Jhalawar, Rajasthan

	Jhalawar district in Rajasthan is located in a semi-arid area that receives an average of 943 mm of rainfall annually. In addition to high degrees of climate sensitivity, it also ranks among the districts with the lowest adaptive capacity. Over the past 10 years, many farmers in Jhalawar have shifted from traditional crops, such as sorghum and pearl millet, to soybean, which receives higher market prices and yields quick returns owing to a shorter life cycle. Farmers in Jhalawar are also found to be highly vulnerable to climatic variability.
Rain-fed farming in Lakhakheri Umat, Jhalawar
Last year, Jhalawar experienced its fourth consecutive year of drought, and crop yields have been substantially reduced, particularly for the majority of farmers who lack access to irrigation. Rain-fed agriculture is practised in village Lakhakheri Umat, where 94% of the farmers have small or marginal landholdings. A review of coping mechanisms reveals that a very small group of semi/medium farmers is able to cope with adverse climatic conditions merely through the sale of available stocks. On the other end of the spectrum, landless labourers can only resort to seasonal migration due to lack of any productive assets or availability of alternative employment options in the village. Small/marginal farmers use a variety of adaptation options such as sale of cattle, shifts to other crops1, labour, as well as seasonal migration. This range of options, however, constitutes only temporary coping measures. Options that enhance longer-term adaptive capacity (such as institutional credit, crop insurance, and use of drought-resistant varieties) are not used by farmers due to procedural complexities and stringent eligibility criteria, compounded by lack of awareness.2

Chitradurga, Karnataka

	By contrast, the neighbouring district of Chitradurga, located in Karnataka, emerged as vulnerable to the impacts of globalization but not of climate change. However, farmers in this district are being encouraged through state government and private initiatives to cultivate alternative crops, such as areca nut, pomegranate, and banana.Over the last five years, export companies have increasingly entered into buy-back contracts with farmers for gherkin production aimed at European markets, with plans to expand to other vegetables. Interestingly, due to the economics of gherkin cultivation, it is the small and marginal farmers with small landholdings and family labour that are most able to benefit from such contract farming. Kisan kendras (farmer centres) set up by corporates also provide scientific soil testing services, market
Gherkin farmer in Chitradurga district
information, and transport facilities to cultivators of horticultural crops, in return for a subscription fee.While a wider range of adaptation strategies are available to farmers in Chitradurga, as compared to Jhalawar or Anantapur, it is the larger farmers who tend to benefit from government subsidies (for drip irrigation, sericulture rearing houses, and other production technologies), formal bank credit, crop insurance, and access to larger markets. Smaller farmers are disadvantaged due to lack of information and dependence on local merchants for credit. Furthermore, irrigation may not be sustainable in the long run, particularly if water-intensive horticultural crops are produced for international markets while water availability is reduced due to climate change. The risks of globalization are also understood by farmers practising sericulture, the quantum of which has come down drastically with Chinese silk flooding Indian markets in the last three years.

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Raipur, Chattisgarh

	The impacts of climate change on cropping patterns can be observed in Raipur, where farmers have traditionally grown a pulse crop known as teevra on residual soil moisture after the kharif season. Higher temperatures in the region in the past few years have made teevra cultivation impossible, leaving many farmers dependent on a single paddy crop, and making them substitute home-grown teevra with market purchases.The impacts of climate change on cropping patterns can be observed in Raipur,where farmers have traditionally grown a pulse crop known as teevra on residual soil moisture after
Khet Ganga Yojana in Semharata village, Raipur
the kharif seasonHigher temperatures in the region in the past few years have made teevra cultivation impossible, leaving many farmers dependent on a single paddy crop, and making them substitute home-grown teevra with market purchases. In contrast, fragrant varieties of rice – traditionally grown in the southern part of the district – have high economic value but adulteration at merchant level has reduced the prices for these varieties over the last 10 years. In a bid to increase yields, farmers have started replacing organic manure with chemical fertilizers, but this has made the crop highly vulnerable to pests and diseases. Voluntary agencies are playing an important role in conserving indigenous varieties of seeds in the region by setting up village-level seed banks that are also useful in the event of drought and crop failure. In terms of government efforts, the Dabari Yojana for village-level rainwater harvesting is a noteworthy initiative, but subsidies for agricultural pump-sets under the Khet Ganga Yojana more often benefit larger farmers who are able to take advantage of the minimum landholding size criterion.

Jagatsingpur, Orissa

	The vulnerability of India’s coastal areas is highlighted in Jagatsingpur, where loss of mangroves due to biotic and abiotic pressures in the past few decades has left the coast exposed to the fury of cyclones and storm surges. The aftermath of the 1993 supercyclone witnessed intensive rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts, not all of which have been correctly targeted and effectively applied. For instance, three years of food-for-work programmes have supported farmers who lost their lands and homes, but have not really built their capacity to adopt alternative income-earning opportunities.The proximity to Paradip port,however, has madeit lucrative for some farmers to shift to prawn cultivationfor export. However, stringent quality control regulations in this sector may eventually shrink the existing market for these farmers, who will no longer have the option of returning to paddy cultivation either.
Coastal flooding and salinization in Dahibara, Jagatsingpur

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Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh
Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh is another drought-prone area that can be considered ‘double exposed’ to climate change and globalization. Groundnut is the principal crop grown in Anantapur, but farmers are now facing a crisis due to growing import competition and stagnating market prices, which have coincided with a multi-year drought. Although free market economics would predict that farmers in Anantapur should respond to price stagnation by shifting to production of more profitable crops, our case study results indicate that there is a lack of alternative, drought-tolerant, and economically viable crops because institutional barriers have made them unprofitable. Rain-fed crops (such as different fruit varieties), which could be economically viable, either require too much capital or do not have long enough shelf lives to be marketable under current circumstances. Without irrigation, water harvesting systems, or alternatives to groundnuts, dry land farmers in Anantapur are highly vulnerable to both climate change and trade liberalization.

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Note
¹Crops like gram have lower water requirement but offer only subsistence yields and lack market value.
²For instance, farmers who fail to repay a bank loan are rendered ineligible to apply again. Consequently, they prefer taking loans from private moneylenders, even at three times the interest rate.