Sustainable agriculture in Northeastern India: how do tribal farmers perceive and respond to climate change?

ABSTRACT

India’s monsoon dependent agriculture is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and inadequate policies contribute to socio-economic difficulties in farming communities. Many current policies and strategies to combat climate change impacts are focused on technical aspects of adaptations whereas little research is done to understand the socio-economic dimensions, particularly the perspectives of farmers. To address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with more than 800 farm-families residing in the Northeastern Region of India (NER), an Eastern Himalayan ecosystem.

Results show that most farmers perceive changes in climate and are aware of its agricultural and socio-economic impacts. The majority of farmers from all eight NER states have personally experienced unusual climatic events within the last 10–15 years. About two-thirds believe that climate change is largely man-made and there is an urgent need to take action. Many farmers observed declining water availability and soil fertility across NER. High cost of agricultural inputs and unawareness of effective adaptation technologies are the core barriers for adaptation in NER. To sustain their livelihoods, vulnerable farmers have adopted a few low-cost measures. However, strategic interventions are highly advocated to empower human capital for enhancing socio-ecological resilience. In conclusion, to overcome the barriers of farm adaptations in NER, holistic support programs are needed, which raise awareness for suitable actions, reduce input costs, and facilitate access to financial credits.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change perception
• livelihood vulnerability
• agricultural adaptation
• adoption barriers
• Asian monsoon

Acknowledgments

The first author acknowledges funding received from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for this research stay during the doctoral degree (F.No. 18(01)/2015-EQR/Edn dated November, 02, 2015). The Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediction (CliSAP) cluster of excellence, the School of Integrated Climate System Sciences (SICCS) and The MIN (Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences) Graduate School (MINGs) of Universität Hamburg, Germany provided partial funding to conduct the field trip in India for data collection, and we acknowledge them with earnest gratitude. The study also contributes to the Cluster of Excellence ‘CLICCS - Climate, Climatic Change, and Society’ of Universität Hamburg. The authors sincerely thank all the staff of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Northeastern region of India who actively took part in data collection activity and extended necessary assistance. All authors earnestly thank all the farmers of NER who contributed and co-operated to conduct interviews.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest for this manuscript.

Notes

1. Farm Science Centers are knowledge and resource centers which transfer agriculture technologies to needy farmers. Farm Science Centers are referred as Krishi Vigyan Kendra in Hindi language. Commonly, across the India, Krishi Vigyan Kendra are called as KVKs. KVKs are located at district level and cater the location specific needs of farming communities that fall under their jurisdiction.

2. To estimate or judge the quality of irrigation and drinking water, the interviewers requested farmers to consider factors like the color of water, the taste of water, the smell of water, etc. Some farmers had recently conducted soil and water testing with the help of Government officials and reported the results of this testing instead.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ICARF. No. 18(01)/2015-EQR/Edn, November, 02, 2015; the MINGS Graduate School, Universität Hamburg, Germany; the School of Integrated Climate System Sciences (SICCS) of Universität Hamburg's Celuster of Excellence “Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediction„ (CliSAP), Germany