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Perceived Climate Variability and Compounding Stressors: Implications for Risks to Livelihoods of Smallholder Indian Farmers

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Abstract

Micro-scale perspectives are seldom included in planned climate change adaptations, yet farmers’ perceptions can provide useful insights into livelihood impacts from interactions between climatic and other stressors. This research aims to understand how climate variability and other stressors are impacting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Azamgarh district, eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. Data from 84 smallholder farmers were collected using mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches, including interview and participatory methods, informed by multiple stressor and sustainable livelihood frameworks. Results revealed that farmers are increasingly facing problems caused by the reduced duration and number of rainy days, and erratic rainfall. Anomalies in seasonal cycles (longer summers, shorter winters) seem to have altered the local climate. Farmers reported that repeated drought impacts, even in years of moderate rainfall, are adversely affecting the rice crop, challenging the formal definition of drought. Climate variability, identified as the foremost stressor, often acts as a risk multiplier for ecological (e.g., soil sodicity), socio-economic (e.g., rising costs of cultivation) and political (e.g., mismatching policies and poor extension systems) stressors. In addition to climate stresses, resource-poor marginal groups in particular experienced higher risks resulting from changes in resource management regimes. This study provides an important cue to revisit the formal definitions of normal rainfall and drought, accommodating farmers’ perceptions that evenly distributed rainfall, and not total rainfall is a key determinant of crop yields. Though India has developed adaptive measures for climate change and variability, integration of farmers’ perceptions of climate and other stressors into such policies can improve the resilience of smallholder farmers, who have hitherto depended largely on autonomous adaptation strategies.

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Acknowledgements

The knowledge and information support received from key informants and other farmers of the selected villages is gratefully acknowledged. Financial help was received from Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, India through Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Outstanding Scientist Award Project (No: NRMACSSRISOL201601600914) and through LBS foreign visit fellowship (DARE/ F.N0.8-6/2016-IC.II) for completing research work at University of Leeds. Logistical support provided by ICAR-CSSRI, Karnal, India and School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, UK is appreciated.

Author Contributions

RKS designed the study, collected data, wrote and finalise the MS. AK helped in statistical applications on data, while AMS contributed in conceptualisation, editing and reading the MS. The climatic data collection and analysis were performed by SK, while PS, DS and DKS contributed in analysing and interpreting data on ecological stressors. LCS and CHQ helped in conceptualising the aim of study and contributed in writing, editing and finalising the article.

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  1. ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, 132001, Haryana, India

    Ranjay K. Singh, Anshuman Singh, Satyendra Kumar, Parvender Sheoran, D. K. Sharma & Arvind Kumar

  2. School of Earth and Environment, Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Lindsay C. Stringer & Claire H. Quinn

  3. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Pali, Rajasthan, India

    Dheeraj Singh

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  1. Ranjay K. Singh
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Correspondence to Ranjay K. Singh.

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Respondents were informed about the objectives of the study prior to their participation, including the expected outcomes in form of print and digital publications. Accordingly, they provided their oral consent to share their knowledge and perceptions, and participated in this study for the data to be used in its outputs. Study respondents wished to remain anonymous; while those quoted in results use pseudonyms. Ethical approval (NRMACSSRISOL201601600914 & DARE/F.N0.8-6/2016-IC.II) and publication approval (No. 88/2019) were obtained from the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Cell headed by the Director of the lead author’s institute, which also looks after the ethical concerns of the institute’s research.

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Singh, R.K., Singh, A., Kumar, S. et al. Perceived Climate Variability and Compounding Stressors: Implications for Risks to Livelihoods of Smallholder Indian Farmers. Environmental Management 66, 826–844 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01345-x

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