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ThesisItem Open Access SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON DAIRY FARM HOUSEHOLDS IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF WEST BENGAL(ICAR-SRS-NDRI, KARNAL, 2022) SAHIN AKTAR MUNSHI; M. SIVARAMIndia is one of the leading economies that has been stuck hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and the stringent measures put in place to combat it like quarantines, lockdowns, travel restrictions, social distancing etc. Dairy sector is one of the most affected sectors as dairy products are highly perishable and depend on interspersed and time-sensitive supply chains. Though studies are available on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy sector, there are no studies on COVID-infected dairy farm households. Against this backdrop, the present study was an attempt to assess the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on infected and uninfected dairy farm households in West Bengal state. The study covered pre-lockdown, lockdown (both 1st and 2nd wave) and post-lockdown phases of COVID-19 pandemic. The primary data were collected from 150 dairy farm households (COVID-19 infected-75 and uninfected-75) in Murshidabad and Nadia districts of West Bengal. Dairy Economic Performance Index (DEPI) consisting of number of milch animals, milk yield, marketed milk, milk procurement price, concentrate price and veterinary cost was developed using Principal Component Analysis. DEPI index value ranges from 0 to 1. Higher index value indicates better dairy economic performance. In order to make infected and uninfected groups statistically comparable propensity score matching technique was employed. The index values were compared between matched infected and uninfected groups over different phases of COVID- 19 pandemic. The salient findings of the study are as follows: • Dairy households incurred significant economic losses during lockdown and postlockdown periods due to increase in cost of concentrates, decline in the number of milch animals and drop in milk procurement prices. • Dairy households faced constraints in procuring dry fodder, concentrate feed and in accessing veterinary care. • In case of uninfected group, DEPI value declined from 0.52 (pre-lockdown) to 0.48 (1st lockdown) (P<0.01). In the case of infected group, DEPI value decreased from 0.53 to 0.45 (P<0.01). Hence, DEPI value was lesser by 7 per cent (P<0.01)) for the infected group (DEPI) than that of uninfected group. • DEPI among the infected dairy households during the 2nd wave was declined up to 30 per cent compared to pre-lockdown period indicating that the infected dairy households suffered more during the 2nd lockdown. • As infected dairy farmers incurred more losses during COVID-19 pandemic the additional cash and kind support may be extended to them.ThesisItem Open Access PERCEPTION AND PREFERENCES OF URBAN CONSUMERS FOR LIQUID MILK IN NORTH INDIA(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2022) INDRAJIT MONDAL; GUNJAN BHANDARIMilk is an important constituent of an Indian diet whose consumption is steadily rising with its increasing availability and affordability. A wide variety of milk is now available to cater different market segments. However, instances of adulteration and contamination of milk are also reported especially in the urban areas which do affect peoples’ perception of milk. Current study attempts to analyze the consumption pattern and consumer preferences for liquid milk. Perception and awareness of consumers on milk safety was also assessed. Primary data were collected from 270 milk consumer households of New Delhi, Ludhiana and Karnal which was then analyzed by using Tabular Analysis, Garrett’s ranking, Conjoint Analysis, Contingent Valuation, Regression Analysis and Construction of Indices. The average daily household milk consumption was found to be 2.59 litre/day. Liquid milk accounted for 69% of total household monthly expenditure on milk and milk products. Monthly household consumption expenditure on milk increased by ` 975/month with presence of a pregnant/nursing mother in the family. Freshness was the most important factor considered by the households before buying milk. Around 56% of the sample households were buying processed milk. Percentage of households buying processed milk was found to be higher in more urbanized city. Buffalo milk was consumed by 41.48% of the sample households, whereas mixed milk and cow milk was consumed by 32.96% and 25.56% sample households, respectively. Households with children and senior citizens were more likely to consume processed milk whereas households with pregnant woman/nursing mothers had higher probability of purchasing raw milk. Consumers were willing to pay ` 10.53 more for desi cow milk and ` 7.31 more for buffalo milk over cow milk. The sample households had a positive perception on nutrition and health benefits of milk but they rated milk and dairy farming relatively lower on ethical (0.570) and safety related (0.535) aspects. Raw milk received comparatively higher scores for taste and nutritional quality whereas processed