendations for adaptation strategies in Anantapur
mainly focus on strengthening the existing adaptation and
coping strategies.
3.5.1 Shortcomings of Extension Services
The performance of the state in terms of agricultural extension
services was found to be relatively poor when compared with
other states. For instance, an agricultural extension officer in
Andhra Pradesh has to cover more than 10 villages or 3700
farm families whereas in states like Maharashtra and West
Bengal it was only 2 or 4 villages (AP HD Report, 2007).
According to farmers, there are several problematic features
with respect to agricultural extension in Anantapur. Farmers in Varige Redai Palli complained:
14 www.csa-india.org
46
Post harvest technology,
provides a promising
income generating activity,
in Chinna Jalapur village. A
microcredit of around 1000
Euro from a local NGO
enabled the villagers to buy
a grinding machine. The
local producer cooperative
uses the machine to grind
neem-seeds to powder,
which is used to produce a
bio pesticide. The pesticide,
which is sold to
neighbouring villages,
creates substantial annual
revenue.
46

“Extension services are very important to us to address specific problems we face in our village.
However, they were not many optimistic about government’s intervention in this regard. There are too
few officers to cater for a large area. The best services are provided by NGO’s but they cannot be
everywhere.”
There is a need for better extension services in Anantapur wherein several research institutes in the
area conduct research on better-adapted and high yielding crop varieties. However, the farmers most of
the times do not get to know the results. Mostly, they are not informed on existing government
initiatives either. Projects aiming at getting useful information out of the research institutes and
government agencies into the fields would help farmers to better adapt to existing and upcoming
challenges.
Link research to farmers
Improved communication between research- and government agencies and farmer communities would
ensure research that is efficiently addressing farmer’s needs. However, such communication is almost
completely missing in the study area and conducted research does often not suit the needs of smallscale
farmers.
3.5.2 Sustainable Water Management
To address the growing stress on water resources, projects in the area of water management,
conservation and storage are essential for any adaptation strategy in Anantapur:
Promote sustainable water management practices that includes better water management, regulating
the unrestrained competition for groundwater and need for aggressive pursuit of water conservation.
Also providing support for drip and sprinkler irrigation systems.
In case farmers are aware of existing subsidy schemes, they complained about not getting them
directly. Most of the money goes to enterprises producing chemical fertilizer or selling hybrid seeds.
This does not really help small-scale farmers who try to shift production to sustainable, low input
practices.
3.5.3 Improved land use
Planting of trees, especially nitrogen fixing tree species could be a viable option to address problems,
as declining soil fertility as well as mitigate detrimental weather influences. Educating farmers in agrihorticulture
and starting projects in this area is highly recommendable.
Hence, reforestation and forest protection initiatives are needed. Reestablishing the forest cover would
help in many ways: For example by providing alternative source of income from non-timber forest
products (NTF), by supplying fuel to villagers, as well as preserving soil moisture and limit erosion.
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3.5.4 Agricultural practices
Strengthening of agricultural extension services by focusing on low input agricultural practices and
locally adapted cropping patterns. While much research is conducted for rice, wheat and horticulture
crops, farmers will need greater support with knowledge and policy assistance to make the transition to
sustainable dry land farming on a large scale. They could also diversify into agro-forestry, which is
more resilient, as well as livestock production.
Encourage mix cropping at least partially to improve food security in case of crop failure, encourage
short duration crop varieties during the monsoon season. Extension services need to inform farmers on
most efficient crop combinations.
Promote cattle rearing as well as creating fodder banks: Cattle provide an essential part of livelihood
and many necessary inputs for agriculture. Measure need to be taken to assure the existence of a
sufficiently large cattle population. Subsidies for foreign cattle breeds supposed to increase milk
production should be abandoned. The bigger breeds need more fodder and are not adapted to local
weather conditions as prolonged heat periods. Farmers repeatedly mentioned the need for fodder
banks in order to be able to get the cattle through prolonged drought periods.
3.5.5 Income diversification
Drought leads to farmer indebtedness. Coupling debt relief with micro-credit to start new businesses, or
insurance to cover initial business risks, can encourage a change of occupation, limiting exposure to
climate related risks. Imparting education and skills, building roads and developing markets are critical
to building climate resilience in the long term.
Farmers emphasized the need for local employment creation. It was felt by the farmers that schemes
as NREGA are currently not providing sufficient alternative income to lift small-scale farmers above the
poverty line. Travelling long distances to larger cities in search for work is still common practice and
field labor is neglected for longer periods. Local employment opportunities would allow female family
members, often not allowed traveling alone, to contribute to household income and reduce migration
rates.
3.5.6 Input reduction strategies
Promote further input reduction strategies as the use of traditional seeds, bio-fertilizer, and biopesticides
on a large scale. Such practices reduce the vulnerability of small-scale farmers to weather
induced risks considerably as they reduce financial losses in case of crop failure.
Farmers named the cost for seeds and fertilizer as second and third highest expenses they have to pay
for every season. Sometimes important yield losses occur because of the purchase of spurious seeds
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provided by the local seed dealers. The creation of village based seed banks could address this
problem and reduce the financial burden for the farmers considerably.
Extension services should train farmers in the production of bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers that are
produced out of locally available inputs. Promotion and reintroduction of traditional pest-control
measures (e.g. pheromone traps) reduce pest attacks and therefore input cost as well.
3.5.7 Providing crop insurance
The provision of an effective crop insurance against weather-induced risks could improve the livelihood
of small-scale farmers considerably. In interviews, farmers repeatedly emphasized the need for such
insurance. They are willing to pay, within their means, for such services when they are effectively
serving their needs.
Existing insurance schemes are covering only certain cash crops. Additionally, insurance is not
provided to individual farmers but only to a village as a whole.
Designing and putting into practice economically viable crop insurance schemes could improve the
situation of many farmer families in Anantapur.
3.5.8 Smart Subsidies
Lobby government agencies to use smart subsidies to encourage a shift to more environmentally suited
crops: Current subsidies and incentives implicitly encourage farmers to cultivate water-intensive crops -
such as sugarcane or paddy - in dry regions. Smart subsidies can encourage a shift to dry land crops
that are more suited to local conditions and less environmentally degrading.
********
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4 Case Study Uttarakhand
4.1 Background information
The state of Uttarakhand is predominantly mountainous, and lies on the southern slope of the Himalaya
ranges. Climate and vegetation change across the range of altitudes, from tropical in the lower areas to
mountainous in the high areas. Most of the rainfall occurs during the period from June to September.
The present case study was conducted in the villages of Rudraprayag district which are located in
Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Rudraprayag district covering an area of about 2439 km 2 . Uttarkashi
bounds the district in the north, Chamoli in the east, Tehri Garhwal in the west and Pauri Garhwal on
the south. More than three-fourths of Uttarakhand’s total population depends on agriculture for their
livelihood and the economy is predominantly dependent on mountain agriculture. The land holdings are
small, fragmented with fewer irrigation facilities. With the change in climatic conditions the scope for
agricultural practices is severely constrained in the hill regions. As a result, the majority of the rural
population in the hills either works as a labour or migrates to other parts of the country for employment.
About 90% agricultural lands are rain fed and vulnerable to severe soil nutrient erosion and degradation
due to erratic and unpredictable rainfall, cloud-bursts and large dry spells during crop growth. Ever
increasing population of humans and cattle has resulted into inappropriate cultivation practices and
intense use of water resources, which causes considerable surface runoff and soil erosion on one
hand, and reduces the infiltration and discharge of natural water springs on the other. Further, changes
in the rainfall pattern its intensity and distribution pattern causes severe drought spells to hinder the
growth of timely sown winter crops, and subsequent planting of spring crops due to lack of soil
moisture.
Figure xi Study regions in Uttarakhand
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4.1.1 Climate
The climate varies from Sub-tropical monsoon type to tropical upland type. The year is divided into four
seasons: the cold winter season, (December to February), the hot weather season (March to May),
southwest monsoon season (June to September) followed by post monsoon season (October to
November).
August is the rainiest month. Rainfall rapidly decreases after September and it is the least in November.
About 17% of the annual precipitation occurs in winter season. The winter precipitation is in association
with the passage of the western disturbances and is mostly in the form of snowfall, particularly at higher
elevations. In the southern part of the district at Rudraprayag the average annual rainfall is around
1220.18mm while in the central part at Chandrapuri the average annual rainfall is 1750.9mm and the
rainfall in the northern part at Okhimath is 1995mm.The overall average rainfall in the district is
1485mm.
4.1.2 Land holdings and cropping patterns
Steep terraces in the district are the predominant form of agriculture fields, mostly rain fed, while only
about 15-20% of the total cultivated land is irrigated. Irrigation is practiced only in the valley area.
Average per capita land holding is 0.15-0.19ha.
Figure xii Field terraces in Uttarakhand (Source: Dunja, 2007)
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The main traditional crops in the region are paddy, finger millet, wheat, barnyard millet, maize,
amaranth, barley, pulses and oilseeds. A typical cropping system in Garhwal is the rice-wheat system,
in which rice, together with millets, amaranth and pulses, is grown during the rainy (kharif) season
(June – October); and wheat, together with mustard, during the winter (rabi) season (November –
March). Rice and wheat are grown on irrigated terraces; whereas on non-irrigated terraces typical crops
are millet and amaranth, but also drought-resistant rice varieties.
4.2 Observed changes in climatic variability
4.2.1 Scientific Reviews
Some evidence on climate change in different parts of Himalaya has been reported, although such
examples are scanty due to a lack of instrumental data. Various studies suggest that warming in the
Himalayas has been much greater than the global average of 0.74 ˚C over the last 100 years (IPCC,
2007a; Du et al., 2004).The data available on temperature in the Himalayas indicate that the warming
during last 3-4 decades was more pronounced than the global average of 0.75% over last century.
Some of the data indicate that the Himalayas are warming 5-6 times faster than the global average
(Singh,S.P. 2007).
Figure xiii Paddy nursery in the village Nala of Uttarakhand
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Padam Singh, 52
years, of Nala village of
Rudraprayag district
sees the reduction in
snowfall as the most
visible change: “As I
was in my twenties, it
was common that
during December and
January the whole area
was covered less than
six feet of snow.
Nowadays, there is one
feet at the most and
often it falls later in the
winter and melts away
fast.”
Agriculture in the region is largely dependent on rains and about 90 %
of the agriculture land is rain fed. One of the manifestations is erratic
rainfall with high intensity in alpine to subalpine zone leading to
flooding and landslides as noticed in 2007 in Alkananda valley (a
tributary of Ganges) in Uttarakhand. The local population has reported
increase in rainfall intensity with less number of rainy days compared
to snowfall in recent years and as a result, in 2007 potato crop was
badly damaged in Mana and Gastoli region in the upper reaches of
Alkananda catchment. Increase in sediment yield in various rivers in
Himalaya and landslides in upper reach due to increase in rainfall.
Most of the rivers which originate in Uttarakhand have their upper
catchments in snow and glaciated areas and traverse through dense
valleys and deep gorges. These perennial rivers are an important
source for hydropower generation and supply water to some of the
largest irrigation networks of the world. Any changes in river discharge
patterns; due to glacier melting caused by a warming environment can
have profound impacts on the hydropower potential of this region and
water supply potential in the plains downstream.
One of the eminent glaciologists, Prof H.C. Nainwal at Dehradun
explained how changes in climate have been affecting the glaciers in
the Himalayan region. He mentioned that Snouts of Satopanth and
Bhagirath Kharak glaciers, located at the head of the Alaknanda valley
in Chamoli District, Uttarakhand, were retreating by 313,923.14 m 3
(0.314 km 3 ) and by 129,369.16
m 3 (0.13 km 3 ) respectively,
during the last 44 years.
In depth field observation for
the past 18 years done by a
team of scientist from “G. B.
Pant Institute of the Himalayan
Environment and Development”
(GBPIHED), revealed that there is considerable advancement of
flowering, leafing and fruiting time (15-20 days) of certain plants.
This is considered a striking evidence of climate in the higher
altitudes of the Himalayas (Maikhuri, 2000).
53
Although officials in the
Indian Meteorological
Department (IMD) have
ruled out any unusual or
alarming situation with
such occurrences, elderly
people interviewed in
Uttarakhand are undivided
that observed rainfall
patterns are unusual and
not experienced by them
in their lifetime.
