Climate Resilient Technologies, Adaptation, Mitigation and their Influence on Farm Income in Telangana State of India

Abstract

Climate change is a challenge for developing countries like India due to climate variability. The study area of Telangana is also prone to frequent droughts, resulting in distress among farming communities, and witnessed crop failures leading to farmer’s suicides. The State Action Plan on Climate Change (APCC) reported these issues of drought and heat waves in agriculture. Therefore, the present study was undertaken in 2017-18 by using an ex-post facto research design to assess the climate resilient technologies, mitigation strategies adopted here, and their influence on farm income among the already ascertained most vulnerable Mahabubnagar district and least vulnerable Khammam district farmers of Telanagana State. A total of 480 respondents, 240 from each district, were selected randomly. The technology adoption index was constructed to ascertain the extent of adoption of climate-resilient technology, and further study analyzed the factors influencing the adaptation of climate- resilient, technologies such as the technology adoption index on household farm income, along with other factors. The results of the study indicated that different strategies adopted by farmers in mitigating climate change, such as use of drought-tolerant varieties and life saving irrigations had a positive influence on adaptation to climate change. Further, the study reported that the technology adoption index (TAI) showed a positive, non-significant impact on farm income in both scenarios considered i.e. Mahabubnagar and Khammam which implies that there needs, adopting more technologies intensively and timely, have to significant influence on farm income.