Assessment of Farmers' Adoption Level of Climate Change Adaptation Practices in the Southern Parts of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Climate change is a global hazard to the world's food and nutritional security. As greenhouse-gas emissions in the atmosphere rise, so does the temperature due to the greenhouse effect. The average world temperature is steadily rising and is expected to climb by 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, resulting in significant global economic losses. Climate variability in the form of temperature and precipitation may impact on agricultural production and productivity. The study was conducted in the wetland, dryland, and garden land farming systems of the Tamil Nadu districts of Madurai and Sivagangai with a sample size of 120 farmers. Descriptive statistics were used in this study. For compare all three systems; a simple percentage analysis was performed. The majority of respondents in the wetland (65.00%), dryland (70.00%), and garden land (75.00%) farming reported a medium level of climate change adaptations. Cropping system diversification includes mixed cropping (65.00%), intercropping (36.66%), perennial and tree crop agriculture (30.00%), and fallow cropping (25.8%). Summer ploughing (36.67%) and micro-irrigation systems (34.17%) were among the water conservation strategies used by nearly one-third of those polled. The majority of respondents (85.00%) were rearing cattle followed by working as a r worker (off-farm activities) (56.67%) in the local industry is the second most common income diversification activity done by farmers.Government and agencies must play an important role in improving farmers' adaptive capacity by disseminating agrometeorological data and tools, conducting vulnerability assessments, and providing policy advice to strengthen institutional approaches to disaster risk reduction so that farmers can respond to the immediate risks of climate change and make the best use of climate variability.