Exploring the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Attributes and Resilience Capacity of Murrah Buffalo-based Livestock Production System in Changing Climatic Scenario

Abstract

Background: The present study was conducted to study the resilience capacity towards changing climate of a farming community who reared specifically Murrah buffaloes in their livestock production system for their livelihood. As the study area was breeding tract of Murrah buffalo, hence in-depth study of resilience was performed in frequent changing climate. Methods: In order to assess the resilience capacity and their relation with socioeconomic characteristic, total 320 Murrah buffalo farmers across four districts in India’s Trans-Gangetic Plain, data were gathered using focused group discussions, PRA tools and in person interviews. Statistical tools such as principal component analysis for index development, cumulative square root methods for categorization of respondents and regression analysis were performed for exploring relationship. Result: Result depicted that majority of the farmers has medium level of climate resilience index score i.e. 0.456. Further, it was found that farmer’s involvement in social institute such as, gram panchayat, agriculture and dairy co-operative society, self-help group, farmers’ association and others affected their resilience capacity in changing climatic scenario. The need for better technology inclusion and access to more formal systems of finance is necessary to increase the overall resilience capacity of households.