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4.2.2 Farmer’s Experiences
Farmers are experiencing changes in the weather parameters,
like rainfall, snowfall and temperature. Bhomlal, in his early
seventies laments, “In winters 30-40 years ago it used to snow
continuously for 2-4 days, and we used to play cards inside our
houses, we used to keep our livestock also inside safely”. “There
has been no snowfall in December for years now”, a younger
farmer comments. When probed a bit further, they say that
nowadays it snows sometimes a bit later in January- early
February, which results in melting relatively faster and does not
provide the natural manure (soil- moisture conservation) benefits
it used to earlier. They also say now the rainfall is less, erratic
and mostly delayed, which have severe impact on crop
production.
Farmers reported that temperatures are higher than in the past,
monsoon appears late and extreme weather conditions such as
hail storms occur more frequently. Many farmers reported
increase in rainfall intensity with erratic behavior compared to
snowfall in recent years.
For farmers, a ‘good climate’ means sporadic low rainfall during
March-mid-May, peak rainfall during July-August, and moderate
rainfall/heavy snowfall during December/January and absence of
cloud burst events. People consider the onset of monsoon to be
more uncertain compared to other phases of rainfall.
Community perceptions about weather changes in the region
vary among different farmers and between government officials.
As per the information collected from farmers there is an
observed change in rainfall pattern in the region (Table 5.). The
weather has changed a lot in the last 10 to 15 years. Sometimes
rain does not fall, sometimes there is too much rain, and
sometimes rain does not come on time and all this damages the
crops and lowers the yields. Rainfall has declined over the last
and onset of rainfall has become late and erratic.
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Kamla Devi, a small women
farmer from Agastyamuni told
that “during my lifetime I have
seen a lot of changes in
weather, sometimes the
weather is good and gives
good yields and sometimes
not. But now the weather is a
lot different. It is warmer,
there is less water, and
monsoon comes late. Since 5
years ago it became serious
and it started affecting the
crops. Crops are completely
dependent on rain and when
the rain is late there is less
yield”.
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Table 5: People’s perceptions of weather conditions before (30 years ago) and now
Before Today
Rainy season on time and used to start
around mid June.
Not in time- Monsoon rains often delayed.
After sowing when the crops need water, Now rains often fall at the time of harvesting, which
it was complimented by rains.
damages the crops as well as creates a problem in
the storage of the grains.
Snow cover from December to February
providing soil moisture.
Very little snowfall during the last seventeen years.
For the hails there was a trend: Hails Very irregular now. Untimely hails often damages
occurred mostly in the month of June
and September.
crops.
Most of the water sources were full of Drying up of traditional water storage facilities due to
water throughout the year. There were reduced rainfall and increased runoff. Government
no hand pumps in the villages.
has installed hand pumps in the road side villages.
Similar observations have been made by Maikhuri et al. 2003, in a study focusing people’s perception
in the Central Himalayan region. The results are presented in the following Table 6.
Table 6: People’s perceptions on climate change in central Himalaya (Source: Maikhuri et al. 2003)
Kind of change 4.2.2.1 Evidence
Warming Decline in snow fall period, depth and persistence,
decline in apple yield, success of cabbage/pea/
tomato cultivation in high elevations in recent years,
shortening of maturity period of winter crops,
increased pest infestation
High rainfall during August/September
instead of the normal peak in
July/August
Winter precipitation in January/February
instead of December/January and
decline in intensity of snow fall
Damage to rainy season crops when they are close
to maturity, increased frequency and severity of
landslides
Delayed sowing of winter crops, decline in barley
and wheat yields
Increase in instances of cloud burst Heavy losses of life and property
It can be concluded from the analysis of farmer’s perception and firsthand information collected on rain
and snowfall that there is a greater unpredictability of rainfall over space and time in comparison to the
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set pattern of the district seasons in Uttarakhand in the past. There is also a drastic decrease in
snowfall as compared to 30 years ago. This situation is likely to result in greater livelihood
vulnerabilities for the poor farming communities. People of almost all the sub-regions and geographical
locations voice the concern that rainfall today no longer has any fixed season and that unpredictability
has increased.
4.3 Climate Change impacts
4.3.1 Agriculture sector
Impact on crop production: Small farmers in the hilly state of Uttarakhand are vulnerable as impact of
climatic variations will be felt more severe by the poor mountain population with little resources to
adapt. Farmers are facing complex issues related to climatic variations and its impact on their
agriculture and livelihood.
Another important finding that is based on our field observations as well as people experiences that
support the changes in the quality and yield of the traditional crops grown in the region. Farmers have
observed that over the past two decades, there has been a decline in yield of some traditional grain and
legume crops and horticultural produce i.e. Apple, Khubani, etc due to increase in the incidence of
pests and diseases.
This situation forces the farmers to risk their winter (Rabi) crops at the germination and ripening stages
of growth. Frequent and long dry spells retard the growth, size and yield of important fruit crops like
apple, plum, peach, apricot etc.
When asked about environmental stresses that pose a problem for crop cultivation, they replied that the
problem is lack of rain and more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events such as intensive
rains. According to farmers, the causes of these weather changes are environmental problems and the
destruction of the nature. For example, they said that they feel the reduction of the forest cover is
posing increasingly problems in the hilly regions. Trees are also essential for terrace farming, as they
provide certain stability to the fields. During the ancient period Garhwal was full of dense forest and
lush green vegetation. The Himalaya is the perennial source of water for rivers, streams and reservoirs.
Undoubtedly, nature takes care of its resources through natural process over a period of time and
maintains them. But ever-increasing population and developmental activities have over-exploited
available resources without taking into consideration the damage and consequences for coming
generations.
Vegetation plays an important role in protecting land and water. These resources are being depleted at
an alarming rate because of human intervention. In the absence of vegetative cover, during the
monsoon rainwater comes down to the plains unchecked. This in turn results into sudden swelling of
streams, flash floods in the hills and severe floods in the plains and drought in upstream areas.
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More attack of insects and pests: Farmer’s has experienced more insect and pest attack in the region
due to erratic behavior of rainfall and change in temperature. It is believed that even minor changes in
the temperature could have a major impact on the severity of the diseases (Maikhuti, 2000).
Amaranthus crop is most vulnerable to climate change as observed during recent past that this crop is
severely attacked by a disease called Hymenia rickervalis. It was assumed that low rainfall during July
and high temperature and humidity particularly in 1-2nd week of September providing favorable
condition to moth (insect). Besides crops such as traditional legumes (cowpea, Vigna spp.) important
summer legume crops grown is facing the problem of fruit setting etc. It is also may be due to shift in
peak rainfall time and other climatic factors as revealed by the farmers of Alaknanda valley. Many other
crops were infected with pest and insect diseases. Diseases like rust and blight were commonly found
in the cereals and potato crops, while legumes like Phaseolus spp. were infected through the soil borne
insects such as Coleoptera species locally called Uksa. These insects damage the crops in early stage
of seed germination.
One of the reasons for the occurrence of disease in these crops of this region could be favorable
climatic conditions i.e. increase in moisture or humidity or milder winter in the lower region. Some of the
farmers and villagers interviewed indicated that the occurrence of the disease could be due to the lack
of poor soil in these areas.
Depletion of soil moisture: Reduction in soil moisture is one of the major impacts of climate change on
agriculture in high altitude regions. Recently the decline in soil moisture due to early snow melting,
increase in heavy and untimely rains, and more exposure to heat stress has adversely affected the
performance of agricultural crops. Soil moisture is required for early growth of the crops in this cold and
dry region particularly during the sowing period of the crops. Higher temperatures also affect the
physiological condition and survival ability of the crops. Soil erosion from the hilly terrain was one of the
major problems that farmers are facing in the region. The runoff water during heavy rainfall is constantly
carrying away the fertile soil, leaving behind less fertile soils and frequently causing landslides.
4.3.2 Water sector
In farmers opinion a significant impact of a changing climate is reduced availability of water, either for
drinking or irrigation purposes. Significant shortages appear in the region since 10-15 years. Farmers
attribute this change to a gradual increase in temperature and the drying up of some uphill water
sources. Most of the respondents (90%) claimed a scarcity of drinking and irrigation water in the
villages.
Some of the respondents link this depletion of water resources with the heavy deforestation, which
apparently has a negative effect on the water cycle in the area. According to farmers a solution would
be to increase the number of traditional water collecting structures. In this way farmers would be able to
collect a sufficient amount of water during monsoons.
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Figure xiiiv Heavy landslides in the mountains due to deforestation
Analysis of the data collected from the famers in the course of this study showed that the water level in
almost all the streams and rivers has decreased in by around one-third, in some cases even by half,
during the last 30 years. Interviews held with farmers indicate that many of the perennial water streams
in the area face decreasing water gauges. Since generations, the inhabitants of Himalayan region have
been depending on the natural water springs and streams to meet their daily water needs for drinking
and domestic uses, irrigation, animal consumption etc. During recent times, most of the perennial
springs and streams have become seasonal or have dried-up for want of adequate recharge due to
various natural and man-made hazards. The women have to walk several kilometers daily to fetch a
head-load of water for drinking and domestic uses.
4.4 Adaptation to Climate Change
Farmers always have been trying to adapt to the challenges imposed on them by a coarse mountain
environment. From the group discussion with the farmers, the following adaption measures were
identified.
4.4.1 Agriculture sector
Diverse cropping systems: Over the centuries, indigenous farmers in Garhwal have built up a rich base
of agricultural biodiversity adapted to the local agro-climatic conditions. Farmers in Garhwal developed
a mixed cropping system especially suited for rain fed production in higher altitudes. It was recognized
from the farmer’s interview that farming communities cultivate many species and varieties of legumes.
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This is one of the important practices that have been practiced in low as well as high altitude of
Garhwal. The advantage of diverse farming and mixed cropping is that with climate variability and
uncertainty, due to the combination of different species and varieties, it is unlikely that all crops will be
negatively affected and the overall productivity will not be zero even when there is drought or excessive
rainfall.
The advantage of mixed cropping is that it will ensure some income even if one of the crops fails due to
pests, diseases, drought or any other natural calamity. Today, some 126 varieties of rice, 8 of wheat,
40 of finger millet, 6 of barnyard millet, 110 of kidney beans, 7 of horse gram, 8 of traditional soybean,
and 10 of French beans, are being grown with no chemical inputs. The characteristics of each (e.g.
growth, resistance, special properties, etc.) are being carefully observed. Varieties with desirable
properties, like high productivity and resistance, are being propagated amongst the farmers (Jardhari
and Kothari, 1997).
Example of “Baranaaja”: The “Baranaaja”, as the cropping system is called, can be described as a
‘simultaneous system’ in which components are grown in mixtures and the interactions are both spatial
and temporal. It uses cropping patterns involving 12 or more food crops grown in ‘synergetic’
combinations. During the workshop, woman farmers gave an example of a Baranaaja practiced in their
village: mandua (finger millets), ramdana (amaranth), rajma (common beans), ogal (buckwheat), urad
(green gram), moong (black gram), naurangi (mix of pulses), gahath (horsegram), bhat (soybean),
lobiya (French beans), kheera (cucumber) and bhang (cannabis) are grown together in a way that
optimizes productivity and maintains soil fertility.
The output is geared towards meeting diverse household requirements over a longer period as not all
crops are harvested at the same time. The “synergic” combination of many different species does not
deplete the fertility of the soil and the land does not have to be kept fallow. This agro biodiversity is one
of the important aspects of the sustainable food system in the region. This system of bio-farming
enables the farmer to get some benefit from certain varieties even in case of damage to other crops.
For farmers, mixed cropping ensures food security as well as income. Fox example, when farmers grow
only rice they are more vulnerable because if the rice crop fails due to, for example, drought, they are
left with nothing. From the farmer’s perspective this system is more or less free of pests and diseases.
Even if it exists, only one or two crops in the mixture are affected. The rich biodiversity protects the
other crops. Even in the case of heavy wind or storm, only one or two crops are affected.
A comparative study on cost benefit analysis of mono cropping (rice), and mixed cropping, on the basis
of data obtained from the farmers, was carried out by Navdanya in Uttarakhand. According to the
results of the study, mixed cropping system gave higher yields and have lower input costs resulting in
higher net profits (Navdanya, 2006), as shown in Table 7.
