Climate Change and Its Impact on Marginal Farmers in Assam:  A Review of Emerging Challenges, Adaptation Strategies and Policy Implications

Saruj Saikia

Climate Change and Its Impact on Marginal Farmers in Assam: A Review of Emerging Challenges, Adaptation Strategies and Policy Implications

Author(s)	Mr. Saruj Saikia
Country	India
Abstract	Climate change has emerged as one of the most significant challenges to agricultural sustainability, particularly in developing regions where farming systems remain highly dependent on climatic conditions. In India, the state of Assam is exceptionally vulnerable because of its geographical location within the Brahmaputra and Barak river basins, frequent flooding, riverbank erosion, changing rainfall patterns, and increasing temperature variability. These climatic changes have disproportionately affected marginal farmers, who constitute more than 85% of the state's farming households and generally operate on fragmented landholdings with limited access to financial resources, irrigation facilities, institutional credit, and modern agricultural technologies. This review synthesizes contemporary literature to examine the multidimensional impacts of climate change on marginal farmers in Assam. The paper critically analyses the influence of climatic variability on agricultural productivity, livelihood security, household income, food security, migration, and rural development. It further evaluates adaptation strategies adopted by farming communities and assesses the role of public policy and institutional interventions in strengthening climate resilience. The review demonstrates that climate change has intensified production risks, increased livelihood vulnerability, and widened socio-economic inequalities among resource-poor farming households. Although farmers have increasingly adopted livelihood diversification, crop diversification, integrated farming systems, and climate-resilient agricultural practices, their adaptive capacity remains constrained by inadequate institutional support, financial limitations, and unequal access to climate information. The paper argues that strengthening climate-resilient agriculture requires an integrated policy framework combining scientific innovation, indigenous knowledge, improved rural infrastructure, effective agricultural extension services, risk-transfer mechanisms, and participatory governance. Such an approach is essential for promoting sustainable agricultural development and enhancing the resilience of marginal farming households in Assam.
Keywords	Climate Change, Marginal Farmers, Agricultural Vulnerability, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Agriculture, Flood Risk, Livelihood Security
Published In	Volume 6, Issue 4, July-August 2024
Published On	2024-08-15

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CrossRef DOI prefix of IJFMR is 10.36948/ijfmr

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Climate Change and Its Impact on Marginal Farmers in Assam: A Review of Emerging Challenges, Adaptation Strategies and Policy Implications

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