aInstitute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru-560 072, Karnataka
bDepartment of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu
*Author for correspondence Email: vijsaraec@gmail.com
§This study is part of PhD thesis entitled, “Impact of Climate Variability on Agriculture and the Determinants of Climate Adaptation through Agricultural Technologies in the Western Zone of Tamil Nadu”, of first author submitted to the Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in 2013 under the guidance of second author.]
The climate variability has a direct influence on the quantity and quality of agricultural output. In response to changing climate, adaptation is becoming an urgent priority because large reductions in negative impacts of climate change are feasible when adaptation is fully implemented. This study is based on the data collected from 180 farmers in the Western Zone of Tamil Nadu, where climate variability is high. The determinants of climate adaptation technologies have been studied using a multinomial logit model. The education level, sex, household size, farm size, extension contact, temperature and rainfall have been founded to influence the adoption of technologies to mitigate the impact of climate variability. The impact of technology adoption on technical efficiency of production of major crops using stochastic frontier production function has shown that technical efficiency is higher among technology adopters. The lack of finance, lack of knowledge about technology and high cost of adaptation have been reported to be the constraints to climate adaptation. The study has concluded that technology adoption significantly helps the smallholder farmers to continue farming in the changing climate.
Climate variability, agricultural production, technology adoption, technical efficiency, Tamil Nadu