milk received higher scores for safety, availability and affordability. Desi cow milk was preferred for its taste but it scored low on availability and affordability. Among processed milk, full cream scored highest. Consumer households were aware about common milk adulterants and household practices for safe milk. However, awareness on source of milk contamination and legislations related to milk adulteration was very low. Value of Milk Safety Awareness Index was found to be 0.73. Awareness on milk safety was found to be low among 29% of the sample households. Level of milk safety awareness was found to increase with household income, quantity of milk purchased and education level of household head. It was also higher in the case of households having pregnant women and nursing mothers. Marginal Willingness to Pay for safe milk was found to be ` 5.86 per litre of milk. Consumers were willing to pay additional `10.58 to avoid sample preparation. Consumers were concerned about the milk safety standards and ethical aspects related with dairying. Stringent quality control, inspection and monitoring are required for ensuring safe milk so that the apprehensions in the mind of consumers can be removed. Awareness on legislations related to food safety, sources of contamination and detection methods can be increased by organizing campaigns and through television/social media. Establishing a system for milk safety certification will help the dairy farmers selling safe and clean milk in getting premium price. Easy to use milk adulteration detection kits should be made widely available for household use.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SEMEN PRODUCTION AND ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION IN HARYANA: A VALUE CHAIN APPROACH(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2022) SHASHIKALA JAGANURI; ANIL K. DIXITRaising demands of milk and milk products requires the increase in milk productivity. Adoption of modern breeding technologies is the pathway to achieve higher milk production in the dairy sector. A number of new reproductive technologies have been implemented for enhancing reproductive performances of dairy animals. Artificial Insemination (AI) is the most important way of improving animal productivity by improving their genetic potential. Compared to Natural Service (NS), AI has the advantage of transferring desirable traits to offspring. Hence, it is imperative to analyse the value chain of AI in order to comprehend the actors and economics involved during entire process of AI, starting from semen production till it reaches to end beneficiary. Hence, study entitled “Economic Analysis of Semen Production and Artificial Insemination in Haryana: A Value Chain Approach” was taken up with the specific objectives of estimating the economics of semen production centres, mapping of the value chain of AI, assessing the impact of AI on milk productivity and the factors affecting adoption of AI. The study involved 120 farmers, out of which 60 were adopters of AI and 60 were non-adopters (i.e., NS), 40 inseminators and 3 semen production centres of different agencies (run by Private, Government and Research institute). To accomplish the set objectives, the data were subjected to suitable analytical tools. The value chains were mapped using Vensim software, Cobb- Douglas production function was used to assess the impact of AI on milk productivity and Binary logistic model was used to study the factors affecting the adoption of AI. Tabular analysis was also used to estimate the economics of semen production centres. The study found that the profit per dose was highest in private semen production centre (Rs. 2.27) followed by government semen production centre (Rs. 2.18) and research institute (Rs. 1.33). Three distinct value chains were mapped based on the semen production units such as private, government and research institute. Key actors in the value chain were identified and mapped. The main actors in the value chain were semen production centres, semen stations, government veterinary hospitals, distributors, paravets/inseminators and dairy farmers. The profit per insemination for inseminator varied with source of semen procurement and it was highest in case of private semen production centre (Rs. 143.7). The results obtained from Cobb-Douglas production function revealed that the milk productivity of cow and buffalo increased by 2.9 and 2.1 per cent, respectively with one per cent increase in dry fodder. Likewise, with a unit increase in the adoption of AI, milk productivity increased by 0.23 and 0.39 units in cow and buffalo, respectively. According to the findings of Binary logistic regression, the adoption of AI was positively and significantly impacted by higher secondary education, land ownership, and milk yield. The adoption of AI was found to be negatively impacted by age of the respondent and distance to the AI centre. Thus, the study suggests establishing AI hubs and providing high pedigree bull semen to encourage the adoption of AI. Efforts to be made by the researchers and extension experts to make the farmers more aware about