Farm Household Level Socio-Economic Vulnerability to Climate Change : Index Development and Adaptive Capacity Analysis in Maharashtra, India

Climate change has imposed a serious problem on the agrarian economy of Maharashtra. An attempt was made to calculate the farm household-level socio-economic vulnerability index (SeVI) to assess the real-time situation of farm households. The index was developed using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach using exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity components of vulnerability. A total of 180 farm households (60 from each district i.e., Parbhani, Sindhudurg and Ahmednagar) were selected randomly. Out of 60 households from each district, 20 were engaged in only crop farming, 20 in crop and livestock farming and the remaining in crop farming, livestock farming and ‘other' component. Primary normalization of selected socio-economic as well as crop and dairy indicators was performed and weights were assigned to each indicator using the principal component analysis. Later, all the households were categorized as high, moderate and less vulnerable to climate change based on the magnitude of the index. The present study reveals that households in Ahmednagar district were quite good in adaptive capacity to climate change than Sindhudurg and Parbhani. Households in Sindhudurg were more exposed to climate change. Households of Parbhani were more sensitive to climate change. Access to water resources, source of credit, and incidence of droughts in selected districts influenced the farm household level SeVI. Comprehensive assessment and need-based policy formulation are vital treatments for vulnerable farm households