Modelling sustainable adaptation strategies toward climate-smart agriculture in the coastal region of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve of India under climate change scenarios

The coastal region of the Indian Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (ISBR) is primarily dependent on agriculture, which is low in productivity and highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. The rural farmers of this fragile ecosystem face extreme hunger, poverty, lack of viable livelihood opportunities and economic backwardness. Farmers are adopting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices to combat these issues. In this context, the present investigation has attempted an analysis of the challenges and prospects for CSA in the coastal region of the ISBR. We surveyed 180 households in the 12 representative villages in the six coastal C.D. blocks (Sagar, Namkhana, Patharpratima, Kultali, Basanti and Gosaba) of the ISBR with six focus group discussions. We used a weighted average index (WAI) method to measure the adaptation of CSA and ordered probit regression to measure the determinant factors behind the CSA adaptation level. The Relative Importance Index (RII) measure the household perception of weather and climate variability. Two PCI (Problem Confrontation Index) were adopted to rank the households suffering from multi-hazard, and the barriers affecting CSA practices, respectively. Findings suggest that most farmers adopted local pesticides, usage of the weather forecast, early warning weather information, saline tolerant variety, crop diversification and changing plantation time as the most significant CSA practices to build climate resilience. OPR results suggested that gender, household size, social group (S.C.), off-farm income, agricultural insurance, and climate change awareness significantly impact farmers' CSA adaptation level. Major barriers to the successful adaptation of CSA include incidents of diseases and pest attacks, lack of education and knowledge about CSA, insufficient organic material for composting and high illiteracy level of the farmers. To achieve sustainable agriculture and manage the Sundarban coastal ecosystem, integrated farming, rainwater harvesting, and organic farming adaptation must be implemented.