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Table 7: Comparative cost benefit analysis of mono cropping (paddy) and mixed cropping (finger millet, foxtail
millet, French beans and Amaranth) Navdanya, 2006
Mono cropping (per acre) Mixed cropping (per acre)
Field preparation Rs. 300 Rs. 300
Seeds Rs. 180 Own
Fertilizers Rs. 200 Compost made by own material
Harvesting Rs. 400 Rs. 400
Total yield 12 qt/acre Finger millet: 6 qt.
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Foxtail millet: 3 qt.
French beans: 3 qt.
Amaranth: 2 qt.
Total: 14 Qt
Total income Rs. 7800 Rs. 16500
Net profit Rs. 6720 Rs. 15800
Cultivation of drought-resistant crops: Farmers have named adapting cropping patterns to less water
demanding species as most important actions to environmental changes. When asked about the best
way to cope with climate change, a farmer said that the cultivation of robust and undemanding,
drought-resistant crops (Mandua, Jhangora, Kauni, Gahat, Bhat) is the only way he manages to get
regular yields. Farmers told that finger millet (Ragi) can survive even an extreme drought. After one
ploughing, ragi is sown and it needs only one shower to germinate.
In Agastyamuni village, farmers generally grow 7-8 varieties of rice. Of these, 2-3 varieties are for non
irrigated fields. The farmers explained that they grow more than one variety of rice because different
varieties are suitable for different types of fields. Some of the traditional rice varieties require relatively
little water compared to new high yielding varieties, it is being in certain cases the traditional varieties
are being promoted by the government. A farmer explains: “when we grow rice in the upper regions
here, we do not use irrigation. It completely depends on rainfall and thus we grow traditional varieties
requiring little water”. A number of rice landraces in Garhwal (and Uttarakhand) have been conserved
and are still nowadays cultivated by the farmers. Paddy varieties commonly found in Uttarakhand are
drought-resistant. Table 10 lists some of the farmers' drought-resistant varieties, which have been
conserved by farming communities of Uttarakhand through regular growing and consumption
(Navdanya, 2002). Currently Navdanya conserves approximately 300 landraces of rice in its seed bank
in Garhwal.
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Figure xiv Indigenous variety of paddy in Uttarakhand
Another interesting example from the farmers was a very old method of transplantation of rice in the
fields. This method is known as “Thakuli” (plate) method, which is similar to the SRI method (System of
Rice intensification). In this method, younger and fewer seedlings are transplanted with wider spacing
to promote greater root growth and higher yields. Continuous flooding is not required and the fields are
fertilized with farmyard manure. This practice reduces water use and seed requirements (less seeds
are sown). With this method, the plant develops stronger root systems that help the plants stand up to
drought. Further research is needed to promote this method in the region.
Practice of low Input agriculture: To maintain and conserve the diversity, the farming communities of
this region practice low-input agriculture with a significant concern for agricultural sustainability.
Subsistence farmers often cannot afford external inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. They rely on
maintaining a wide variety of locally available resources that are adapted to the local environment.
Further reduced or erratic rainfalls in the absence of irrigation facilities have occasioned farmers to the
use of chemical fertilizers. Farmers told that only few of the farmers have started using chemical
fertilizers in the village. But with increasing awareness on the risk of chemical use, now they are looking
back to their traditional practices.
The farming system is highly integrated e.g. the soil fertility is maintained via livestock which also
provide the energy for the different agricultural operations. In Garhwal the farming system is of closed
or self sufficient in terms of nutrient management. There is negligible input need from the outside.
Farmers usually apply Farm Yard Manures (FYM) which involves use of fully decomposed organic
matter of livestock dung, straw, grasses, left over feed etc. The leaves used for animal bedding are also
used for making organic manure. FYM is prepared within a period of about 3-4 months of continuous
open-air decomposition of cow dung with other leaf litter.
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In situ soil moisture conservation: Most of
the farmers use a special type of traditional
plough for ploughing of fields. Other types
of ‘improved’ ploughs do not work in the
hills as the soil is gravelly and not deep.
Under rain fed conditions farmers in hill
regions plough their land several times
before the onset of rain to conserve water
and increase water retention capacity. In
order to conserve soil and water they grow
grasses for ground cover. Women farmers
gave examples of mixed cropping for
minimizing risks under rain fed conditions
and creating ground cover for checking
runoff and soil loss. They grow legumes
with maize and ginger or turmeric with
maize. After sowing ginger, colocasia and
turmeric, farmers use paddy straw, wheat
straw or leaf litters as mulch to ensure
proper germination. Farmers do not
practice weeding in the maize crop
because of soil conditions and the
requirement of fodder in the rainy season.
Farmers told that on the farm level,
vegetation is also important in coping with
water scarcity. They maintain vegetation
cover in their fields and bunds including
local species as trees, grass, and bushes.
Farmers also try to plant nitrogen fixing or
fruit bearing trees in strategic location in
order to limit erosion of their fields and
increase soil fertility. Trees planted on the
bunds of terraced crop fields do not only
stabilize the terraces but also provide
some important additional income
opportunities. Therefore, the amelioration
of forest and vegetation cover, especially
by planting local species, is necessary for
preventing erosion, improving the forest
resource base, and strengthening the long-
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Interview from one of the women farmer in
Uttarakhand
Have you noticed any effects of climate change?
62
During my lifetime I have seen a lot of weather
changes, sometimes the weather is good and gives
good yields and sometimes not. But now the weather
is a lot different. It is warmer, there is less water, and
monsoon comes late. Rains have become erratic. For
example last year, because of untimely heavy rains in
the month of May, I have lost my house, crops and
animals. I have to shift to another village. I was not
able to save anything because of heavy downpour.
Since 5 years ago it became serious and it started
affecting the crops. Crops are completely dependent
on rain and when the rain is late there are fewer yields.
What is the best way for small farmers like
yourself to cope with climate change?
Mixed cropping and selecting varieties adapted to
climate Change. And providing a market for smallscale
industry would be helpful. For example, if I could
sell my mango pickle it would improve my income.

term resilience of agro ecosystems to water stress. Some of these trees are Celtis australis (Khadik),
Grewia optiva (Bhemal), Sapindus mukorossi (Soap nut), Ficus neriifolia (Thelak), and Boehmeria
species etc. A variety of weeds are found during Rabi season. Some of them belong to family
Fabaceae and play a significant role in fixing nitrogen. Farmers told that apart from playing a major role
in retaining the fertility of the soil these weeds are also being used as cattle feed.
Furthermore, traditional agricultural methods help farmers to cope with environmental stresses. For
example, in relation to water stress, organic methods such as mulching (i.e. the application of organic
material, such as plant debris and Farm yard manure in agricultural fields), slow down surface runoff,
improve the soil moisture, reduce evaporation loss and improve soil fertility. This was further validated
by one of the leading NGO “Navdanya” who works with the farmers in this region and resulted that
maximum soil moisture content was recorded in the rice straw mulch field (16 percent) as compared to
non-mulched fields (9.5 percent).
4.4.2 Other Sector/s
Agriculture in marginal, mountainous areas as in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand was certainly
never easy. Climatic changes are adding to the already precarious situation and in the opinion of
farmers, even subsistence agriculture is becoming increasingly difficult. Relying solely on agriculture for
livelihood is in the long-run not an option. Farmers recognizing this fact and are looking for other
strategies in order to improve their income.
Income diversification options: One of the options is taking advantage of pilgrims and other tourists
visiting the area. The state of Uttarakhand has an immense potential for tourism. Thousands of foreign
tourists looking for mountain treks and adventure sports are coming to the area. There is also an
important number of Indian tourists and pilgrims travelling the valleys as the state is a very important
place for pilgrimage. The sources of the Ganga and a great number of holy sites and temples attract
many. Most of the tourism is concentrated around centers like Rishikesh but especially pilgrims also
come to more remote places.
Activities related to facilitation of smooth travel like providing food and sleeping facilities to pilgrims and
tourists are present in every village. Women farmers mentioned that they are engaging in preparation of
Prasad (food that is offered before a deity) to Kedarnath temple by using Chaulai (Amaranth). Such
activities could have a major impact on the economic well being of the region.
4.5 Recommendations
Farmers made specific suggestions, which ranged from improved access to markets for agricultural
products to more timely weather information access. A categorization of drought resistant crops, suited
to grow in the mountain climate would be of use to farmers as well.
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Many farmers suggested that growing more fruit trees could be a good strategy to improve incomes as
they get good prices for fruits. Farmers stressed the need for extension services related to horticulture,
as this is an area, where most of them do not possess expertise.
Conservation of forest and vegetation cover, especially by planting local species, is necessary for
preventing erosion, improving the forest resource base, and strengthening the long-term resilience of
agro ecosystems to water stress.
Some of the other key areas of outside intervention could be:
1. More research focused on indigenous crops and varieties tolerant to stresses caused or
exacerbated by climate change, and more studies looking at the role of specific practices,
knowledge, methods and techniques in adaptation to climate change such as the role of agroforestry
and rainwater harvesting systems, would contribute to the further development of
biodiversity-based adaptation strategies.
2. Capacity building of the women farmer groups for the processing and value addition of locally
available fruits and vegetables. For example, training in order to make potato chips, fruit jams or
pickle would be an option. Processing of rhododendron, one of the important tree species in the
region, would be another. The juice made out of the rhododendron flower is very good for blood
pressure.
3. Promotion of local crops through the creation of private public partnership for improved marketing
and employment opportunities.
4. Conservation of forests through awareness raising activities and introduction of participatory forest
management schemes.
5. Restoration and increase of the number of traditional water collecting structures through govt.
schemes: Increasing the numbers of traditional water structures would make a difference. Every
village has a number of these traditional water-harvesting structures. Most of the time, they are in a
very bad condition however and are in need of reparation. Increasing the number of the structures
could resolve some of the problems related to insufficient water.
6. Facilitate the shift to diversified organic farming: Providing incentives for farmers to shift production
to organic farming could relieve some of the pressure on natural resources and at the same time
benefit farmers financially. There is a need to finance the training and the transition period from
conventional to organic farming, as this period is characterized by substantial yield losses. (For
example, organic spices are very valuable for farmers because they can get a good price for them.)
7. Facilitation for creation of fair-trade organic markets suitable for the goods produced by small-scale
farmers
********
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5 Case Study Orissa
5.1 Background information
Orissa is located in eastern India, with a coastline that extends over 480 kilometers. Its geographical
location has rendered Orissa highly vulnerable to natural calamities and extreme weather events such
as cyclones, droughts, floods, and storm surges. Between 1965 and 2006, the state experienced about
17 droughts, over 20 floods, 8 cyclones, and a super cyclone in 1999, which had devastating
consequences (Data compiled from the International Disaster Database (http://www.em-dat.net/) and
TEN 2006.)
Figure xvi Study region in Orissa
The district Rayagada was carved out of the erstwhile Koraput district on 02.10.1992, as part of the
extension plan of districts in the state. The district has a population of 832’019, out of which 473’379
are of tribal origin (57 percent). Forest area covers an extent of 4785.36 km 2 out of which 777.27 km 2 is
reserved forest. The study was conducted in four villages in the tribal belt of Orissa. The study villages
are inhabited by a tribal population practicing agriculture as the main source of livelihood.
The farming system is predominantly characterized by a mixed crop-livestock system. Livestock is the
main source of draught power and fertilizer (through dung), a means of supplementary income and an
asset for food security.
5.1.1 Rainfall and Temperature
Orissa is subject to a tropical climate with searing hot summers, pouring monsoon rains and pleasant
winters. The voluminous seas and the hilly terrains of the Eastern Ghats play a pivotal role in shaping
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the weather of Orissa. Consequently, the coastal zone is subjected to mild and pleasant climatic
conditions while the Eastern Ghats are much cooler. The state has ten agro climatic zones, differing on
climate, land, soil and cropping pattern. The state experiences about 70 rainy days during monsoon
(Patil, 2009)
In the study area of Rayagada district, summer is typically from March to June when temperature
ranges from a maximum of 47°C during daytime to a minimum of 10°C at night. Winter is from
November to February when the maximum temperature during day goes up to 40°C and minimum
temperature at night becomes as low as 2.2°C. The average annual rainfall of Rayagada district is
1269.1 mm (IMD, Orissa). The Southwest monsoon lasts from mid June to mid September and the
area gets more than 80% of the annual rainfall during this period.
