Abstract
The Dry Zone of Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to water scarcity and hence, adaptation is considered as the key approach in reducing its impacts, especially in the agriculture sector. In this context, a study was conducted to investigate the impacts of farm level and community level adaptation strategies for water scarcity on livelihood and household food security of farmers in Horivila-Palugaswewa and Sivalakulama cascades in Anuradhapura District. Questionnaire survey with two purposive sampling with adapted and non-adapted groups was used for data collection. Use of alternative water source (agro-wells), kekulama or bethma cultivation, and home gardening with vegetable and fruit cultivation were the main strategies considered to distinguish adapted group from the non-adapted group. Man n-Whitney-U test and two sample t-test were used to check statistical significance (p<0.05) of desired outcomes of the strategies. Results showed that adapted group in Sivalakulama cascade has the seasonal ability of paddy cultivation and secured a marketable yield of paddy in Maha season whilst the harvest obtained from other crops in both Yala and Maha seasons were higher for the adapted group in Horivila-Palugaswewa cascade. The amount of paddy kept for household consumption in Maha season was higher for the non-adapted group for both cascades. Other than the few benefits shown above, the adaption of farm level and community level strategies for water scarcity did not comprehen sively contribute to the development of livelihood or household food security of farmers in the selected study sites.
Highlights
Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to climate change (MMDE, 2016)
The ordinal data obtained through the questionnaire consists of, a) seasonal ability of cultivation in a year, b) extent of land cultivated for other crops, c) personal monetary expenditure for other crops, d) harvest obtained from other crops, e) amount kept for household consumption from other crops, f) marketable yield from other crops, and g) average agricultural income from other crops
The numerical data obtained from two groups for both Yala and Maha cultivation season in each cascade includes, a) cultivated extent of paddy lands, b) personal monetary expenditure for paddy cultivation, c) harvest obtained from paddy cultivation, d) amount kept for household consumption from paddy cultivation, e) marketable yield from paddy, and f) average agricultural income from paddy
Summary
Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to climate change (MMDE, 2016). Agro-based livelihood, rain-fed agriculture, fragmented and smaller area of land, increased population and high economic growth, institutional and policy deficiencies, insurance scheme failures, and high food price fluctuations have identified as major reasons to highlight the importance of adaptation strategies to South Asian agriculture (Aryal et al, 2019). There have been a number of climate change related projects introduced by the Government of Sri Lanka to reduce vulnerabilities and improve the resilience of these village tank-based farming communities (MMDE, 2017; Ministry of Agriculture, 2018). This study was conducted in two village tank cascade systems in the dry zone to find out the impacts of major water scarcity adaptation strategies on livelihood of farmers and their food security
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