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Factors Influencing the Feasibility, Effectiveness, and Sustainability of Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in The Indian Eastern Himalayan Foothills

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Abstract

The rapidly changing climatic conditions are adversely impacting the Indian agricultural sector. Farmers are frequently seen adopting several adaptation measures, which are neither equally efficient nor mutually exclusive. Based on the primary data collected from 300 farming households of the Indian Eastern Himalayan foothills, the present study attempts to examine the efficiency of local farmers’ adaptation by developing indices combining the feasibility, effectiveness, and sustainability of the adaptation measures with the scale of actual adoption. Further, by employing multiple linear regression, the study analyzes the internal (psychological) and external (physical and socio-economic) factors influencing higher scores of these indices. Results show that local farmers are well aware of climate change and are responding through implementing at least one and up to seven adaptation measures. Farmers preferred agroforestry, a shift from cereals to low water-intensive commercials, irrigation, and intensification of winter crops as the most efficient. There was, however, a misalignment between the perceived efficiency of adaptation measures and their scale of adoption. Farmers’ perceptions of pest infestation, satisfaction with farming, soil characteristics, farm size, remittances, and access to credit were found to be positively and significantly influencing the adaptation indices, while open-mindedness toward changing farming practices and crop-raiding by elephants were found to be negatively and significantly associated with adaptation indices. Lastly, the study made relevant recommendations for improving farmers’ efficiency in adopting appropriate adaptation measures and strengthening the “State Action Plan on Climate Change”.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Editor-in-Chief and the anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and constructive suggestions. Further, we would like to acknowledge everyone who offered us a lot of support while we planned and carried out the fieldwork. We also express our sincere thanks to all the farmers, agricultural experts, and key informants who generously shared their knowledge and experience with us.

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  1. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Pritha Datta & Bhagirath Behera

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Datta, P., Behera, B. Factors Influencing the Feasibility, Effectiveness, and Sustainability of Farmers’ Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change in The Indian Eastern Himalayan Foothills. Environmental Management 70, 911–925 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-022-01724-6

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