5.1.2 Land holdings, soil information and cropping patterns
The economy of Orissa is predominantly agricultural. Agriculture contributes nearly 30 per cent to the
Net State Domestic Product (NSDP). About 73 per cent of the total work force is engaged in agriculture
(Planning Commission, Govt. of India).
The average size of land holding in the state is 1.30 hectares. The average size of marginal holdings is
0.50 hectares, of small holdings is 1.38 hectares, of semi-medium holdings 2.67 hectares, of medium
holdings 5.54 hectares and the average size of large holdings is 15.96 hectares (Buxi, 2004).
In Kashipur block of Rayagada district, where the studied villages are located, 65% of the households
own less than a hectare of land, most of which is un-irrigated (Orissa Development Report, 2008).
Upland is the predominant land type with 58% of total cultivated area, followed by 25% and 17%
medium and low lands. About 15% of the cultivated area is irrigated, while 85% is dependent on
monsoon rains.
Most common food grains include cereals as rice, and coarse grains such as maize, jowar and millets.
Gulji (Panicum miliare), Cheena (Panicum maliaceam), Suan (Echinichloa frumentacea), Kango
(Setaria italica), Koda (Paspalam scorbiculatum) and pulses like pigeon pea (locally called Kandul),
cow pea (locally called Barbati), rice bean (locally called Dangar Rani), green gram and black gram are
other important crops. The oilseeds grown in the region are groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, niger, sun
flower and sesame. Among the vegetables pumpkin, cucumber, ridge gourd, bitter gourd, snake gourd,
okra, beans, radish, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, potato, brinjal (eggplant), tomato, and leafy
vegetables are important. Crops with different maturing periods are planted on the same land.
Farmer interviews revealed that the agriculture is mostly of subsistence type and the tribal farmers have
not yet used fertilizers and plant protection chemicals on a large scale. To maintain the fertility, the land
is left fallow after every two sowings.
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5.2 Evidences of Climate change
Orissa is facing many problems due to changes in weather patterns in the recent past. The annual
mean temperature in the state increased by 1 0 C in the 40 years from 1950 to 1990 and continued to
rise by 0.1 0 C during the past 14 years (Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology).
5.2.1 Scientific Reviews
Weather department statistics indicate that while global mean temperatures rose by 0.5 degree Celsius
over the past 50 years, in Orissa it rose by 1 degree Celsius (Change News & Features, December
2006). Another study claims that between 1993 and 2005 mean surface temperature in the state
increased by more than 0.5 0 C, which is in line with the report of IPCC, 2007. Both the minimum and
maximum temperatures have increased significantly in the western districts during both summer and
winter. According to the study, the state is expected to experience a further 0.72 0 C increase in mean
annual temperature by 2020. The maximum increase of 1.36 0 C is projected to happen in the post
monsoon season (Pashupalak, 2008).
Similarly, rainfall shows a rising trend from the beginning of the century to the end of the 1950s. It then
declined from 1960s onwards. The percentage of years with average or above average rainfall went
down from 90 in 1957 to 45 in 1996. In 2002, 25 districts recorded less than average rainfall (Change
News & Features, December 2006).
Rainfall has become irregular and more unpredictable over the last decade, says Prof. Pashupalak of
Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology. The intensity of rainfall is also increasing. Out of 1500
mm rainfall, 500 mm to 700 mm precipitation falls within a span of 3-4 days, which sometimes causes
severe floods. Due to deviation in rainfall patterns, the flow of many rivers in Orissa has been reduced
(Patil, 2009). While the coastal districts received progressively more rainfall, the opposite was true for
the interior districts. Rainfall is gradually increasing in May and October, but declining from November
to March (RCDC, 2008).
A report from Info Change News & Features, March 2006 analyzing district-wise rainfall in Orissa since
the beginning of the 20th century, indicates that rainfall was less erratic before the 1950s. While in the
first half of the 20 th Century a majority of the years recorded average or above average annual rainfall,
rainfall has become much more erratic since the 1960s, as a majority of the years recorded belownormal
rainfall. "This is true for all districts," states the State of Orissa's Environment report, analyzing
the same dataset. Analysis of the state’s rainfall data and temperature variations reveals that the
summers are getting longer. “The state is definitely heating up,” says Murari Lal, a lead author of the
Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global scientific body studying climate
change.
A study done by Patil in 2008, shows that Orissa from 1955 to 2008 experienced 28 years of flood, 19
years of drought and 7 devastating cyclones, along with the “super cyclone” in 1999. The majority of
these events is concentrated within the last 18 years (from 1990 to 2008). In this Period Orissa
experienced 12 years of flood, 5 years of drought, one “super cyclone” and many smaller depressions
and cyclones. The study suggests that in Orissa natural extreme events are multiplying in frequency,
which is probably due to climate change (Patil, 2008).
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For more than a decade now, the state has been experiencing
contrasting extreme weather conditions: from heat waves to
cyclones and from droughts to floods. In the last four years,
calamities have claimed more than 30,000 lives, which have
not only becoming more frequent, but have hit areas that were
never considered vulnerable. Floods are more common in the
coastal plains, while drought occurred mostly in the upper
terrain (Greenpeace, 2009).
Some “likely” effects of a warming climate:
• Increased day and night temperatures in all the months
except July
• Maximum increase in temperature projected for post
monsoon period
• More frequent extreme events such as heat extremes
(maximum temperature above 45 0 C and prolonged heat
waves)
• Late monsoon onset and increase in pre monsoon
rainfall
• Reduced post monsoon and winter rainfall
• Less rainfall in February, June and October
5.2.2 Farmer’s experiences
When asked about perceived changes in weather, almost all
respondents have reported that the climate is getting hotter and
that rainfall has reduced in the area. In their opinion,
distributional patterns of rainfall have changed as well. Most
importantly for farmers, rainfall is getting less regular. Instead of
10 days of moderate rainfall, they get 5 days of heavy rainfall,
followed by longer dry spells. According to farmers, the pattern
of gentle rain for long periods has been replaced by cloudbursts
and cyclonic weather that cause huge soil wash outs,
destroying upland crops, and inundating valley bottom fields.
Such heavy rains are particularly detrimental to hill slope
farming, as the predominantly treeless slopes are especially
vulnerable to erosive forces.
These days, those methods do not seem to work reliably
anymore. Many people mentioned extinction of local biodiversity
as a reason (insects, plants, birds etc.).
5.3 Issues of concern for the study region
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"When I was growing up, we
used to receive lots of rain here
in Tharli. During Monsoon, it
used to rain continuously for
several days in a week," said
Jagdish Manjhi (52), a farmer.
He said the rainfall pattern then,
was mostly regular and
predictable. Farmers knew
exactly when to sow which of
their crops. "But things have
changed. It is now difficult to
plan and we are not sure when
to plant anymore. Timing of
sowing is a crucial issue and we
cannot rely on previous
experiences anymore as
growing seasons seem to shift,"
he said.
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The tribal population of the study area is among the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the state.
The tribal economy is primarily subsistence oriented and based upon a combination of agriculture,
forestry and wage labour (ODR, 2002).
However, the study team found the villages to be relatively self-reliant. The available land is well
managed and the solidarity among villagers seem to go beyond the links found in other study areas.
Many things are handled on a village level and are designed to benefit the community as a whole. For
example, all of the villages organize themselves in order to sell their produce at better prices. Village
groups, mostly led by women, meet regularly to discuss and resolve problems and explore possible
business opportunities.
In the village Pondakapadar in Rayagada district, the local self-help group cooperated with the
neighboring village in order to share the benefits from a small earthen dam. Both the villages now use
its water for irrigation purposes and collaborate in maintaining the dam. Round the year, farmers are
able to grow vegetables and secure some additional income. Despite degrading weather conditions,
most of the interviewed farmers can make a living based on agriculture and forest management in
normal years.
5.3.1 Infrastructure and socio-economic deficits
The study region is the least developed area of all the visited sites, in terms of infrastructure and socioeconomic
indicators. The villages are in remote areas with none or very bad road access and the
government services don’t seems to give full benefits in some of these remote areas. Despite the
obligate hand pumps installed in every village, no action of the government is visible. In terms of
education and health services, the situation seemed to be especially grave: None of the villages had a
functioning school and no health services what so ever was available in the close surroundings. The
village population is for the most part illiterate and do not speak the lingua franca of the country (e.g.
Hindi). None of the interviewed farmers has ever seen a government extension officer and they also do
not get weather forecasts from the government, even though officials claim these services exist for the
area.
In order to build effective climate resilience, such infrastructural and socio-economic deficits need to be
addressed. Tribal farmers seem to get along for the moment but future impacts of a warming climate
could hit the tribal areas especially hard, as no economic alternatives to subsistence agriculture seem
to exist for these people.
5.3.2 Deforestation
Deforestation is a serious concern in the region. Most of the farmers said that 20 to 25 years back the
area was covered with deciduous forest. Now most of the hills are barren due to massive deforestation
in the region. Much of the deforestation is caused by big dam projects, mining- and other industries
present in the planes of Rayagada district. The tribal population is pushed back and with them a
substantial part of the regions forest cover. Dams have taken up lakhs of hectares of forests and tribal
lands in the four districts of Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nawrangpur, that formed the undivided
Koraput district untill 1992 (Vidhya Das, 2008). This land acquisition by big enterprises has forced the
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indigenous populations to take up cultivation on marginal lands as hill slopes and hilltops, previously
covered by trees, causing even more deforestation. Analysis of government data shows that forest
cover in the state went down from 6.8 million ha in 1960-61 to 4.72 million ha in 2000. Out of this, only
2.73 million ha of forests have a density higher than 40% (Mahapatra, 2006).
Forests have a special importance for the tribal population in Orissa’s uplands. Even more than other
farming communities, they rely on forests for a substantial part of their livelihoods. Besides getting fuel,
forest fruits and medicinal plants out of the woods, trees perform important other functions essential for
farming on steep hill-slopes. Farmers complained that with decreased forest cover the temperatures
are rising, making it difficult for raising a Kharif crop. According to farmers, water retention capacity of
the soil in the region has fallen considerably and even if there is a good rainy season, the soil is unable
to hold the water for the rest of the year. Farmers attribute this development partly to reduced forest
cover.
5.3.3 Soil erosion and water run-off
According to statistics of Orissa’s agriculture department, about 4.33 million ha of the state’s 7.2 million
ha of agricultural lands are losing fertility due to impacts of severe erosion (Mahapatra, 2006). The
upland of 2.9 million ha, belonging mostly to tribal and very poor farmers, is to a great degree degraded
and barren. With little or no effort to harvest rain, the state loses around 80 per cent of its rainwater as
runoff from these barren lands. This can result in drought even when there is only a slight deficiency in
rainfall.
5.3.4 Climate Change impacts on agriculture
The following paragraph describes farmer’s opinion on impacts of observed weather changes in their
villages:
Apparently, climate change is manifested through changes in the rainfall patterns of the region,
affecting cultivation practices, and the fragile geo-physiology of this region. As in most parts of India,
monsoon is the main agricultural season. A thin continuous drizzle during 4 to 5 months of the year
characterizes the rainy season here. It provides the continuous moisture necessary for hill slope
cultivation, without washing away the soil to any significant extent. The shifting cultivation crops are well
adapted to this. Their shallow root zones thrive on the thin soil layers of shifting cultivation, while their
moisture tolerance enables them to survive and produce a good harvest.
According to farmers, the yields of the last couple of years have been less than average. The survey
clearly attributes this trend to decreasing land productivity and adverse climatic conditions like delay in
monsoon, heavier and more erratic rainfall. In the village Tharli, an interviewed group of farmers
claimed that changing rainfall patterns increasingly cause difficulties: “This year again the rains have
not arrived on time and sowing of upland paddy and millets has been delayed. This will affect the yield
and quality of the final produce.”
Rainfall quantity is not the main problem. According to Mangaraj, another farmer from the region, the
changes in distributional patterns is worse: “Maybe we get the same quantity of rainfall as in earlier
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years, but what it is certain that the rains are not that regularly distributed anymore. We get more heavy
rainfall, which is a big problem especially for our fields located on hill slopes. The fertile soils are getting
washed away and what remains is barely suitable for crop production.”
