Advancing climate resilient development for semi-arid farming systems in India

Summary

Climate change threatens agriculture-dependent livelihoods in India's semi-arid regions. My research investigates strategies to build climate resilience in these farming systems by first developing a context-specific climate resilience assessment framework. This framework emphasizes a multi-pronged approach that integrates monitoring, evaluation, and learning to facilitate adaptive decision-making. Next, stakeholder insights, alongside climate data analysis, revealed specific climate stresses such as increased late monsoon rains and a sharp rise in days exceeding 40°C. Building on these insights, a collaborative approach is adopted to co-create climate-resilient development pathways with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). This collaborative approach, informed by the emerging climate stresses, and contested aspirations of growth amongst the FPO stakeholders, demonstrates a practical approach to enhance the climate resilience of semi-arid farming systems in India. In conclusion, this thesis provides a comprehensive framework and a practical, dynamic approach to enhance the climate resilience of semi-arid farming systems in India.