A Framework for Assessment of Micro Level Vulnerability to Climate Variability of Farmers: A Case Study in Kerala, India
S. Ajmal *
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, India.
T. Paul Lazarus
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, India.
Aswathy Vijayan
Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, India.
Brigit Joseph
Department of Agricultural Statistics, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, India.
R. V. Manju
Department of Plant physiology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The vulnerability of farmers to climate variability is an important topic of discussion. It varies depending upon diverse factors that disturbing it, likewise, the extent of vulnerability varies according to different levels, i.e.; from a whole country level to an individual level or in other words from macro to micro level. This study attempts to build a framework for the assessment of the microlevel vulnerability of farmers. A vulnerability index was made from normalized values of three major component indices (sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity), which is made up of a selected number of sub components. The study was conducted by selecting respondents from two districts of Kerala, and it was found that this method can be used as an empirical method to interpret the vulnerability to climate variability, keeping the fact that it is only a constrained measure of risk.
Keywords: Climate variability, vulnerability, sensitivity, farmers