Farmers’ perception of climate change and management strategies in the mid-Himalaya, India

Abstract

The Himalayan ecosystem is one of the most climate change-affected ecosystems in the world. The present study focuses on farmers’ perceptions of climate risks and adaptation strategies in Uttarakhand, mid-Himalaya, India. Using district-level long-term climate data along with village-level surveys, we explored the major trends in climatic variables with farmers’ perception and ad- aptation practices against climate change vagaries. Farmers noticed changes in the environment that were consistent with trends in the climate data. Farmers’ adaptation measures included changes in crop varieties, reduced number of livestock, shifting to non-farm ac- tivities, shifting planting dates and changing the cultiva- ble land size. Stronger extension services, use of mobile advisory for increasing extension contact, inexpensive credit, community-focused agricultural training were the most important factors for effective climate change adaptation behaviour. Farmers’ perception was signifi- cantly influenced by number of crops grown, training experience and extension contact. This study emphasizes the need for policymakers to take into account local knowledge of climate change and strategies to speed up communities’ shift towards resilience and the extension mechanism must adapt their strategies for promoting resilience based on locally constrained and unconstrained measures.