IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON CROPPING SYSTEM AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES UNDERTAKEN BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY FROM JIRI MUNICIPALITY, DOLAKHA, NEPAL

Abstract

Climate change is a proven and burning issue in world. It has visibly impacting different nation. The study was focused to assess the impact of climate change on cropping system and adaptation strategies undertaken by indigenous community in Jiri Municipality of Dolakha district, Nepal in 2022, which was dominated by the indigenous community namely Jirel. In survey, 212 households were selected from five wards of Jiri Municipality using purposive sampling technique. Preliminary study, scheduled questionnaire survey, field observation, focus group discussion and key informant interview were the primary information sources and secondary information were collected and analyzed using SPSS software; Microsoft Excel and Logistic regression model. From this research on Jiri Municipality of Dolakha district of country Nepal, it is again proved that the climate at the local level has been experiencing increasing trends of both precipitation and temperature (1992-2021). Analysis of agricultural data and meteorological data (2008/09 to 2019/20) shows that the annual yield of the crops like maize, wheat, millet and potato are increasing annually. This signifies that there was positive impact to crop production of study area. At the same time series, both trend of temperature and precipitation are annually increasing. Farmers have experienced that agricultural productivity is decreasing than in the recent years because of different diseases, pest, erratic rainfall, etc. However, there was also positive impact of climate change in study area because climatic variables created favorable environment to grow cauliflower, cabbage, chilly, pumpkin, lemon, kiwi fruit and spinach which were unusual crop species of study area before. Local people’s experience part shows mixed outcomes i.e. positive as well as negative impact on agricultural production due to climate change. As per the analysis of sales of chemical fertilizers data (2014/15 to 2019/20) in the study area, there was fluctuating trend of chemical fertilizers i.e. significant decrease in the sales of urea with 107.64 Mt per year. Crop yield trend showed highly positive correlation for maize, wheat and millet whereas low positive correlation for potato along with the sales of chemical fertilizers. Majority of the respondents are practicing intercropping and planning to use hybrid seeds, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, tunnel and irrigation channel, similarly, to adapt new crops and to change planting time of crops. Whereas, 100% of the respondents were using bio fertilizers to cope with increasing climatic trend.