Droughts, Distress, and Policies for Drought-Proofing Agriculture in Bihar, India

摘要: Climate change-related weather shocks are becoming more frequent in India, and poor, agrarian populations the most vulnerable to these vagaries of weather. This study was undertaken assess if various drought-proofing drought-relief programs effective mitigating impact droughts on crop production household consumption rural Bihar, India. The government Bihar runs a number mitigate drought, but with little effect. two largest social safety net programs—the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)—provide relief drought-affected families Bihar. Further, additional subsidy diesel irrigate kharif crops areas does not reach many farmers. Delays, uncertainties, high transaction costs its disbursal farmers further reduce subsidy’s effectiveness. tube-wells private wells pump-sets fail provide wide-scale for drought-stricken area. results our year-long 160 access cheap irrigation from solar-powered showed that grew paddy all their land 2013, spite low rainfall. reaped nearly 20% higher yields compared neighbors. These indicate affordable groundwater is essential drought proofing A well-designed program promote solar pumps can strengthen make agriculture resilient climate change.