Climate change vulnerability of tribe managing Piper agroforestry systems in the Indian sub-Himalayan region

Abstract

CONTEXTThe agrarian society of the Himalayan landscape is experiencing the continuous growing ill impact of climate change. The impacts are compounding due to shifting agriculture, which has jeopardized the ecological balance mainly by reducing the cultivation fallow cycles. Pnar, a hill tribe of the Assam state, Indian sub-Himalayan region, has transitioned shifting agriculture to Piper agroforestry (Piper betle L.), providing them numerous tangible and non-tangible benefits. Over the past three decades, there has been a notable transition from shifting agriculture to Piper agroforestry, driven by the rising demand in the market. OBJECTIVEUnderstanding climate change impact on agroforestry is crucial to addressing the climate crisis and to provision the adaptation of the tribe for the successful promotion of Piper agroforestry. METHODSTo assess the cause and nature of vulnerability in the study region, we surveyed 171 randomly selected households across 15 randomly selected tribe villages using the household-level questionnaire. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONThe present study showed that the villages with lower land holdings, higher loss of crop productivity due to extreme events, disease infestation and lower livelihood diversification were more vulnerable to climate change. The prominent diseases “leaf spot” and “root rot” were identified as a serious concern among the Piper farmers responsible for a decline in crop yield; the severity of losses in productivity leads to economic instability among households. Villages with prominent farm management strategies and greater decision-making abilities contributed explicitly to lower vulnerability. In contrast, villages with lower adaptive strategies were found specifically due to poor social networking and inadequate household infrastructure besides poor literacy levels. Additionally, the lack of multi-cropping farming and livestock management was a major cause of high climate sensitivity. Therefore, appropriate state government support is required to invest in crop diversification, better decision-making capability of tribes through education, and improved infrastructure besides diversifying the rural economy to enhance the adaptive capacity of the farmers to reduce their climate vulnerability and achieve agriculture-livestock-forestry nexus. SIGNIFICANCEThe sustainable Piper agroforestry farm management practices represent climate-smart agriculture, favouring high tree species diversity while reducing the farmers' vulnerability to climate change.