Climate Change Impact on Farmers’ Perception and Adaptation Response under Rainfed Agriculture in Southern India

Rainfed agriculture covers 80 percent of the World’s cropland and produces about 60 percent of the World’s food grains. In India, 55 percent of gross sown area accounts 40 percent of food production. In Tamil Nadu, nearly 48 per cent of gross sown area is under rainfed cultivation which is highly vulnerable to climate change and therefore it requires appropriate climate adaptation strategies. The present study covering 180 sample households to examine the farmers perception on climate change and various adaptation responses practiced in rainfed agriculture in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. The farmers were requested to choose one or more response among the three options namely, change in rainfall pattern, change in temperature and decrease in ground water availability. The results of the analysis indicated that rainfall and ground water availability are major concerns due to climate change were perceive by 84 and 58 percent of farmers. The adaptation responses to climate change are examined and the farmers were requested to indicate the various adaptation strategies viz., changing the cropping pattern, drilling new bore wells, deepening existing wells, introducing water saving irrigation methods and reducing the number of irrigations etc. The change in rainfall and temperature perceived by farmers were followed the reduction in number of irrigations, change in cropping pattern, advancement or delaying of cropping seasons and growing rain-fed crops are the major adaptation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change.