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

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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