Rainfall Variability, Coping Strategies and Livelihoods: Case Study from Godavari Basin, India

Natural resource-dependent rural households are likely to ensure a disproportionate burden of the adverse impacts of climate change -- droughts, famines, floods, variability in rainfall, storms, coastal inundation, ecosystem degradation, heat waves, fires, epidemics, and even conflicts. In some parts of the world, these effects may already be in play with potentially disastrous consequences for the poor. Reliance on subsistence agriculture means the impact of stresses and shocks (such as droughts or floods) are felt keenly by rural poor people, who depend directly on food system outcomes for their survival, with profound implications for the security of their livelihoods and welfare.

Variability in rainfall had been plaguing the farmers of Andhra Pradesh during the recent past resulting in crop failure and indebtedness. It would be important to find out the coping mechanisms that are being developed by the farmers to deal with variability in rainfall and the support being provided by the government. In some parts of the state; farmers are opting for cultivation of commercial crops instead of food crops as they are finding better returns from these new types of crops which could lead to issues like food security and loss of livelihood for certain communities.

This paper focuses on identifying livelihood adaptation strategies of cultivators in Nizamsagar project, where farmers developed new water sharing mechanisms and brought about changes in farm practices to deal with rainfall variability.