Opportunities and barriers for using climate information services for resilient agriculture: Insights from the baseline study in Chitwan, Nepal

Abstract

Climate variability and change have affected the agriculture sector in Chitwan district, where farmers have confronted climate-related risks like drought, flood, erratic rain, and hailstorms. Close to two-thirds of farmers have reported that climate variability has largely affected the crop production on their farms. With climate risks and vulnerability projected to increase in the future, climate information services play a vital role in helping farmers build resilient livelihoods. About 67 percent of farmers have access to some form of climate information, which has largely been limited to the onset of rains. Different socioeconomic factors like age, education level, ownership of assets and contribution of farm income to overall household income significantly affect the functional access to and use of existing climate information services. In addition to this, the provision of the existing climate information services has been limited to the district or national level. There is an urgent need for improved access to reliable and easily available climate information and agro-advisory services at the local level.