An evidence-based systematic review on farmers’ adaptation strategies in India

Over the years, several studies have noted adaptation measures undertaken by farmers in India to mitigate potential crop loss, however, there is limited studies with reference to systematically review these papers. The mapping of these measures is imperative as it furnishes evidence for opted adaptation options and states. Further, it assists to design state-specific policies to achieve goals of sustainable and climate-smart agriculture, and maintain food security. This study aims to do it by limiting India as the boundary of analysis. Adopting a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method, a total of 44 studies were identified. Our major findings are: (i) evidence is found for eighteen states, and these studies, either individually or in sum, represent negligible percentage of state’s total number of villages and households, and hence, findings may not stand for the whole state; (ii) a major focus so far has been given to farm management and technology; (iii) state-wise mapping indicates scanty of papers among options, and thus, we urge for studies with representative sample, either for state or nation, and also map several adaptation mechanisms rather than concentrating around farm-management and technology; and (iv) the widely studied options are water management (55%), crop-diversification (52%), crop choice (50%), diversification of livelihood and income (43%), altering agricultural practices/systems (36%), and changing crop-calendar and land holiday (34%). Such type of assessment supplies state-specific maps on studied adaptation mechanisms, and in doing so, it renders future direction in the field of adaptation research, and hence, we advocate to carry out systematic reviews for other vulnerable sectors to climate change in India and elsewhere.