Adaptive capacity of maize farmers towards weather variability in north eastern zone of Punjab

Climate change and severe weather events such as temperature shocks, declining rainfall and changing humidity patterns impede sustainable farming development. Farmers are highly vulnerable to climate change due to their dependence on agriculture. The perception of farmers regarding their adaptive capacity towards weather variability was studied at various growth stages of maize in north-eastern region of Punjab. We selected 50 farmers following maize-based cropping systems. Findings show that a little less than half of the farmers could re-sow maize crop after low germination and delay in sowing. All of them could make effective drainage channels to avoid water logging. Thinning was adapted by more than 90% of the farmers to reduce weed infestation. Only half of them increased the number of herbicidal sprays. All the farmers could manage water logging through building effective drainage channels to adapt to stalk rot. All the farmers subscribed to weather forecast messages to adapt to weather variability in maize crop.