Volume 11, Issue 30, July - December, 2025

Vulnerability to climatic variability and its association with independent variables among dairy farmers in Jharkhand

Kumari Shweta^1♦, Jagarnath Oraon², Alok Kumar Pandey³, Pankaj Kumar⁴, Absar Ahmad⁵

¹Asst. Prof. & Head, Dept. of Vety & AH Ext Edu, CVSc & AH, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
²Ex-Prof., Dept. of Vety. & AH Ext Edu, CVSc & AH, BAU, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
³Prof., Dept. of Vety. & AH Ext Edu, RCVSc & AH, BAU, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
⁴Asst. Prof., Dept. of VPHE, CVSc & AH, BAU, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
⁵Asst. Prof., Dept. of ABG, CVSc & AH, BAU, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

^♦Corresponding author
Dr. Kumari Shweta, 1Asst. Prof. & Head, Dept. of Vety & AH Ext Edu, CVSc & AH, OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

ABSTRACT

Jharkhand owns a huge cattle population of 8.78 million. Despite of having this large number of animals, the production of milk in the state is not satisfactory. The attributing factors behind this are many like low producing animals, deficiencies in feed and fodder, poor knowledge of dairy farmers about the scientific rearing practices etc. In past few decades, climate has also changed abruptly which impacts the animals directly or indirectly and thus increasing the vulnerability of dairy farming. In this context, the study to know the vulnerability of dairy farmers to climatic variability and its association with independent variables was conducted. The present study encompassed 240 respondents from 6 districts that fall under three different agro-climatic regions of Jharkhand. Vulnerability Index (VI) was used to determine the extent of vulnerability of the respondents. The indicator method in conjunction with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was utilized to assess the VI. The results obtained showed that 58.75% of the respondents were in the moderately vulnerable group followed by 32.92% and 8.33% respondents belonging to highly and less vulnerable group, respectively. However there was no significant difference in region-wise distribution of these respondents. Out of seven indicators used, attitude of respondents towards climate change contributed most followed by risk perception, awareness level, social cohesiveness, knowledge about adaptation practices, fatalism and level of dependence, respectively. The independent variables like age, education, gender, farming experience, land holding, annual income, SES, and the psychological variables were significantly correlated with vulnerability (p < 0.01). Caste was also found to be a significant factor, but at a lower threshold (p < 0.05). The above findings suggested that targeted awareness campaigns and training programs should be organized to shift the farmer’s attitudes towards a more favorable stance. In this regard, the SAUs/SVUs and State A.H. departments can contribute a lot. Along with this, an effective and long-term action plan pertaining to climate change should be formulated by the policymakers to minimize the risks and vulnerability faced by dairy farmers due to climate change.

Keywords: Vulnerability, Climate change, Dairy farmers, Jharkhand

Climate Change, 2025, 11(30), e11cc3131

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Published: 05 October 2025