Understanding farmers vulnerability to climate change and their adaptation strategies for climate resilience

The Bundelkhand region is historically more vulnerable to climate change and experienced drought once every 16 years during the 18th and 19th centuries, whereas it increased thrice from 1968 to 1992, and now it has become a recurrent annual phenomenon. The study was conducted from February to June 2023, and primary data from 180 farm households across eight blocks in Banda, Hamirpur, and Mahoba districts of Bundelkhand were collected using a pretested structured interview schedule. The research used the vulnerability analysis method of the IPCC and the climate change vulnerability index of the entire three districts. The results revealed that the “index values” of biological exposition/exposure sub-indicators show that farmers (D3) were highly exposed to climate change with a vulnerability index value of “0.77,” and index values of the Farm susceptibility sub-indicators indicate that farmers (D3) exhibit a high susceptibility to climate change “(0.86),” while index values of the Institutional adaptive capacity sub-indicators indicate that farmers (D1) exhibit a high exposure to climate change, with a vulnerability index of “0.93.” The findings revealed that farmers predominantly adopted strategies such as crop diversification, varietal changes, calendar adjustments, and crop insurance. Binary probit analysis highlighted several significant factors influencing adaptation decisions, including age, education, farm size, access to credit, household size, extension services, and perceptions of changing rainfall and flooding patterns. The findings emphasize the need to strengthen agricultural extension services, enhance credit availability, and improve educational outreach to enable effective, context-specific climate adaptation. The study calls for targeted policy support to boost climate resilience among vulnerable farming populations in Bundelkhand and similar ecologically fragile regions, ensuring their livelihoods remain sustainable amid growing climatic uncertainties.