the benefits of AI in dairy animals.ThesisItem Open Access ADOPTION OF CLEAN AND SAFE MILK PRODUCTION PRACTICES IN KERALA: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2022) ANEETTA V ANTONY; AJAY VERMAIndia is the world's largest milk producer, but the quality of milk it produces is often questioned. Clean milk can be defined as milk produced from healthy milch animal possessing normal flavour, devoid of dirt, and essentially free from adulterants, various toxins, abnormal residues, pollutants, and metabolites. In a study conducted by FSSAI in 2018, it was found that only 62.3 per cent of the milk sold in our country meets the standard. This is far below the global average. Milk of major milk brands were found to be contaminated with several contaminants like aflatoxin-M1, antibiotics and pesticides (FSSAI, 2018). Kerala was one among the three states with highest aflatoxin-M1 contamination. Also, studies have proven that there is a huge gap between the desired and achieved milk quality in Kerala (Thomas et al.,2021). The present study was an attempt to analyse the adoption behaviour of different clean and safe milk production practices by dairy farmers in Kerala. The present study entitled “Adoption of clean and safe milk production practices in Kerala: An economic analysis” has been proposed with the following objectives: (1) To estimate the adoption rate of different clean and safe milk production practices at the farm level, (2) To analyse the impact of adoption of clean and safe milk production practices on selected economic parameters, (3) To identify the constraints in the adoption of clean and safe milk production practices. Three districts, Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Palakkad were randomly selected. 70 farmers from each district cumulating total of 210 farmers were selected for the study. The first objective attempted to develop Clean and Safe Milk Production Index (CSMPI) to study the adoption rate of the farmers, as well as factors affecting adoption was identified. The highest mean score of index was found for risk of contamination hazard related CSMPI. Storage related CSMPI values were identified to have highest standard deviation among all the indices. The adoption of CSMP (Clean and safe milk production) practices were also found to increase with total livestock number, education, experience in dairying and cost of compliance on CSMP. Complementary adoption was observed in the adoption of storage and milking environment and storage and risk of contamination hazard related practices, whereas substitutive adoption was observed between risk of contamination hazard and milking environment related practices. Negative spatial effect was observed in the adoption of storage related practices in Palakkad whereas positive spatial effect was observed in the adoption of milking environment related practices in Palakkad and risk of contamination hazard related practices in both Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram. The second objective attempted to analyse the impact of adoption of CSMP practices on yield per animal per day and income from dairy was analysed using endogenous switching regression. Transitional heterogeneity was negative for both the parameters studied. Further, the constraints faced in adoption of CSMP was identified and ranked using Garette’s ranking technique. Lack of knowledge about CSMP was found to be the major constraint. It was also observed that, better institutional support to dairy farmers and increasing awareness through training programs will help in increasing the extent of clean and safe milk production in the state.ThesisItem Open Access AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DAIRY-INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEMS IN TERAI REGION OF WEST BENGAL(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2022) SNIGDHA PATOWARY; RAVINDER MALHOTRAOne of the integral parts of India’s agriculture sector is the livestock sector which provides employment to 8.8 per cent of the country’s population. Livestock sector contributes 4.1 per cent of GDP and 25.6 per cent of total agricultural GDP (20th Livestock Census, 2019). In the state of West Bengal, the number of livestock increased from 30.35 million in 2012 to 37.40 million in 2019, representing a positive growth of 23.22 percent in the total number of animals of various species. Though livestock density is higher (730 per square km) in the Terai region compared to other region in West Bengal, milk productivity is comparatively low. Therefore, it is not possible for the farmers in this region to depend only on cattle rearing for their livelihood. Agriculture and animal husbandry have a symbiotic relationship, with the agricultural sector providing feed and fodder for animals, the animal sector providing milk, manure, and draught power for various agricultural processes. Farming system insures the farmers against the probable risk and uncertainties in agriculture. The present study was therefore conducted to identify the existing dairy-integrated farming systems and to examine linkages among various components of