Assam Flood and Financial Loss in Agricultural Production: A Study on Mitigation Strategy Adopted by the Farmers of Dhemaji District

Abstract

Background: Assam is considered as a flood prone state, as this natural disaster creates devastating situation almost every year. The study was conducted in Dhemaji district of Assam which is in the list of highly flood hazard index. The district was selected to know the impact of flood on financial loss for agricultural production and to study the mitigation strategy adopted by the flood affected farmers in the district. Methods: For that a multistage random sampling technique was adopted to select flood affected farmers from the district. Financial loss for agricultural production due to flood was estimated by calculating financial loss for crop loss, agricultural asset loss and livestock loss for the study area. Flood situation and Non flood situation was compared while going for calculation of financial loss for crop due to flood. Henry Garret ranking technique was adopted to rank the problems face by the farmers. Result: The result reflected that net return from crop production was recorded to be less (Group I 1032.44Rs/ha and Group II 3830.99 Rs/ha) in flood situation than the non-flood situation (Group I 7051.30 Rs/ha and Group II 8330.08 Rs/ha).Total financial loss due to crop loss, asset loss and livestock loss was found to be high for size group II farmers (Rs 39094.33) then the size group I (Rs 36643.40). Majority of the respondents (79.17 per cent) preferred migration as the best coping mechanism to protect them from flood loss.