Assessing the Impact of Climate Resilient Technologies in Minimizing Drought Impacts on Farm Incomes in Drylands

Asia is the region most vulnerable to climate change and India is ranked as one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, frequently affected by natural disasters. In this study, we investigated the impact of drought on crop productivity, farmer's employment and income. The difference-in-difference model (DID) and stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) were employed to quantify the impact of adopting climate resilient technologies (CRTs) on farm household income during a drought. The factors influencing farm incomes were analyzed using MLR. The study used survey data collected from the drought prone district of Telangana, India. Sixty farmers each from a village adopted under the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) program and a control village were interviewed. Primary data on the socio-economic characteristic of farmers, cropping pattern, income composition, productivity of major crops, employment and climate resilient interventions adopted by farmers were collected using a well-structured schedule. The results reveal that income crop cultivation was the major contributor to household income (60%) followed by livestock rearing. Farmers reported that droughts decreased the income from crops by 54 per cent and income from livestock rearing by 40 per cent. The farmers belonging to the climate resilient village had 35 per cent higher incomes compared to those in the control village and it was estimated to be Rs. 31,877/farm household/year during droughts using the DID estimate. Farm size, livestock possession, adoption of CRTs and investment in agriculture were the determining factors influencing farm income. Thus, farmers especially in drought prone regions need to be encouraged and supported to adopt cost effective, location specific climate resilient technologies.