An Assessment of Cultivators' Perception about Climate Change and It's-induced Adaptation Practices in Agriculture of Cooch Behar Sadar Sub-division, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The Perception of climate change and its induced adaptation practices is very important in agricultural activity. This study was conducted at Cooch Behar Sadar sub-division in West Bengal, India, from May to December 2019. The objective was to find out the cultivators' perceptions about climate change and its adaptation practices and also analysis the preferences about Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) practices in the study area. Both primary and secondary data were collected using qualitative and quantitative methods. Mean score (MS), conjoint analysis, and Knowledge-adaptation index (KAI) were used to analysis the above mention objectives related to this study. The result shows that the adaptation practices such as high, moderate crop yield and climate resilience agricultural (CRA) practices had a positive utility, implying that these were the most preferred combination of CRA when responding to climate change. Contrary to this, high greenhouse gas emissions, low climate resilience, and low crop yield had a negative utility, implying that these were the least preferred combination. The majority of the respondent cultivators with marginal landholding were almost perceived by the phenomena of climate change. The study established that CRA practices were visible and effective response measures, to address the barriers of climatic variability and changes. So, it should be supported by the adoption of innovative technologies, policies, and strategies.