Farmers’ Climate Change Adaptation Intention in North Eastern Hill Region of India

Abstract

Climate change is real. Production and productivity are affected by the variability in climate. Adaptation measures to climate change are needed to tackle by the farmers. To know the adaptation intention measures practices by the vulnerable farmers of North Eastern Hill Region (NEHR) of India, the study was conducted in three states of NEHR viz., Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. The most vulnerable district to climate change from each selected states were purposively selected. With α at 0.05% level of significant and effect size of 0.40, a total of 257 farmers were selected by proportionate random sampling without replacement. The respondent farmers have medium ‘Mass media exposure’, low ‘Extension contact, medium ‘Exposure to long term stress or shocks and low ‘Access to climate change mitigation & adaptation services. The majority farmers practiced Crop and variety diversification and ‘Adjusting planting calendar’ as ‘Climate change adaptation intention’. ‘Mass media exposure’ and ‘Extension contact’ were found significant with the ‘Climate change adaptation intension’ of farmers. From the Multinomial Logistic Regression model, there exist a relationship between the independent variables of the study and the dependent variable, ‘Climate Change adaptation intention’ of farmers in Agriculture and allied ventures. The study suggested improvement of accessibility and usefulness of local services like agricultural extension deemed a necessity for successful adaptation strategies in the North Eastern Hill Region of India.