Withstanding The Storm: Farmers’ Insights on Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture in Murshidabad, India

Abstract

In this mixed-methods study, the researcher explores farmers’ perceptions of climate change, how this change impacts their agricultural activities, and the measures they adopt to fight the impacts in Murshidabad District, West Bengal, in eastern India. Data were collected from 300 farmers, across all 26 administrative blocks of the study area. A structured questionnaire that combined Likert-scale type as well as open-ended questions was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical and inferential analysis of quantitative data, including one-sample Chi-Square goodness-of-fit test (p < .001), revealed respondents’ strong perception on climatic change, such as increasing summer heat, erratic onset and withdrawal of monsoon, and declining rainfall pattern. Surprisingly, a strong 80% of them reported declining agricultural incomes even though they had adopted short-duration and stress-tolerant crop varieties. Thematic analysis of qualitative data revealed their insight into altered phenological cues, such as changing flowering times of plants, and emergence of new species of pests and crop diseases. As adaptation strategies, they resorted to adjusting sowing and harvesting calendars, crop diversification, and shared irrigation system. Still, their vulnerability persists due to delayed release of crop insurance money, limited access to timely weather information, and high agricultural expenditure. The study concludes that while farmers exhibited locally-grounded ecological intelligence and substantial resilience, they need governmental support to continue sustainable agricultural practices. Government should reform policies to integrate farmers’ experiential observations into early-warning, decentralise irrigation system, ensure timely delivery of crop insurance money, and arrange capacity-building programmes to strengthen their climate-resilient agricultural livelihood.