farming systems, to estimate profit efficiency of the farmers in different farming systems and to analyse resource use efficiency in milk production. The major farming systems identified in Terai Region were Dairy (D), Dairy + Crop (D+ C), Dairy + Crop + Goat (D + C + G), Dairy + Crop + Poultry (D + C + P), Dairy + Crop + Mushroom (D + C + M) and Dairy + Crop + Fish (D + C + F) farming system. The estimated input-output coefficient revealed that the backward linkage i.e., the link from dairy to crop, was stronger than the forward linkage, i.e., the link from crop to dairy, in each farming system. The farming system with the strongest connection between dairy to crop was in D + C + P (0.44) and the weakest linkage was found in D + C (0.31) farming system. Stochastic profit frontier revealed that the mean profit efficiency was highest in D + C + M farming system, where mean profit efficiency of the farmers was 0.9 followed by D + C farming system (0.84). It was estimated that 81 to 96 per cent variation in actual profit from maximum profit (profit frontier) among households under these farming systems was mainly due to the differences in farmers’ practices. There was wide range of variation in profit efficiency in overall farming system. The level of education, farming experience, age and herd size were the important determinants of profit inefficiency of the farmers. The result regarding resource use efficiency in milk production revealed that green fodder was used efficiently in D and D + C + G farming system but it was underutilised in D + C + M farming system, whereas dry fodder was used efficiently in all the farming systems. Concentrate was used efficiently in D + C, D + C + P farming system but was over utilised in D + C + M and D + C + F farming system. Concentrate was over utilised in overall farming system for indigenous cow, whereas green fodder and dry fodder in case of crossbred, and dry fodder in case of indigenous cow were used efficiently.ThesisItem Open Access LIFETIME ECONOMICS OF SELECTED DAIRY ANIMAL BREEDS IN AYODHYA MANDAL OF UTTAR PRADESH(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2021) DWIVEDI, SHRIPATI; SINGH, AJMERDairy sector constitutes to be very important component of the agricultural economy of Indiawhich contributes about 4.9% in GDP and 27.4% in agriculture GDP at constant prices. Reproductive and productive parameters of dairy animals vary from breed to breed. Lifetime traits of dairy animals exhibit better economic rationale for their rearing. The maintenance cost and the milk yield vary from lactation stage to lactation and over lactation stages also. Lifetime daily yield is an indicator of lifetime performance of cattle and buffalo. Lifetime milk production depends on age at first calving, the length of productive life and milk yield across lactations. Hence, keeping above in view, the present study entitled “Lifetime economics of selected dairy animal breeds in Ayodhya Mandal of Uttar Pradesh” was taken up with the specific objectives (1) To analyse life-time production and productivity of dairy animals in the study area. (2) To estimate cost of maintenance and milk production at different life stages of dairy animals. (3) To determine economics of life-time profitability of selected dairy spp./breeds in the study area. A sample size of 180 animals (60 from each breed) was selected on the basis of snowball sampling method. The study considered three breeds namely Sahiwal, Crossbred (with Jersey) and Murrah in Ayodhya mandal of Uttar Pradesh. Budgetary and tabular analysis tools were used to estimate productive traits, costs & returns and life-time profitability of the selected dairy breeds. Ease of Rearing (EoR) index was developed by considering six indicators to capture breed’s quantitative and qualitative traits. Murrah buffalo were having longer total lactation length (2814.93 days), productive life (3616.18 days) and herd life (5495.46 days) where as Crossbred cattle had shorter dry period (661.75 days) among the selected dairy breeds. Net cost of maintenance per day was less among Sahiwal cattle. It was Rs 30.45/day less than CB cattle and Rs 17.75/day lesser than Murrah buffalo. Net cost of rearing a calf was also less in Sahiwal (Rs 8.16/d less than CB cattle and Rs 4.74/d less than Murrah buffalo). Life-time net cost was least in Sahiwal cattle whereas life-time net returns were highest in CB cattle followed by Murrah buffalo and least were in case of Sahiwal cattle. Derived benefits arrived at by deflating the costs with EoR were highest in case of Sahiwal followed by Murrah and least were among CB cattle.