Vol. 11, Special Issue 2 (2022)

Author(s):
Aniruddha Roy, Deepthi Kolady, NU Singh, D Chakraborty, SM Feroze and Anjoo Yumnam

Abstract:
The climate of North-East is highly variable, and the area contains temperate, sub-temperate, tropics and semi tropics environments. The proximity to the Himalayan range is the predominant force determining the climatic regions of the region. A large portion of NE’s ecosystem includes hill and mountain regions, foothills, valleys and plain land with a subtropical climate influenced by heavy rainfall as compared to other parts of the country. During last 3 decades, North East as well as Meghalaya experienced climate change. Hence, the present study was conducted to analyze the meteorological drought, to estimate the impact of climate change on rice yield and to assess the socio-economic impact of climate variability on livelihood of farmers. The study was conducted in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya. A sample of 125 farmers was drawn randomly from a cluster five villages of the selected block. The average age of the respondents was 42 years and a family comprised of 5 members. More than 94 per cent of the farmers perceived that the summer temperature has increased over the years, whereas, the views were mixed in case of winter temperature. More than 99 per cent of the farmers felt that the arrival of monsoon has been delayed. The farmers could use the own farm produce for 10.5 months in normal years but during the years of climatic variability it lasted for 8 months only. The average decline in productivity of rice was estimated to be 28.65 per cent in the case of droughts/low rainfall situations. Majority (65%) of the responding farmers perceived that the pests and disease infestations on rice crop have increased in recent times and resulted into productivity loss (12.5%). Around 15% farmers have changed time of sowing or transplanting in late rainfall situation. An inclusive and effective strategy for adaptation to changing climate (mostly warming) from the perspective of farming may be developed and extended to the farmers of the region.