Farmer’s perception and adaptation strategies to changing climate in Kashmir Himalayas, India
2022
Lone, Fayaz Ahmad | Maheen, Munazah | ul Shafiq, Mifta | Bhat, Mohammad Shafi | Rather, Javeed A.
Climate change and variability has far reaching impacts on agriculture particularly in ecologically sensitive areas like the Himalayas. The present study attempts to understand the farmer’s perception and adaptation strategies to changing climate in Lidder watershed of Kashmir Himalayas, India. Based on a cross-sectional database of 266 farm operating families, the study adopts a bottom-up approach to investigate farmer’s perceptions of changes in climatic variables as well as various farm-level adaptation measures, determinants and barriers at the farm-household level. The results show that the majority of farmers have developed a perception of climate change and have engaged themselves in adaptive behaviour with regard to agricultural land use and planning. A weighted average index used to measure the most relevant adaptation strategies revealed that conversion of agricultural land to horticulture, improving irrigational facilities and water harvesting were the main adaptation methods implemented by farmers in the study area. Utilizing the logit regression model, the study confirmed that household characteristics such as land holding size, age of the farmer, years of schooling, farm experience and labour force highly influence household decisions to adapt to climate change. The study calls for policy intervention at the farm-household level to enhance the adaptive capacity of farmers in the region.
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