Climate Risk Management in Smallholder Farming Systems in the Semiarid Tropics

Whitbread, A M and Carberry, P S and Rao, K P C and Kumar, S and Kadiyala, M D M and Nedumaran, S and Nidumolu, U (2019) Climate Risk Management in Smallholder Farming Systems in the Semiarid Tropics. In: Climate Change and Agriculture: Causes, Impacts and Interventions. New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-87973-62-6

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Abstract

Climate risk management in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) is one of the major challenges to achieving food security and development in India and large parts of sub-Saharan Africa and also in the case of Australia. Climate-induced production risk associated with the current season-to-season variability of rainfall is a major barrier in making rainfed agriculture sustainable and viable farm business. Since season outcomes are uncertain, even with the best climate information, farmers have limited flexibility in applying management with confidence. In fact in risky environments, farmers most often respond by adapting a risk averse strategy and are reluctant to invest in even risk reducing measures (Leathers and Quiggin 1991). In the SAT agro-ecologies, there are a limited range of enterprise or crop options to consider which may be further restricted by cultural traditions, food preferences or market opportunities.While there are fundamental differences between large scale commercial farms in Australia compared to the predominantly smallholder resource poor farms found in India, when it comes to climate risk management in the SAT, there are many commonalities. The purpose of this paper is therefore to (i) establish a framework for managing climate variability and transforming farming systems to be more resilient and sustainable for future climates; and (ii) provide some case study examples from climate risk management in low rainfall cropping system in Australia and consider how they may be applied in smallholder systems of the SAT...

Item Type:	Book Section
Divisions:	Research Program : Innovation Systems for the Drylands (ISD)
CRP:	CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Climate Risk Management, Smallholder Farming Systems, Semiarid Tropics, SAT, Climate, climate risk management strategies, Case study, Australia, India
Subjects:	Others > Abiotic Stress Others > Climate Risk Others > Semi-Arid Tropics Others > Smallholder Agriculture Others > Farming Systems Others > Drylands Agriculture Others > Climate Change Others > Indian Agriculture
Depositing User:	Mr Ramesh K
Date Deposited:	20 Aug 2019 04:59
Last Modified:	20 Aug 2019 05:07
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/11249
Acknowledgement:	UNSPECIFIED
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