Constraints for adopting climate-change adaptation strategies among smallholder vegetable farmers

AbstractThe study was undertaken in Palakkad district of Kerala to evaluate the constraints faced by vegetable farmers with respect to climate change adaptation. 80 male farmers, 80 female farmers with minimum ten years’ experience in vegetable cultivation were selected from four randomly selected blocks of Palakkad district. Garrett’s ranking technique was used to analyse the constraints. The major constraint faced by vegetable farmers with respect to climate change adaptations were lack of government support (62.22 Garrett score). High cost of the agricultural inputs needed for adaptation strategies was the second major constraint felt by the farmers (59.71 Garrett score). Inadequate credit facilities and lack of agricultural subsidies (51.77 Garrett score), Lack of access to awareness programmes on climate change adaptation (38.33 Garrett score), lack of information about long term climate change and appropriate adaptations (35.89 Garrett score) were the other problems faced by farmers.