As water in Orissa’s tribal belt traditionally used to be an abundant resource, fewer efforts to collect and
store rain water have been made in this area. This could eventually create problems when rainfall
patterns are altered by a changing climate. More erratic and heavy rainfall, causing more run off could
eventually lead to dry spells and water scarcity even in this rainfall abundant area.
5.4 Promising adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers
Common adaptation measures include diversifying crops, planting different crops or crop varieties,
replacing farm activities with nonfarm activities, changing planting and harvesting dates, and increasing
the use of water and soil conservation techniques. Some important adaptation strategies that farmers
are practicing in the tribal belt of Rayagada district are as follows:
5.4.1 Tribal farming systems: crop diversification and traditional varieties
Over the centuries, tribal communities have developed complex, diverse and locally adapted
agricultural systems (Table 11). Maybe the strongest feature of the tribal agriculture is the large
varieties of different crops and crop-species preserved by the local farmers. The traditional farming
systems are based on plant diversity in the form of poly cultures and/or agro forestry patterns and
therefore comprise a high degree of biodiversity. This diversity of varieties offers an inherent adaptive
capacity in the sense that farmers are independent from external inputs of seeds and their crops are
well adapted to the local growing conditions.
Each of the varieties is specially adapted to a certain growing area and period. Farmers cultivate
several varieties of short duration and long duration upland paddy, especially suited to grow on the
middle region slopes. They also grow some of the most exquisite varieties of scented rice, the most
famous amongst them being ‘Kala Jeera’ so called because the paddy is black in colour before being
de-husked. Apart from this, they have short and long duration varieties of Ragi and the less common
millets, including fox tail millet, pearl millet, sorghum, and others. The same is true for pulses: Several
varieties of broad bean, arhar, cow pea, rice bean, urad, and a local variety commonly called 'Baeil' are
grown at different altitudes of the hill slopes.
Table 8: Traditional bio-diverse agriculture system in the tribal belt (Rayagada dist.) of Orissa
Land category Crops
Upland Millets, pulses, oilseeds, upland paddy
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Medium land Vegetables (brinzal, chillie, beans, different varieties of gourds etc.), maize,
cowpea
Low land Low land paddy: Scented varieties (Laisri, Deolbhog, Mirlo, Masuri, Tulsi
bas), non Scented variety (kandulkali)
Horticulture crops Jackfruit, mango, litchi, orange, lemon, guava, banana
Tribal farmers are in possession of valuable knowledge on crop diversification and mixed cropping
schemes suiting the local climate. They usually cultivate highland paddy mixed with pulses like pigeon
pea, black gram and many minor types of millet. This system of cultivation enables them to harvest
crops in overlapping intervals, ensuring continuous food provision. They grow millets and oilseeds, in
the upland farming system and indigenous paddy varieties (Laisri, Deolbhog, Mirlo, Masuri, Tulsibas,
Kandulkali etc) in the low lands.
This strategy minimizes risk of crop failure by planting several species and varieties of crops. Such
mixed cropping schemes are less vulnerable to adverse effects of pests and diseases, and at the same
time stabilizes yields over the long term. Even though almost no chemical pesticides are used in the
studied villages, crop diseases and pest attacks did not figure among the prominent problems that the
farmers were mentioning.
90 % of the farmers in the study region prefer the use of traditional grains of paddy, millets and
sorghum to the high yielding paddy and wheat varieties that are at times promoted by certain schemes.
One of the reasons is their traditional knowledge on crop combination and the suitability of some local
varieties to hill slope farming. However, this farming system based on millets has gone lost in other
parts of Orissa due to the recent over-emphasis on rice and wheat.
Growing millets and other less known indigenous cereal varieties have also other advantages.
Normally, they grow well under rain fed conditions and do not need irrigation for their cultivation. They
can be cultivated in the harshest of environments and therefore can support farming in most of the
ecological zones.
In the lowland paddy areas, tribal communities have developed indigenous systems of water
management and crop optimization, combining long duration and short duration varieties that enables
the crops to withstand the high water currents of the monsoons in the valley bottomland, while
optimizing land use.
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Figure xvii Farmer's fields with tree boundaries
Dali Manjhi one of the farmers from the village Pondakapadar narrated that during his younger days,
deviations in rainfall patterns were not too extreme. The villagers, therefore, were happy with their
paddy production and never thought of supplementary cultivation or diversification of their cropping
patterns. However, repeated failures of the Kharif crop have forced the villagers to think beyond paddy.
5.4.2 Land management
Farmers are adopting contour ploughing, contour planting, terracing, close spacing crops and other
practices of soil conservation on their land in order to minimize erosion. Farmers told that stone and
contour earth bonding make a big difference in conserving the topsoil and increase the moisture of the
steeper uplands. Farmers are diverting water from the up hills to irrigate crops on the lower levels. For
example villagers designed their wetland rice field in the valley bottomland in a way that enables them
to capture runoff from the hillsides without much additional canal construction.
In all the villages, community work to ameliorate the quality of arable land is a common practice. For
example, a whole village participated in gully plugging activities in the upper hill sites in order to slow
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down the water run-off. This practice reduces the velocity of the rainwater-flow down the slopes through
horizontal gullies and is an effective erosion check. At the same time, it increases water uptake of the
soil.
Farmers told that through contour bunds on hill slopes and reservoirs at suitable sites in the foothills,
they are able to bring back large upland and medium elevation land into cultivation. Most of the
successful bonding activity done by the villagers has however been elaborated in collaboration with
local NGO’s, emphasizing the need for external help of the local population with these activities.
5.4.3 Watershed management: Strengthening linkages between conservation and production
systems
High dependence on natural resources for livelihoods, subsistence agriculture, hilly topography and
uncontrolled depletion of natural resources, calls for an integrated approach to address the manifold
problems. A well working strategy is an integrated watershed development program.
Agragamee, one of the leading organizations working in the tribal region of Kashipur, initiated a process
for reconstruction and rebuilding of degraded tribal ecosystems. One of the studied villages,
Kodikitunda, fared considerably better in term of agricultural production than others. The reason for this
is that in 1994 Agragamee 15 , a local NGO active in the tribal belt, conducted an integrated watershed
development project, from which the village is nowadays reaping the benefits.
Agragamme started Kodikitundas watershed development project with the objective to work out an
integrative approach to restore, develop and maintain/preserve the natural resource base of the local
community. The project started in the year 1994. At the time, the village comprised 40 households with
a total population of 194. The important activities undertaken were as follows:
a. Soil and water conservation by treating the drainage line through water harvesting structures
such as field ponds, check dams and wells
b. Improvement of agriculture land by controlling soil erosion through contour bunding and
gully plug construction
c. Tree plantations at strategic locations checking erosion and providing additional economic
options - different fruit bearing trees and fast growing tree species for timber sales
d. Promotion and strengthening of people’s institutions like water user society and women self
help groups for facilitation of infrastructure maintenance and product marketing
15 For more information see: www.Agragamee.org
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Figure xviii Rejuvenated forests after watershed development project of Agragamee
Impacts of Watershed Activities:
In farmer’s opinion, the most beneficial impact of the project is the increased tree cover in the
watershed. The villagers are maintaining this vegetative growth by prohibiting access to outsiders,
imposing fines on violation of regulations and through the continuation of reforestation programmes.
Additionally, land development activities like contour stone- and earth bunds, gullies and small dams
have increased the arable land, contributed to limit erosion, restore soil fertility, improve soil moisture
uptake, soil productivity. The following Table 12 shows land use and cropping intensity (Area in ha) in
the watershed project area:
Table 9: Impacts of a watershed project on agricultural activities
Pre project Post project Increase/decrease
Total cultivable area 71.38 82.20 + 11.42
Upland 64.22 72.63 + 8.41
Low land 7.16 10.1.7 + 3.01
Area covered under single 35.00 48.76 + 13.76
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crop
Area under double crop 3.50 15.35 + 11.88
Area left fellow 31.88 18.09 - 13.79
Net cultivated area 42.00 79.11 + 37.11
Cropping intensity 59% 96% + 37%
Source: Agragamee annual report 2005
Almost 20 years after the start of the watershed management program, its positive impacts are well
visible. The existing resource base is used in a more effective way and new sources of income have
been made accessible. Apart of the benefits from improved agricultural land, the villagers generate
considerable additional income through sales of fruits, non-timber forest products and timber.
Especially the sale of timber, both for fuel and construction purposes is a lucrative source of income.
The fast growing tree species cultivated in the villages surrounding permits important wood sales every
year. Chopped trees grow back within only two years and the villagers continuously increase the area
of plantation.
The new wealth is visible in many ways: Most of the households have invested in new housing with tile
roof. Few have also changed the mud walls and constructed brick walls. Many villagers reported to
send their children to school now, which has not been the case prior to the project. Therefore, there is
hope that the project will even have beneficial impacts on the next generation in Kodikitunda.
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Figure xix Watershed management plan painted in the wall of the
community house in a village
5.4.4 Building resilience through better management
of forests
In Orissa, the livelihood of the tribal population largely rests on
their access to land and forests. Tribals have a strong sense
of attachment to the forest as their ancestral territory. When
asked about adaptation in response to weather changes, 95
percent of the farmers highlighted the role of forests in their
daily live and the need for a better protection of the later.
Reforestation and an efficient forest management could be
one of the important adaptation strategies in the study area in
order to face degrading weather conditions.
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Ishwar Manjhi, from
Pondakapadar village was
lucky: He owns a small plot of
land besides the canal, which
brings water from the small
check dam to the village. He
was able to grow vegetables
on a slightly larger scale.
From the benefits, he
constructed a house,
purchased additional land and
sent his children to school.
Due to its watershed management project, Kotikunda village now gets substantial earnings out of wood
sales (see 4.5.3). Also in other villages, promising approaches exist: To conserve the forest, farmers in
Pondakapadar village have created a self-help group called “Jungle committee”, with the goal of
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increasing the forest cover of the near surroundings and protect existing woods from unchecked
exploitation. The activities of the committee are financed collectively through a contribution of every
village household. The committee is supposed to ensure equal access to the forests for every villager
and at the same time ensure a sustainable exploitation of the same.
5.4.5 Income generation by growing vegetables
Vegetable cultivation is one of the options available to small-scale farmers in order to create additional
income. Vegetables such as brinjal, chilies, potatoes or tomatoes are grown by many farmers of the
villages on small, irrigated plots, mostly on the best land close to the rivers. The produce is marketed
and sold through the village’s Women self help groups (SHGs), generating decent income for the
farmers.
5.4.6 Horticulture
The horticulture sector has emerged over the years as the most viable option for crop diversification in
the tribal region. Farmers told that horticulture practices has demonstrated its importance as a major
contributor in improving productivity of land, generating employment, improving the economic condition
of farmers and above all providing nutritional security. They are growing and marketing litchi, mango,
jackfruit and guava in addition to traditional agricultural crops.
The importance of fruit trees for the local population is well highlighted by one example. Many
households keep large stocks of mango kernel in their storage rooms. Grinded into powder, they are
used as additional food source in calamity times.
5.5 Recommendations
Recommendations are based on results of interactions with farmers, as well as from subjective
impressions of the study team.
5.5.1 Improved infrastructure
The absence of infrastructure in Orissa’s tribal belt is striking. Roads to the villages are most of the time
in very bad conditions, hindering the circulation of people and merchandise. Schools and health
services are also absent in almost every village and large shares of the population remain illiterate. In
order to build effective climate resilience, such deficits need to be addressed through:
• Lobbying national and state authorities to increase investments also in remote zones of the
state
• Help the local population to build pressure groups in order to effectively carry out such lobbying
activities
• Support local NGO’s active in advocating the cause of the tribal population in Orissa
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5.5.2 Agriculture related
For the rain fed farming areas, emphasis should be put on research and development of appropriate dryland
farming technology and its transfer to farmers for adoption.
Most of the villagers mentioned that they have no excess to weather information at village level. Timely
and dependable advice on weather conditions would be very helpful to farmer communities to plan their
sowing- and other operations. Weather information exists for the majority of the area. The problem is to
bring the information on time into the isolated villages. Therefore, an effective information dissemination
system is needed.
