What’s the Benefit of Adaptation to Climate Change? Application of Partial Budgeting for the Rice Growers of Eastern Himalaya in India

The objective of the present study was to estimate the cost of adaptation to climate change incurred by the rice growers in Eastern Himalaya (EH) in India. A sample total of 120 cereal farmers were surveyed in Senapati district of Manipur and East Sikkim district of Sikkim in EH. Two main adaptation strategies i.e., changing the transplanting time of rice (Strategy 1) and changing the transplanting and harvesting time (Strategy 2) of rice were widely adopted by the farmers. The cost and benefit of these adaptation strategies were estimated using partial budgeting technique. The cost of rice cultivation has increased by 8505.63/ha and 6374.29/ha in case of the adopters of Strategy 1 and Strategy 2 and the cost was mainly incurred on farm labour. The net benefit realized by the adopters of both the strategies was 1329.30/ha and 1568.67/ha, only, respectively. The strategies adopted were in response to the change in timing of rainfall. Hence, the study recommended the planned interventions of the State Governments through farm mechanization, construction of water harvesting and minor irrigation facilities are the urgent need in the study area.