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  • Project details

  • Leading Organization:
    FAO
    Implementing Agency and Partnering Organizations:
    FAO
    Summary:

    The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and local Indian institutions in Andhra Pradesh addressed the gender aspects of coping with climate variability and long-term change in the project Gender-sensitive Strategies for Adaptation to Climate Change: Drawing on Indian Farmers’ Experiences.

    The project captured how men and women farmers in drought-prone districts perceived and responded to seasonal climate variability and long term changes in the climate. Participatory focus group discussions and a quantitative survey were used to collect the data. The farmers’ accounts, combined with institutional and climate analysis, explored the climate risks men and women farmers are facing as they adapt to the drought conditions and develop coping strategies for food security.

    *Management*
    The project was led by the Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division at FAO Headquarters, in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team composed of FAO staff in Rome and India and independent gender and agriculture development experts based in India, as well as at Monash University, Australia; Penn State University, USA; and Stockholm Environment Institute, Bangkok. Two institutions based in Andhra Pradesh, an agricultural university (ANGRAU) and a government women’s empowerment programme (Samatha Gender Resource Centre of AP Mahila Samakhya Society), collaborated on the data collection phases.

    *Research*
    Locally engaged consultants with experience in the state and the ecosystem challenges carried out fieldwork in 2 drought-prone districts (Mahabubnagar and Anantapur), collecting qualitative and quantitative data through participatory approaches with farmers and a survey tool. This, combined with analyses of the institutional context and of recorded climate trends, were used to document the climate risks men and women farmers are facing in ensuring food security and the strategies they develop in order to cope with the new factors that now threaten their established livelihoods.

    The research was designed to contribute new knowledge on how livelihoods are adjusted at the household and individual level and identify coping strategies that are developed for food security in response to climatic shifts. The methodology developed through this study as well as the case study material will be provided to policy and decision makers at a crucial point in the climate change negotiations, particularly on adaptation to long term climate change.

    Expected Outputs:

    *To characterize the local climate conditions and risks, to identify trends in climate variability over the past four decades (according to recorded data); to compare how recorded data corresponds to men and women farmers’ perceptions.

    *To understand how men and women in farm households perceive and experience climatic shifts and how this is linked to food security.

    *To identify the coping strategies that men and women farmers utilize in order to ensure a measure of food security in response to climate variability; to understand the resources and decision making processes utilized, and to assess the related outcomes for food security.

    *To identify the institutions that support farmer decision making with regard to climate, agriculture and food security and to assess the extent to which institutional support is available, accessible and usable by men and women.

    (5) To develop a replicable methodology for examining the gender dimensions of farmer responses to climatic variability and change

    Contacts:

    Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division at FAO (ESW)

    Project Status:
    Closed
    Primary Beneficiaries:
    Farmers,
    Project Details
    Funding Source:
    Sweden
    Cofinancing Total:
    N/a
    Total Amounts:
    N/a
    Resources:
    FAO Project Website: India
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