Horticulture and effective management of existing forest areas has an immense potential to augment
the income of farmers in tribal rain fed areas. Farmers expressed the need for adequate training in
order to be able to efficiently expand their activities into horticulture. Thus, agriculture extension in the
area should focus among other issues on horticulture practices.
5.5.3 Water related
Integrated watershed management has turned out to be a very effective way to adapt to natural
calamities in the area and improve the resource base of tribal communities. Support for local NGO’s
active in watershed development activities is recommendable. Improve water storage capacity in the
study region is an imperative in order to effectively adapt to projected changes in climate. As the study
region used to be a relatively water abundant area, less concern was given to make efficient use of
available water resources. Increasing the capacity of the local communities to harvest and store
rainwater as well as to effectively manage available water resources will significantly increase the
adaptive capacities of the population.
5.5.4 Income Diversification
Encouraging co-operative efforts for the tribal population for carrying out forest-based activities, i.e.
basket making, rope making, processing of minor forest produce, honey collection, etc. by providing
proper marketing facilities. This will not only discourage tribals from practicing shifting cultivation but will
also improve their income.
Involvement of small tribal farmers in various rural employment schemes through dissemination of
information about the schemes at village level.
********
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6 Case Study Maharashtra
6.1 Background information
Wardha District, the project site, is located in the North Eastern part of Maharashtra. It is bounded on
the west and north by Amravati district on the south by Yavatmal district, on the south east by
Chandrapur district and on the east by Nagpur district. The boundaries with the Amravati and Yavatmal
districts are delimited by the river Wardha. The district covers an area of 6309 km 2 . 16
6.1.1 Climate
Figure xx Study region in Maharashtra
The climate of Wardha district is characterized by hot summers and a general dryness throughout the
year except during the south-west monsoon when the humidity is above 60%. During May, the hottest
month of the year, the average maximum temperature is 42°C and the average minimum temperature
is 28°C. December is the coldest month with average maximum temperature of 28°C and average
minimum of 15°C.
Marked variation in diurnal and seasonal range of temperatures occurs in the state. The month of
March is the beginning of the summer and the temperature rises steadily until June, when the monsoon
starts. In the central plains, summer temperatures vary between 40-45 degrees Celsius. May is usually
the warmest and January the coldest months of the year. The winter season lasts until February with
lower temperatures occurring in December and January.
16 Information from Govt of Maharashtra and Central Ground water Board
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6.1.2 Rainfall
The rainfall patterns in Maharashtra as a whole vary considerably. The area west of the Ghat
Mountains receives very heavy monsoon rains with an annual average of more than 3,000 mm.
However, just 150 km to the east, in the rain shadow of the mountain range, is a drought prone area,
which receives only 500-700 mm of rainfall per year. Long dry spells are common in this drier part of
Maharashtra. Average annual rainfall in the state is 1,181mm and 75% of it falls during the southwest
monsoon in June-September. There are three distinct cropping seasons in Maharashtra: Summer
season (March to mid of June); rainy (Kharif) season (mid June to September); and winter (Rabi)
season (October to February). The southwest monsoon usually begins in the last week of June and
lasts until mid September. Pre-monsoon showers begin towards the middle of June and post monsoon
rains occasionally occur in October. The highest average monthly rainfall is during July and August.
6.1.3 Soil information and cropping patterns
The soil of the district is basically derived from Deccan Trap Basalt and almost the entire district
consists of black or dark brown soil. It is medium to heavy in texture and alkaline in reaction and the
low-lying areas are rich and fertile. Agriculture plays an important role in the state’s economy, as more
than 65% of the population depends on it for their livelihood.
Table 10: Cropping pattern in Wardha district of Maharashtra
Season Crops
Kharif soybean, cotton, arhar, green gram, black gram and jowar*
Rabi wheat, gram, winter jowar
*Jowar has largely been replaced by soybean and is grown in few areas for fodder
Important crops of the regions are cotton, soybean, jowar, tur, and wheat. In Wardha district the share
of area under cereals (particularly sorghum) pulses and cotton has decreased and that of oil seeds
(mostly soybean) has increased over the years.
6.2 Evidence of climatic changes
The climatic conditions in Maharashtra are slowly but steadily making a shift towards unusual spatial
and temporal distribution of rainfall during the monsoon months. Unpredictability of the monsoon,
shifting rainfall patterns and sustained low rainfall has become frequent. Drought-like conditions in
some areas and excessive rainfall in others are the trends observed in the Wardha district of
Maharashtra in the recent past.
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6.2.1 Scientific Reviews
The normal annual rainfall varies from 985 mm to 1100 mm and the rainfall progressively increases
from the northwestern part to the southeastern part.
Table 11. Annual Rainfall data of Wardha District from 1997 to 2005
Area/Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Average
Wardha 1099.8 1007.9 1154.4 984.6 928.5 864.6 951.1 885.4 1121 999.70
Seloo 1099.8 1018.8 1318.2 976 1023 1279.5 968 1105 1395 1131.48
Deoli 1099.8 879.2 1099 884.2 748 941.7 967 739.6 1165 947.06
Hinganghat 1132.7 1156.1 1024.6 1210.5 938.2 988.2 1048.2 956.9 1246.9 1078.03
Samudrapur 1132.7 1043.1 1240.7 1206.4 1042.2 1074 1112 882.8 1281.2 1112.79
Arvi 979.2 816.6 1192.7 696.6 979.9 793.9 863.7 789.5 1216.7 925.42
Asthi 979.2 969.6 1096.2 619 641.2 760.6 706.8 699 1020 832.40
Karanja 979.2 861.2 987.1 917.7 906.8 876 910.5 879.5 1051.3 929.92
Average 1062.8 969.1 1139.1 936.9 901.0 947.3 940.9 867.2 1187. 994.60
Source: Central Ground Water Board, Maharashtra
The average annual rainfall of last the 10 years (data from 1997 to 2005) in the district varies from
832.40 mm (Asthi) to 1131.48 mm (Seloo). The Annual rainfall data (mm) is shown in the Table 11. It
may be concluded from the above table that the district received below average rainfall, in a majority of
the years (7 years). During the last nine years, rainfall exceeded the average only in 1999 and 2005.
Thus, the rainfall has definitely decreased in the district over the last ten years.
In 2002-2003, Maharashtra was in the grip of acute scarcity conditions for the third successive year.
During 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, Kharif and Rabi crops in large areas of the state were adversely
affected due to erratic rains and prolonged dry spells (Govt. of Maharashtra). A large part of the State
suffered from crop failures due to absence or erratic nature of the monsoon which lead to periodical
drought. 18 out of 33 districts in the state received less than 10% of the average rainfall in June 2009.
According to the district wise data published by the state agriculture department, there has been no
rainfall in 2009 until June 13, in Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Akola districts. Thane (0.3 mm) and
Buldhana (0.2 mm) districts have hardly received any rainfall, while districts like Raigad has so far
received 2% of the average rainfall, Nashik (1.4%), Kolhapur (8.7%), Aurangabad (2.7%), Jalna (1.9%),
Nanded (5.4%), Parbhani (4.9%), Washim (2.3%), Amravati (2.5%), Yavatmal (1.6%), Wardha (5.1%)
and Gondia (6%).
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One of the major concerns expressed by State Government officials during interactions is that in recent
years, decreased rainfall during the southwest monsoon and increased rainfall in the post monsoon
season was the norm. These weather features have unsettled the normal planting time of Kharif crops.
6.2.2 Farmer’s experiences
Farmers mentioned increase in temperature and prolonged summer. “Earlier, summer periods used to
run from March to June. Now they run from February to October!” claims an agitated farmer. “During
summers, we often have abnormal temperature peaks. The heat becomes unbearable and sometimes
we cannot work on the open fields,” says another. These are common voices from the communities in
the surveyed villages. According to farmers, these changes in temperature and rainfall pattern have
considerable consequences on the livelihood of the communities depending on agriculture.
Sharad, a farmer in his mid forties, complains: "In the past, there were a number of people in this
village, who could predict the exact day that the first rains would come.” He continued: "Nowadays this
is not possible anymore. Our climate has gone crazy and we don’t know why!" Most farmers perceive
climate change in terms of changes in rainfall, which is in their opinion decreasing. This is not the only
problem: Untimely, heavy rainfall frequently causes damage to standing crops. According to farmers,
unseasonal rains are more frequent these days. It happens also more often that excessive rains fall in a
short amount of time and flood the fields, causing considerable damages to crops and infrastructure.
Farmers told that due to delayed onset of monsoon, the sowing operations for the Kharif season are
often late. They gave an example that due to long dry spell in the month of July in 2002, the sowing
operations were affected. Also, thereafter the re-sowing of crops was not possible. The germination
and growth of sown-rabi crops was also adversely affected as the crops in the Rabi season are
basically grown on the moisture stored in the soil during the rainy season.
6.3 Climate Change impacts
About 70 per cent of Maharashtra’s land area is semi-arid to arid, supporting agriculture that is largely
dependent upon monsoon rainfall. Precipitation is concentrated in just a few months of the year and is
highly variable in frequency, intensity and geographic coverage. Climate change is adding to the natural
variability of the weather, causing manifold problems to the farmers in the area. The main issues of
concern mentioned by farmers are discussed in the following section:
6.3.1 Agriculture sector
Climate change impacts on crop yield: Increase in erratic and unreliable rainfall in the area has
substantial impact on crop yields. On the one hand, yields are declining because the crops are
damaged due to untimely and heavy rains. On the other hand, farmers are unable to predict the onset
of the monsoon as they used to 20 years ago. Seasonal shifts are confusing farmers in the important
decision on planting time. Wrong decision on this crucial issue has considerable impacts on yields and
can even lead to complete crop failure.
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Most of the farmers in the study area grow cotton and soybean. Changes in temperature and rainfall
patterns during the last couple of years had susceptibly affected soybean and cotton production. It is
well known, that due to evapotranspiration effects, cotton and soybean production is highly sensitive to
changes in climate, from length and intensity of sunshine, to rainfall and water application, soil condition
and temperature. Yields were very low in the last couple of years and farmers reported to look for
alternative crops, which support the variable weather better. According to farmers, impacts of pests and
pathogens are felt heavily in recent years, which also negatively affected crop yields.
Changes in rainfall have resulted in changes in the growing seasons as well as in crops grown. “In the
past we used to plant our crops after the first rains, but since we started experiencing frequent droughts
we are planting our crops much earlier, to allow the crops to meet the first rains. Instead of planting a
local variety of cotton, we have opted for “BT-cotton” 17 as it takes a shorter period to mature.” Clearly,
farmers are uncertain when to plant. Farmers now opt for short-season hybrid varieties because the
growing seasons are getting shorter. Rainfall patterns have hindered the growing of long-season local
indigenous varieties.
6.3.2 Impact on Water sector
According to farmers, significant water shortages have lead to shifts in cropping patterns, a decline in
cropped area and lower incomes. Water is one of the most important production inputs in agriculture. It
affects the performance of crops not only directly by sustaining the physiological metabolism of the
plants, but also indirectly by influencing the availability of nutrients and the timing of cultural practices.
In proper combinations, water and other production inputs can boost crop yields. Shortage and excess
of water affect the growth and development of the plants, crop yield and quality of produce.
Depletion of ground water: According to official groundwater experts, continued overuse of
groundwater, followed by several poor rainy seasons, has resulted in groundwater depletion. Farmers
told that during a normal monsoon-season, the shallow aquifers recover well through recharge. In case
of a poor rainfall year, natural recharge is not sufficient to balance extraction levels and a progressive
decline in water levels occurs over the years. The following table shows areas, which show
considerable decline in water tables and are a cause for concern.
Groundwater depletion is also a problem in the study villages. Farmers shared that twenty years back,
the water table used to be around 20-25 ft. Due to excess extraction and insufficient recharge it
declined to 40-50 ft. An example from the village Bonderthana illustrates the problem well: To increase
irrigation cover and access to safe drinking water, ten bore wells were dug in the village in 2008. Out of
17 The Bt. cotton variety contains a foreign gene obtained from Bacillus thuringiensis. This bacterial gene,
introduced genetically into the cotton seeds, protects the plants from bollworm (A. lepidoptora), a major pest of
cotton.
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ten bore wells, only five were successful. The other half did not reach the retreated aquifer and
remained dry.
