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Nature reflects our nature
and damaging crops . Along with rainfall , snowfall is decreasing as well as the retention of snow . People are unaware of the terminology “ climate change ”. However , they have observed and experienced the phenomena of environmental change ; for instance , they are cognizant about the rise in temperature , pest attacks , drought , and altered rainfall . People are compelled to shift their cultivation time ( cropping time ) for about one or two weeks . The overall rate of production of all crops is rapidly decreasing for the last 10 years . It is due to drought during the seed sowing time and heavy rainfall during the crop development period . Although farmers are claiming that production has not decreased by more than 50 % in the past 5 years ; pests and weeds are gradually increasing over the years , and vegetables are the main victims of high pest attacks .
Though , climate-induced incidents and disasters are increasing and are becoming more apparent . Farmers were not introducing any new types of adaptation techniques to adapt to the impacts of climate change in agriculture although their ITK and traditional practices are useful to adapt to the recent phenomena introduced by climate change . Besides , none of the organizations are implementing new / traditional types of adaptation techniques . Farmers are avoiding irrigation systems in their agricultural lands to prevent landslide and soil erosion because they are sloppy . The steep slope has a high risk of soil erosion . Therefore , they are always hesitant to introduce irrigation systems in their agriculture land and they don ’ t even prefer to get individual taps for drinking water . Farmers used to plow their agriculture land just before seed sowing time to loosen the compact soil , mix up the manure and soil , and control the weeds before again plowing during seed sowing time . The farmers have not introduced any type of new or hybrid crops . Even though the average production of traditional crop varieties is decreasing , they prefer to continue those traditional varieties of crops , which they have acquired from their predecessors . These crop varieties have high resistant and adaptive capacity to the changing environment . Animal husbandry has been utilized both for transportation , manure as well as for plowing for low tillage system , preventing compaction , erosion , and maintenance of soil fertility . Due to steep and sloppy agriculture land , they use one ox tillage system that directly helps to avoid high soil erosion and avoid heavy compactness of the soil . The use of Gothe Mal ( livestock ’ s manure ) has helped to maintain soil health by preventing excessive evaporation and promoting soil quality . All the farmers have been practicing terrace management systems in the majority of their lands to trap soil fertility , reduce soil erosion , retain soil moisture , and support easy and effective tillage .
Most of the agriculture lands of the area have a slope greater than 30 degrees and the fields are prone to landslides and rapid soil erosion whose chances have been raised even further due to climate change . Leaving the crop residue is another key adaptation practice as it performs the function of mulching as well as manure for the soil . Leaving the land fallow is another key practice of people of Sahartara to recover the soil fertility . Grazing land and optional land are used for cultivation in case of adversities in the cultivated land . People have coped with the water availability issues with the selection of one type of crop per year to ensure at least one production in a year . Intercropping is one of the best and crucial techniques practiced by the local people for the proper land management and confirms to adapt any one type of crop from the impact of climatic variation . The farmers have applied crop rotation for the management of fertilizer and the production of crops . Moreover , the annual rotation of chino ( Himalayan Rice ) and millet is practiced in that area . They rotate crops each year in the same land to avoid pest attacks to the same crops and to balance the consumption of fertilizer . People employ both in-house and underground grain storage systems . This has prevented the grain from decaying and ensured food security for the people of Sahartara . People use their local variety of seeds that they yield best and good quality seeds from land are stored in a separate place . This practice directly helps to conserve the gene pool and helps crops to adapt to the changing climate .
Conclusion : Though the rural farmers don ’ t know the term Climate Change , they are experiencing certain abnormal changes in seasons and temperatures . Though they don ’ t know the term climate change , they are still knowledgeable enough to acknowledge that there have been changes in weather patterns . In one way or another , there has been some kind of effects of climate change in their agricultural practices such as shifting of crops sowing periods from 15 to 30 days . However , Indigenous Technology Knowledge is playing a crucial role in adapting to climate change in agricultural practices . More specifically , ITK , which was adopted by farmers , has been helping
58 Year Book of Environmental Science