Consequences of Climate Change Impacts and Incidences of Extreme Weather Events in Relation to Crop Production in Bhutan

Being a country in the Himalayas, Bhutan is highly prone to the vagaries of weather events that affect agricultural production and the subsequent livelihood of the people. To identify the main issues that affect crop production and the decisions of farmers, a survey was conducted in three different...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020-05, Vol.12 (10), p.4319
Main Authors: Chhogyel, Ngawang, Kumar, Lalit, Bajgai, Yadunath
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural ecosystems
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Climate change
Crop damage
Crop production
Cropping systems
Crops
Decisions
Developing countries
Drought
Drying
Environmental changes
Extreme weather
Fallowing
Farmers
Floods
Food production
Heat
Impact damage
Infrastructure
Irrigation
Irrigation water
Landslides & mudslides
LDCs
Management decisions
Pests
Precipitation
Questionnaires
Rain
Sea level
Seasonal variations
Socioeconomic factors
Storm damage
Support systems
Sustainability
Weather
Wildlife
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Summary:Being a country in the Himalayas, Bhutan is highly prone to the vagaries of weather events that affect agricultural production and the subsequent livelihood of the people. To identify the main issues that affect crop production and the decisions of farmers, a survey was conducted in three different agro-ecosystems in Bhutan. Our key findings indicate that farming and the decisions of farmers were largely affected by different climatic and non-climatic factors. These were in descending order of importance: irrigation availability > farm labour > crop seasonality > crop damage (climatic) > land holding > crop damage (wildlife) > crop damage (diseases and pests). The most important consequences of climate change impacts were the drying of irrigation sources (4.35) and crop losses due to weather events (4.10), whereas land fallowing, the occurrence of flood and soil erosion, weed pressure and changes in cropping pattern (with mean ratings of 2.53–3.03) experienced lesser consequences. The extreme weather events, such as untimely rains, drought and windstorms, were rated as the ‘most common’ to ‘common’ occurrences, thus inflicting a crop loss of 1–19%. These confirm our hearsay knowledge that extreme weather events have major consequences on irrigation water, which is said to be either drying or getting smaller in comparison to the past. Therefore, Bhutan must step up its on-ground farmer-support system towards improving the country’s food production, whilst embracing climate smart farm technologies for adapting to the impacts of change.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12104319