Table 12: Depletion of ground water in Maharashtra
Water Fall Level (During May 1999 to May 2001)
State May 1999 - May 2000 May 2000 - May 2001
decline in water level
2-4 M > 4 M 2-4 M > 4 M
Maharashtra Aurangabad, Ahmedabad,
Beed, Buldhana, Jalgaon,
Jalna, Kolhapur,
Osmanabad, Pune,
Sangli, Sholapur
Aurangabad,
Beed,
Jalgaon, Latur,
Parbhani,
Sholapur
Source: Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3052, dated 09.12.2002 accessed from Indiastat.com
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Aurangabad,
Ahmedabad,
Beed,
Buldhana,
Jalgaon,
Nagpur,
Wardha, Akola,
Sangli, Satara,
Thane,
Aurang
abad,
Jalgaon
,
Sangali
Irrigation: Drought is considered the most important production constraint in Wardha district of
Maharashtra. Lack of irrigation facilities and consequently the inability to cope with detrimental weather
influences is one of the major concerns for the farmers in the study area. Many of them grow just one
crop a year, because they are not able to irrigate their fields in the winter season. Farmers from
different villages shared similar experiences about decline of ground water table even though irrigation
cover in the area is actually very low.
Only few of the smaller farmers in Wardha have irrigation facilities at their disposal. The ones who do,
mainly use simple wells in order to irrigate a winter crop. Irrigation cover is only 16% of the total
agricultural area in the district and is accessible mainly to larger farmers, with access to power (World
Bank 2002a). Due to decreased rainfall, most of the wells are without water in the winter season and
farmers have to rely on soil moisture for production. Only few of the visited villages had access to
irrigation facilities, which are used only to irrigate winter crops.
6.3.3 Major issues of concern in the study area
Soil fertility: According to farmers, the soil fertility is declining rapidly in Wardha district. This is however
mainly due to excessive production of cotton in the area and not attributable to changes in climatic
conditions. Only a decade ago, farmers used to grow jowar and cotton in intervals. Due to economic
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considerations, a production shift to cotton took place, which has an adverse effect on soil health. A
farmer from the village Bonderthana explained that traditionally, farmers used to alternate the two
Kharif crops on the same field. Jowar, with shallow roots, used to consume nutrition only from the
superficial layer of the soil. Next year, cotton crop with deeper roots would absorb nutrients from the
lower layer, allowing regeneration of nutrients in the upper layer through natural process and vice
versa.
Farmers mentioned that cultivation of input-intensive cotton crops every year resulted in non-stop
consumption of soil nutrients. Additionally, cotton is very sensitive to pest attacks and needs a lot of
chemical inputs to be viable. The continuous long-term use of high doses of chemical fertilizer is
affecting the physical, chemical and biological properties, as well as the structure and texture of the
soil. Thereby, the water holding and transmitting capacity and the aeration of soils are hampered.
Increased input cost due to replacement of indigenous varieties: Cotton and Soybean are high input
demanding crops and farmers are using large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the
district. Intensive and extensive use of chemicals has caused tremendous stress on the natural ecosystem
through soil degradation, ground water pollution, pest resistance and reappearance, and
increased costs of cultivation. Farmers’ spend around 95% amount of investments for cotton
cultivation per year. As their source of income did not increase significantly, the farmers often have to
borrow the money from money lenders to cover their expenses.
Mono-cropping and shift from food crops to cash crops: In most of the study villages, there is a
significant practice of mono cropping and utilization of farming practices (e.g., purchase of commercial
seeds) that are only conducive to irrigated conditions. As irrigation is often lacking, this development is
detrimental in terms of overall productivity.
A major constraint for farmers in the region is the impact of a shift from food crops to monoculture cash
crops (from jowar and tur-dal to cotton and soybean). The cultivation cost of the later is high but selling
prices depend on the market demand. This development has resulted in the steep decrease in the
availability of staple food and farmers have to buy food grain at higher price from the market.
The shift from sorghum to cotton and soybean also resulted in decreased fodder availability, as
traditionally the crop residues of sorghum were used to feed the livestock. Consequently, livestock
population decreased throughout the region, rendering farmers even more vulnerable.
Among farmers, there is a debate whether climate risks or price risks are their major concern. In recent
years, output of cotton has grown substantially but prices for different grades of cotton have fallen
continuously. Increased production due to large shifts in cropping patterns caused this price decline.
The private traders, dominating the local market, respond very rapidly to such development and are at
present offering very low prices. The desperate economic situation in the region is highlighted by its
high suicide rate. In the Vidarbha region, the cotton belt of Maharashtra, over 980 cotton farmers has
committed suicide between 2001 and 2006. Most were burdened with debts they could not possibly
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epay. Of the 3.4 million cotton farmers in this region, estimated 90% are heavily indebted, according to
Jan Aandolan Samiti 18 .
6.4 Existing adaptation strategies of small-scale farmers
Some of the farmers in Wardha are adapting quiet well to the challenges discussed above. Farmers
have their adaptation strategies, using as a basis their traditional knowledge about managing climate
risk, conserving biodiversity, using less water intensive crops, better selection of seeds and cropping
pattern and conserving soil and water. Some promising strategies, able to address some of the
manifold challenges, and are discussed in the following section:
6.4.1 Agriculture sector
Shift in cropping patterns: Some of the farmers in the region recognized the disadvantages of mono
cropping (see 5.2.1) and shifted their cropping pattern from monocultures to mixed cropping. By
adopting mixed cropping systems, the success of one crop may compensate for the failure of another in
case of low rains.
Farmers increasingly recognize that the existing farming system with its excessive dependence on
soybean and cotton is degrading the natural resource base. In addition, these crops are not very
tolerant towards water stress and without irrigation fail too often. In order to overcome the overdependence
on these two crops, some farmers are planting traditional dry land crops again (arhar,
sorgum, green gram, black gram, millet and pigeon pea). The combination of these traditional crops
enables the farmers to harvest crops sequentially, providing diversified harvests throughout the
monsoon season. This practice spreads risk of crop failure by reducing farmer’s dependence on one
harvest of cotton or soybean. In addition, the traditional dry-land crops crop provide valuable inputs to
the farming system, as crop residue – in contrast to cotton and soybean – are used as fodder and
additional biomass for the fields.
Results from group discussion show that the need for diversifying agricultural activities is increasingly
recognized by farmers in the Wardha District of Maharashtra. Despite farmers preference for cotton and
soybean cultivation in the area, a shift to alternative, less water-intensive crops, such as sorghum and
pulses, grown in combination with fruit trees, is happening. Such developments are encouraged and
monitored by NGO’s such as Chetana Vikas 19 , one of the leading NGOs in the region.
“Self Reliance Farming” as adaptation to climatic variation: An alternative model from Chetana Vikas:
The predominant cropping strategy in Wardha, essentially focusing on cash crops as cotton or
soybean, proved to be precarious for small farmers, leading to indebtedness and reduced food security.
Chetana Vikas promotes an alternative farming model in Wardha, which is based on low external inputs
and high self-reliance of food and farming inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides,
18 Information from Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti
19 For more information see: www.chetanavikas.org
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equipment and machinery). The model was developed for land units of 1-2 hectares under rain-fed
conditions, which previously cultivated cotton. It aims at providing a resilient agro-ecosystem with inbuilt
resistance against seasonal weather variations by careful selection of different crop varieties.
As the total growing period in the area is only 6 months, crops which are able to grow side by side are
necessary. The model uses a combination of cash crops and food crops to diversify the farmers’ food
sources and achieve nutritional security, as well as economic benefits through sales of cash crops.
Table 13 shows the degree of production autonomy of a household achieved after 3 years of “selfreliance”
farming:
Table 13: Degree of self-reliance achieved from one hectare of rain fed dry land - average of three years (2004-
2006)
Crops Family needs per
year (kg)
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Production from one
hectare (kg)
Cereals (excluding wheat) 302 245 81
Pulses 80 300 374
Spices 27 9 33
Vegetables (for 3.5. months) 50 63 127
Oil seed (for 50 litres of oil) 120 120 100
Other food 10 18 183
Cash crops (cotton, soybean, pigeon
pea)
Cash (from sale of cash crops and
fodder, plus external wages
Source: Chetana Vikas
700
Rs. 11,789
Self-reliance
achieved (%)
With the help of Chetana Vikas, some farmers in Wardha district started practicing the “self-reliance”model.
They experimented with different combinations of crops (6 to 25 crops on one plot) and chose
the one best suited to their farm. One of the farmers, Chirkut, from the village Bonderthana told that he
was able to manage a combination of 25 crops in 1.5 acre of land. The different crops are presented in
Table 14.
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Table 14: crop combination in the “self-reliance” model
Cereals:
1. Sorghum
2. Maize
3. Pearl millet
4. Green
Amaranths
5. Coarse millet
Pluses:
1. Pigeon pea
2. Moth
3. Green gram
4. Black gram
5. Cowpea
Oil Seeds:
1. Peanut
2. Soybean
3. Sesame
Spices:
4. Turmeric
5. Chilli
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Vegetables:
1. Beans
2. Tomato
3. Cluster bean
4. Lady finger
5. Gourd
6. Cucumber
7. Ridge gourd
Other crops:
8. Cotton
9. Sun hemp
Using this practice has several advantages for farmers: There are less pest-attacks and diseases, so
the need for chemical pesticides is reduced. Additionally, by inter-cropping, the plants cover the soil
surface better, so are able to conserve more moisture in the soil and to convert more sunlight into food
and fiber.
Growing drought resistant varieties: Due to changes in rainfall patterns, many farmers try to minimizing
loses from crop failure through increased use of drought-tolerant crops, including pigeon pea, sorghum,
green gram and black gram. According to farmers, these varieties are much better adapted to resist dry
My name is Gajanan and I am a farmer from Virus village of Wardha district. I am
practicing “self-reliance” farming since 5 years and this has provided me with many
benefits. Especially my income has improved considerably. In only two years, I was
able to repay my loan to the moneylenders. With the additional money, I bought food I
do not produce myself and was even able to add on to our house. Before, I only grew
cotton and after some crop failures, I accumulated a lot of debts. With “self-reliance”
farming, I can grow a variety of crops and get income from various sources. In addition,
I do not need much money for fertilizers and pesticides. The nature does most of the
work for me!
spells and other weather features of the region. In addition, growing of these crops, especially sorghum
provides additional fodder for cattle through the use of the plant residues.
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In some parts of Maharashtra, sorghum residues used to be the most important source of fodder for
cattle. Due to production shifts towards cotton, fodder prices increased heavily and farmers can safe
considerable amount of money by producing their own fodder.
Income diversification: Many farmers are growing fruits and vegetables in order to supplement their
incomes. Certain factors are considered by farmers in the decision on what fruits to grow. Those factors
included the ability of the fruit tree to thrive under erratic rainfall conditions, provide early fruits and a
good market value of the fruits. Sweet lime, orange and ber were identified as the most suitable species
considering each of the three factors.
6.4.2 Water sector
Water availability is one of the major concerns for farmers in Wardha. Climatic changes causing
reduction in rainfall quantity and changing distributional patterns add to the pressure on this scarce
resource, making adaptation in the water sector a high priority. Some findings from Wardha are
presented below:
Community based watershed management: Community-based water management initiatives can have
significant impacts on water availability. Local NGO’s like Chetana Vikas and other organizations as the
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 20 (NABARD) are supporting farmers with
expertise and financial support to start such projects.
A good example is found in the village of Umri. The village is located in Wardha district and does not
receive much benefit of governmental programs. However, effective watershed development and
management over the last 5 years had beneficial impacts in terms of ecosystem restoration (for
example improved soil moisture content) and assured incomes from agriculture even during drought
years.
Farmers’ told that continuous rainfall for a few days followed by prolonged dry spell in the rainy season
resulted in quick run off, leaving very little scope for recharge of ground water and moisture uptake of
the soils. To hold the water during rains, farmers are constructing soil and water conservation
structures in the farm surroundings as well as in the uphills. Concretely, they have built contour bunds -
low ridges made of soil across the slopes – in order to better withhold the water flowing into the fields.
The water pools up behind the bunds instead of running off quickly and therefore has time to sink into
the ground.
