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Reg Environ Change (2013) 13:153164 DOI 10.1007/s10113-012-0324-3
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Farmers vulnerability to climate variability in Dimapur district of Nagaland, India
Chubanaro Jamir Nitasha Sharma
Asmita Sengupta N. H. Ravindranath
Received: 31 August 2011 / Accepted: 22 May 2012 / Published online: 26 June 2012 Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract Certain parts of the State of Nagaland situated in the northeastern region of India have been experiencing rainfall decit over the past few years leading to severe drought-like conditions, which is likely to be aggravated under a climate change scenario. The state has already incurred considerable losses in the agricultural sector. Regional vulnerability assessments need to be carried out in order to help policy makers and planners formulate and implement effective drought management strategies. The present study uses an index-based approach to quantify the climate variability-induced vulnerability of farmers in ve villages of Dimapur district, Nagaland. Indicators, which are reective of the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the farmers to drought, were quantied on the basis of primary data generated through household surveys and participatory rural appraisal supplemented by secondary data in order to calculate a composite vulnerability index. The composite vulnerability index of village New Showba was found to be the least, while Zutovi, the highest. The overall results reveal that biophysical characteristics contribute the most to overall vulnerability.
Some potential adaptation strategies were also identied based on observations and discussions with the villagers.
Keywords Climate variability
Vulnerability assessment Droughts Indicators
Composite vulnerability index
Introduction
Climate variability and climate change might have adverse biophysical and socio-economic impacts, and the brunt of these adverse impacts will be felt most by the developing countries, owing to high poverty levels, large dependence on natural resources and low adaptive capacity. One of the sectors likely to be affected the most is agriculture, which also happens to be the largest consumer of water resources. Variability in water supply because of change in climatic variables would further impact crop production.
Climate change impact assessment studies in India have projected that major food crops like rice and wheat yields could decline considerably due to climatic changes such as rise in the frequency of extreme events. Among Indias population of over one billion people, about 68 % are directly or indirectly involved in the...