Essays on the Adoption and Impact of Climate Smart Agriculture Practices: Insights from Rural Farmers of Odisha
Date
2023
Authors
Tanti, Purna Chandra
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
National Institute Of Technology Karnataka Surathkal
Abstract
Climate change endangers rural livelihoods by negatively impacting agricultural
production through reduced crop yields, harvest loss, and increasing production costs.
Odisha agriculture depends on rainfall and remains vulnerable to rising temperatures and
uncertain precipitation. Climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices have been advanced as
a possible solution to adopt and mitigate climate change issues. This study addresses three
objectives correlated with adopting Climate Smart Agriculture practices.
The first objective is to evaluate the factors determining agricultural machinery. It examines
the effect of agricultural machinery adoption on net agricultural income, household income,
and household consumption adoption among rural farmers in India. The study draws on
India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data of 10,000 households spread over 28 states
of India to derive the extent of mechanization for each state in India. Concerning the
multivariate probit model, climate change events and shocks induce farmers to adopt farm
mechanization. The other significant drivers of agricultural mechanization include access
to institutional credit, availability of extension services, and landholding size. ESR model
revealed that adopting machineries has increased net agricultural income by 31%,
household income by 19%, and food consumption by 5%. Given these demonstrable
positive effects of mechanization in agriculture
Administering a structured questionnaire survey among the 494 rural farming households
of an eastern Indian state, namely Odisha, the first objective explores the key determinants
of CSA adoption. The investigation will focus on one coastal district and two inland
districts. In order to adapt to these weather anomalies, the respondents have implemented
various CSA practices, including rescheduling planting, crop rotation, crop diversification,
soil conservation, drought-resistant seeds, and agroforestry. This study uses a multivariate
probit model to investigate the primary factors that influence the decision to implement
CSA practices. According to the findings, perceptions of climate change, availability of
extension services, and electricity for irrigation are the most important factors in adopting
CSA practices. The sub-objective of this section focuses on the gender aspects of the
adoption of CSA practices. The FGDs were undertaken in ten study area villages to
understand the gender dimension of CSA adoption in the study area.
iThe third objective is to examine the impacts of CSA practices on the productivity and
income of the farmers. The current study is based on the cross-sectional household survey
data collected from three climate-vulnerable districts in the semi-arid regions of Odisha,
namely, Balangir, Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj. The impact of CSA practices' adoption on
income and productivity was analyzed using propensity score matching (PSM) and two
stage least square method(2SLS). Two instruments were used to remove self-selection bias
and endogeneity, i.e., distance to extension and percentage of multiple adapters in a village.
Both models show the positive and significant impact of adoption on the productivity and
income of the farmers. There are few policy ramifications of these findings. Adopting CSA
practices requires the farmer's involvement and communication with other farmers.
Effective farmer-to-farmer extension programmes enhance adoption, productivity, and
income. If we want to see more widespread adoption of CSA methods, we must see more
frequent extension interaction and a more conveniently located extension office.
Description
Keywords
Climate Smart Agriculture, Agricultural Extension, Perception to Climate Change, Access to energy