Prioritization of Climate Risk Minimization Strategies by Coastal Low-Lying Dairy Farmers of Kerala

Climate change has been immensely affecting all over the globe, especially the coastal regions. The current study focused on identifying the climate change risk minimization strategies on dairy farming in coastal low-lying areas of Kerala and prioritizing them based on farmers’ preferences. Following a multistage sampling, a total of 120 farmers were selected and using semi-structured interview schedule, 18 adaptation strategies were identified. The identified strategies were categorized into four and prioritized using the Garett ranking. Among the strategies in each category, farmers preferred ‘raised platforms’ in housing and infrastructure management, ‘changing grazing timing’ in feed and fodder management, ‘vaccination’ in health management, and ‘distress sale of animal’ in economic and livelihood management strategies. All the preferred strategies were using the available resources with no or minimal economic investments. The only mitigative strategy, biogas was one among the least practiced and least preferred strategies, indicating the need to create awareness of the importance of mitigative measures in climate change. Altogether, the study suggests the need for interventions to handle financial aspects for adopting risk minimization strategies and to increase awareness regarding the necessity of it.