Varalumilmile, one of the farmers from the village Umri proudly narrates: “I managed to recharge my
well by using the bunding method. Last year (2008) there was no water in other villager’s wells but I
was able to get good water from mine until well into the winter season. In addition, the soils of my fields
became more porous, with more earthworms and fewer hard clods. There is less water logging in the
20 See www.nabard.org
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wet season and less cracking afterwards. The soil is also able to retain the moisture longer during dry
spells, which I think is the reason for my good yields last year.”
Water management at individual level vs. collaboration in irrigation: To assure water supply in fields is
the responsibility of each individual farmer. Normally every farmer constructs his own bore well using
his own resources or through uptake of a loan. Many farmers cannot afford such a construction and
have to abstain from irrigating their crops. Some farmers however are collaborating with neighbors in
order to construct a well collectively. Such practices are not very common yet when encouraged could
provide relieve to many of the poorest members of the farming communities.
6.5 Recommendations
6.5.1 Financial support for the promotion of sustainable land use practices
Excessive use of fertilizer and pesticides and extensive mono-cropping is affecting the fertility of the
land in Wardha. Additionally, such practices are not made for small-scale farmers who cannot afford to
lose a production without falling into a vicious cycle of debt accumulation. Appropriate land
management techniques should be promoted to convince farmers of the benefits of more sustainable
agricultural practices. This could best be achieved through financial support to local NGO’s promoting
sustainable land use practices in the area.
6.5.2 Water management
In Wardha district, agriculture is for the major part dependent on rainfall. Strategies to increase
irrigation potential of the area are very much required. This should however be combined with
considerations about how to keep water utilization at a sustainable level. Given the wide spread poverty
of small-scale farmers in the area, large-scale investment in expensive facilities as drip and sprinkler
irrigation does not seem a viable option as farmers would not be able to make such investment even
with considerable financial support. Bore well and canal irrigation in combination with efficient water
management seem more appropriate for the region.
6.5.3 Improve access to marketing systems
Communities should get support in learning about market mechanisms and merchandising their
products. A possibility could be to support communities in forming large producer groups, able to
withhold parts of the production in order to wait for better prices. This would improve their bargaining
power vis-à-vis private traders, largely dictating market prices for agricultural products in the area.
6.5.4 Awareness and knowledge-sharing
Most of the communities are unaware of government schemes and programmes related to drought
mitigation, agriculture and rural development. Raising awareness is crucial in order to enable the
farming communities to take advantage from the various existing schemes. Such activities should first
target all key stakeholders from the different communities (e.g. village panchayats). These stakeholders
could later on disseminate the information and coordinate activities for their villages.
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6.5.5 Focus on advisory and extension services
The use of excessive pesticides in the rain-fed areas of the state results in sub-optimal production
levels and low profits. Strong advisory and extension services are required to suggest ways to improve
existing farming practices for dry land agriculture on a larger scale.
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7 Summary and Conclusions:
This report, documenting five case studies, makes an effort to strengthen the knowledge base on local
climate change adaptation initiatives being practiced in different states of India, which will supplement
the Government of India’s efforts of developing a climate resilient national policy for agriculture
development. This report is an outcome of our bottom-up approach of hearing the voices from the field
and our sincere efforts to taking their concerns to the people who matter the most.
The five states face a general problem of water availability, reduced farm productivity due to erratic and
untimely rainfall. Soil fertility loss, soil erosion problem and intensified agriculture practices lead to an
overall decrease in income of small-scale farmers. Moreover, mono – cropping, practiced in many
places adds to their problems. At the same time, these farmers at most of the times do not wait for
external interventions and develop their own adaptation strategies. Many have shifted back to their ageold
farming practices like “baranaaja”, cropping patterns involving 12 or more food crops grown in
‘synergetic’ combinations (Uttarakhand). Some have shifted to re-constructing “bawaris”, old water
storage structures, as in the case of Rajasthan. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh have started an innovative
social self-regulation mechanism of water usage. Some of them are even shifting from highly
remunerative groundnut cultivation to food and fodder crop cultivation. Migration to nearby towns in
search of better earnings is very common. Govt. policies and programmes providing additional options
for secured income (like the NREGA) as well as provision of advanced technologies for Agriculture (like
ATMA scheme) might be useful.
These coping and adaptation strategies however, face limitations of adaptation driven and financed by
the communities themselves. Based on the future needs of communities, the study reveals
opportunities of future interventions, both by the external development agencies and the Government of
India. Besides the key recommendations, state specific recommendations are also provided in the last
section of each case study, which provides the reader with the urgent needs felt by the farmers. The
required relevant entry points may be categorised into three broad domains: Support in the form of
policy regulations, infrastructure facilities and efficient delivery systems.
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8 Final Recommendations
The most limiting factor in the entire studied region is water availability. Some of the key
recommendations that emerged from the study are mentioned below:
Key Recommendations:
As has been mentioned in the earlier section of the report the success of the intervention made by the
government and the implementing bodies largely depends upon supporting the initiatives that have
been identified by farming communities. Most practices that have been captured in the study indicate
that current practices have been evolved by the distilled wisdom of the farmers as a response to
climatic oscilliation.
The effectiveness of the recommendation elaborated in the following paragraphs depends upon a
strong support from the Government. The livelihoods of farmers need to have a broad base and should
not be restricted solely to the income out of farming activities. There is an urgent need for sensitisation
of the rural communities about the various schemes of the government for which the extension services
need to have more interaction with rural masses.
In many cases, there was a good understanding of the challenges and problems faced by the
communities. Famers also know which strategies to adopt in order to tackle those problems. However,
in many cases they lacked the capacity to implement the necessary changes. There is a lack of
financial ability and sometimes technical knowledge, which impedes the implementation of adaptive
capacities. Capacity building at community level in order to enable the farmers to implement adaptation
strategies must be one of the top priorities for decision makers.
The recommendation proposed as an outcome of the study are further elaborated in section of policy
regulations, infrastructure and efficient delivery system.
Policy Regulations:
Affordable crop insurances: Existing insurance schemes are covering only certain cash crops.
Additionally, insurance is often not provided to individual farmers but only to a village as a whole.
Private companies are often not satisfied with weather data recorded in governmental meteorological
stations. Besides, there are certain technical issues also, for example, untill date insurance is provided
against total rainfall in the growing season. Under climate change scenarios, the total rainfall may not
vary much but its distribution might be grossly affected. This change in rainfall distribution pattern
seriously affects crop production. However, this important aspect is not yet taken into consideration
while designing crop insurance schemes. For this, close collaboration between Agriculture Research
Institutes and Insurance Companies with Government mediation is needed. Designing and putting into
practice economically viable crop insurance schemes would substantially improve the situation of
farmers.
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Promotion of Sustainable agricultural practices through smart Subsidies: While the Govt. of India
provides enough subsidies for inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, not much effort is being given to
encourage environmentally sound farming practices. There should be a mechanism of direct subsidies
to farmers, who are practicing environmental friendly practices. Subsidies for foreign breed of cattle
should not be promoted and rearing of local breeds should be encouraged
Animal Husbandry/Cattle conservation programme: Tackling the issue of animal husbandry as one of
the important sector was one of the weak link identified during the course of study. The need of
identifying the local productive breed and promoting cattle rearing along with creating fodder banks
could provide an essential and necessary input for sustainable livelihoods of farming communities.
Measures need to be taken to assure the existence of a sufficiently large cattle population with local
adapted breeds. Govt. of India has already captured the importance and is carrying out Livestock
Insurance Schemes on a pilot basis through private – public partnership mode. There is a need to learn
from the pilot study and extend the Livestock Insurance Scheme to the large parts of India.
Infrastructure at local level:
Basic infrastructure needs to be improved in all the sectors for making agriculture sustainable. Better
road connectivity for greater market access as well as increasing the storage capacity of both food and
fodder at local level is urgently needed. Village level water harvesting structures are another important
intervention. One focus has to be in creating seed, food/grain, and fodder and water Banks at
community level.
Efficient Delivery systems:
Extension services: Strengthening of agricultural extension services through the existing Krishi Vigyan
Kendras (KVKs), by focusing on low input agricultural practices and locally adapted cropping patterns is
critical and urgently needed.
Marketing Services: Communities should get support in learning about market mechanisms and
merchandising their products. They should have easy access to markets and information about global
market prices. E- Choupals 21 , like those initiated by (ITC for Soybean, in the State of Madhya Pradesh,
is an excellent model in place that might be extended to other food crops as well.
Access to weather Information: Farmers need accurate weather forecasts and agro-advisory services,
to take vital decisions regarding farming practices. However, untill date the Indian Meteorological
Department extends its agro-advisory services only up to the district level. The information often does
not reach the end users. Establishing an efficient service delivery system down to the village level is a
21 e Choupal is an initiative of ITC Limited (a large multi business conglomerate in India) to link directly with rural farmers for
procurement of agricultural / aquaculture produce like soybeans, wheat, coffee, and prawns.
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95

daunting task. However, external agencies can play an important role in supporting these services by
including them in their area of their operations. Establishment of mini-agro-met observatories at a
village level would serve the dual purpose of assisting the farmers and insurance companies.
Awareness Raising and Capacity Building: The most critical domain of services, which can be provided
by external agencies like GTZ, Misereor, DWHH and others is awareness raising and capacity building
at the local level. Most of the communities are unaware of government schemes and programmes
related to drought mitigation, agriculture and rural development. Raising awareness is crucial in order to
enable the farming communities to take advantage from the various existing schemes. Such activities
should first target all key stakeholders from different levels of the administration. (e.g. villages,
mandals/village panchayats and then district). Capacity Building of the villagers in all aspects, be it
rearing of cattle, crop diversification, organic farming, maintaining water harvesting structures and seed,
grain, fodder, water banks, is crucial for ensuring sustainability of any intervention.
Some of the insights that have emerged from the study are summarised in the table below:
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96

States
Summary of insights:
Experiences of climate
change
Rajasthan Decrease in number of
rainy days, delayed
onset of monsoon,
increase in post
monsoon rains.
Andhra Pradesh 0.3 degree rise in
temperature during the
20 th Century. Increase
in winter temp.
Projections:
considerable increase
in temp, more or less
unchanged rainfall.
Water Sector Agriculture Sector Other Relevant Sectors
Issues Coping/Adaptatio
n practices
Availability Water storage
facilities
(Personal—small
tanks and
community-
bawri, jhalara)
Availability Surface water
through Gonchi
System,
Community
regulation of
ground water
usage
Issues Coping/Adaptation
Loss in crop,
fodder
production.
Less livestock
rearing
mono-cropping,
decreased
livestock and
fodder
availability.
97
practices
Organic agriculture,
summer ploughing,
cultivation of
traditional crop
varieties of millets,
pulses, gram and
oilseeds. Re-
introduction of Native
grasses for
pasturelands,
adjusting crop
calendar.
Delayed sowing,
mixed cropping,
shifting to millets from
rice, mulching, bio-
pesticides,
97
Issues Coping/Adaptation practices
No alternative
livelihoods, scarcity of
food and fodder even
for own consumption
Seasonal migration,
Stocking food & fodder
during good crop years
Government schemes like
NREGA
Short term migration
Migration and distress sell
of assets. Artisans, rural
handicrafts

Uttarakhand Changing rainfall
pattern, less snow
(less winter
precipitation) delayed
onset of monsoon,
higher temperatures,
more frequent
occurrence of extreme
weather events,
Orissa 1 °C rise in temp over
last century, summers
getting longer, erratic
rainfall, more frequent
extreme weather
events.
Maharashtra Below average rainfall,
prolonged summer
Availability
of surface
water, lack
of irrigation.
Traditional water
harvesting
structures.
Availability Watersheds
Depletion
of ground
water, lack
of irrigation
facilities,
Management
Watershed
management
Reduction in
quality and
quantity of
production, soil
nutrient
degradation,
more pest
attacks
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Mixed cropping
system of
“Baranaaja”, growing
of hardy crops like
millets and pseudo
cereals, traditional
method of growing
paddy.
Reduced yield Diversification &
Reduced yield
of cash crops
(cotton and
soybean),
increasing input
costs,
decreasing soil
fertility
mixed cropping
systems, traditional
rice varieties,
community land
management,
horticulture, income
from fruit trees
Shift to traditional dry
land crops (also
adaptation to water
shortage),
combination of cash
and food crops, fruits
& vegetables
98
s.a. Income from Tourism and
pilgrimage
Forest management,

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