EMERGING CONTOURS OF CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE: EVIDENCE FROM COASTAL BANGLADESH

Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) aims to adapt agricultural and dependent socio-economic systems to the risks posed by the ongoing climate change. This essentially involves the adoption of various climate-smart engagements in the practice of crop production, animal husbandry, forestry, and fishery systems. Coastal Bangladesh has a very high presence of agriculturists, and the landscape is highly vulnerable to the various adverse impacts of climate change. The key challenges faced by the region are unprecedented extreme climatic events (frequent cyclones, droughts), saltwater ingress, coastal erosion, etc. Evidence-based analysis of the interaction of climatic risks with landscape and its social economic scape is a sine qua non to the design, implementation, and integration of CRA interventions in the landscape. Driven by these considerations, we have explored the context of coastal agriculture in Bangladesh with the following research objectives- i) analyse the measures taken for climate resilience of agricultural systems and climate change adaptation of the communities in the climate-vulnerable coastal areas of Bangladesh, ii) identify and explore the barriers in the adaptation engagements by the local communities, iii) suggest measures for pushing the frontiers of climate change adaptation through policy measures to improve the effectiveness of CRA interventions in the coastal areas. In order to address the questions, this study followed a Rapid Assessment Process (RAP). It consisted essentially farmer’s interviews, focus group discussions and experts’ interviews. This was complemented by direct field observations as well. The results indicate that climate change adaptation pursued in the landscape can be grouped into a) planned adaptation and b) autonomous adaptation. It was found that the farmers had various autonomous adaptation measures and planned adaptation measures. Homestead gardening models and integrated farming models are found widely accepted autonomous adaptation engagements in the study area. Among many barriers, limited access to agricultural knowledge and technology adoption gaps limits the ability of farming communities to adapt their agricultural systems to climate change risks and impacts. The study recommends a strong case for providing policy and promotion coverage to the successful autonomous practices undertaken by the farming communities and to reduce to chances of maladaptation practices. Further, the validated adaptation measures need to be facilitated while actively scaling up the planned adaptation interventions to transform to climate-resilient agriculture.