Enhancing Adaptive Capacity and Increasing Resilience of Small and Marginal Farmers in Purulia and Bankura Districts of West Bengal

In West Bengal, an eastern state of India, 17.4% of the total Net State Domestic Product (NSDP, 2012-13) and 70% of the total population, mainly the rural population, are dependent on climate sensitive sectors (such as agriculture including animal husbandry and horticulture, forestry and fisheries). This project aims at developing climate adaptive and resilient livelihood systems through diversification, technology adoption and natural resource management for rural small and marginal farmers associated with agriculture and allied sector in Lateritic Zone of West Bengal. Specifically, it would seek to enhance adaptive capacity of vulnerable farm families in semi-arid regions of Purulia and Bankura districts of West Bengal by introducing measures to tide over the adverse impacts of climate change on their food and livelihood security.

This project focuses on 5,000 households covering about 22,596 beneficiaries who belong to vulnerable small and marginal farming communities and communities dependent on natural resources as livelihood option. The project is executed by Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC), which has been operating in the semi-arid region of West Bengal for the last 15 years. It builds on earlier work done by DRCSC such as the project “Diversifying livelihood options through integrated production system for climate change adaptation and food & livelihood security of the small and marginal farmers in water logged flood plain of West Bengal (CCA IFS)” supported by GIZ and the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the project “Collective Action to Reduce Climate Disaster Risks and enhancing Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities around the Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India”, supported by the European Union.

Learn more

• Project website
• Project story

Project Documents