Flood Coping Strategies of Farmers in the High Lands and Lowlands of Kerala

Abstract

The study aims to identify and describe the variety of coping strategies used by household’s disaster prone highlands and lowlands of Kerala.  A multi stage sampling method was adopted for data collection purpose first stage from districts of Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Wayanad and at the second level, two acutely damaged panchayaths (both in terms of crop damage and area affected) The requisite data were collected through an interview schedule consisting of both open ended and close ended questions. The data collection period was from 02th September 2021 to 30th December 2021 and the interviews were conducted in local language. A total sample size of 520 farmers were selected.  Coping Strategies Index for Floods and Landslides were developed for farmers, at individual, community and government level in the highlands and lowlands of Kerala. Results show that to mitigate the negative impacts of natural disasters especially floods, primarily, farmers must be willing to improve their capacity to adapt by adopting new strategies and this depends upon the socio economical context of the farmers, support of the local authorities, and access to technologies. At the government level, policy makers often lack the necessary information on how farmers are being impacted by floods. The adaptive behaviour for coping strategies, varies from region to region. Absence of such critical information becomes a barrier for policy makers in addressing long term nature of climate change and in formulating effective adaptation framework at the local level. Hence concluded that both lowlands and highland area possess different flood coping mechanisms. In highland borrowing of capital after flood was the strategy found whereas in lowland application and usage of more chemical fertilizers and pesticides was the strategy adopted.