Development of a Scale to Measure the Climate-Led-Vulnerability of Farmers in Bundelkhand and Gird Agro-climatic Zones of Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

The vulnerability is determined by the levels of sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capability in that system. To boost the resilience of various fields, it could be required to assess sector-specific climate change vulnerability. In the context of agriculture, there were many ways to adapt to climate change, including policies, access to climatic data, new planting patterns, and technological advancements. Farmers' perceptions of climate change, ongoing adaptation efforts, and the decision-making process are all taken into account by policies intended to promote effective climate change adaptation measures for the agricultural sector. A scale was constructed to measure the vulnerability of the farmers to climate change based on Likert’s summative rating technique of scale construction. The scale consisted of the final 39 statements to measure the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the farmers related to climate change. Reliability of the scale was calculated by using split half method and the reliability coefficient was 0.834. Validity of the scale was tested by experts’ judgement. The reliability and validity of the scale indicate its consistency and the precision of the results. The developed scale can be practically used by researchers and policymakers to identify vulnerable farmers and design targeted climate adaptation strategies and interventions to enhance their resilience. This scale can be used to measure the Climate-Led-Vulnerability of farmers in similar situations beyond the study area with suitable modifications.