Assessment of climate change impacts and adaptation strategies on Sorghum production in Tamil Nadu, India

Recent research indicates that climate change would increase the risk of productivity loss in sorghum crop in India. This study estimates the impact of climate change on yield sensitivity and documents the adaptation strategies in sorghum production in Tamil Nadu. Here, we first use panel regression with fixed effects model to estimate the impacts of climate variables on yield responses using data from 1971 to 2010. These estimates are then used to examine the future yield sensitivities using the projected climate variables from Regional Climate Model (RegCM4). At last, we use primary survey to document adaptation strategies at farm level. Results show a quadratic relationship between climate variables and yield i.e. as temperature and rainfall increase, crop yield initially increases up to a threshold level, and then decreases. RegCM4 model results indicated that increase in temperature and rainfall anomalies would continue in the future, which could result in a 9 percent loss in sorghum yield. Adaptation strategies such as soil and water conservation, mixed crops and adoption of drought tolerant varieties were widely practiced at farm level. This call for research investments and extension efforts are to be intensified to adopt above strategies to combat the vagaries of climate