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON DAIRYING IN KOZHIKODE DISTRICT OF KERALA(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2021) HARITHA. K; BHANDARI, GUNJANCOVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented threat to different sectors, taking a huge toll on the economy. Dairying was no exception and it faced disruptions primarily due to breakdown of the supply chain and fall in demand. Intensity of crisis was severe in country like India where dairying has become a significant source of income for millions of rural populations. In the milieu, the research entitled “Economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairying in Kozhikode district of Kerala” has been undertaken with the specific objectives “(1) to assess livelihood vulnerability of dairy farming households’ to impacts of COVID-19 (2) to estimate the economic losses incurred by dairy farmers due to the pandemic (3) to examine the effect of the pandemic on sales and profitability of dairy processing plant”. A predetermined sample size of 200 dairy farmers and a processing plant were selected from the Kozhikode district. The first objective was aimed to develop a new index namely, livelihood vulnerability index to impacts of pandemic (LVIIP) employing LVI-IPCC approach. The results revealed that out of 200 households, about 22.5 per cent were highly vulnerable to impacts of pandemic, whereas 41.5 per cent were moderately vulnerable and 36 per cent were least vulnerable. Farmers selling milk to cooperatives was found to have highest mean value of LVIIP (0.08) due to its highest exposure (0.23) and lowest adaptive capacity mean value (0.48). Most of the factors responsible for higher sensitivity of farmers selling milk to consumer households and lower adaptive capacity of farmers selling milk to cooperatives were linked to feed and fodder availability. Hence, special provisions for ensuring uninterrupted feed and fodder supply chain should be made in the rules and regulations formulated during any such future crisis. The second objective was attempted to compute the economic loss incurred by farmers due to COVID-19 pandemic. The dairy farmers incurred an average loss of ₹7, 175 per milch animal during lockdown period for 66 days. Around 49 per cent of the total loss was incurred due to decrease in returns which was followed by loss due to missed artificial insemination (22%). Consumers hesitated in purchasing milk directly from the farmers due to fear of COVID-19 and preferred packaged milk owing to which the dairy farmers selling milk directly to the consumer households were more affected. Farmers selling milk to cooperatives incurred lower losses. Thus, farmers should be encouraged to join cooperatives so that they can earn stable income even during such crisis Drop in milk prices and dry fodder shortage emerged as the major issue during the pandemic. On the basis of herd size categories, large farmers suffered highest losses (₹9, 832 / milch animal). Search for new consumers, preparation of ghee from surplus milk and preparation of feed mix at home were the main coping strategies adopted by the farmers. The final objective has analyzed the effect of the pandemic on sales and profitability of dairy processing plant. It was found that procurement of raw milk by plant has declined during initial months of lockdown. ITSA revealed that there was a significant decrease in sales of toned milk, standardized milk, cow milk ice creams, curd, and butter milk during lock down due to a steep decline in the demand and significant increase in sales of UHT milk. B:C ratio of plant in 2020 was estimated to be 1.16 which is lower than previous years indicating the low profitability of plant. Due to fall in sales, Milma dairy plant in Kozhikode was dependent on plants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for converting surplus milk into powder. Establishing a modern milk powder plant, as well as an evaporator plant to convert and store excess milk as milk powder and condensed milk, can assist to reducing this dependency.ThesisItem Open Access ECONOMIC IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON DAIRY FARMERS AND DAIRY COOPERATIVES IN BENGALURU RURAL AND CHIKKABALLAPURA DISTRICTS OF KARNATAKA(ICAR-SRS-NDRI, KARNAL, 2021) THEJESH, S; SIVARAM, M.The novel corona virus (COVID-19) which was first identified on November 17, 2019 in Wuhan city of China turned out to be a pandemic. As a preventive measure against the pandemic, the Government of India announced nationwide lockdown on 24 March, 2020 which continued till 31 May, 2020. This not only limited the movement of people across the country but also led to the implementation of the policies like quarantines, containment zones, social distancing, travel restrictions etc. These polices have affected every sector of the Indian economy including the dairy sector. Among the stakeholders of the dairy sector, dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives are the most affected. Against this backdrop, the present study was undertaken to assess the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy farmers and dairy cooperative societies in Bengaluru rural and Chikkaballapura districts of Karnataka. The study covered pre-lockdown, lockdown and post- lockdown phases up to December 2020. The data was collected from 200 dairy farmers, 24 village dairy cooperatives and 2 milk unions. In order to meet the objectives, analytical tools such as quantity gap analysis, price gap analysis, Wilcoxon signed rank test and trend analysis were employed. The major conclusions of the study are as follows. • There was no significant change in milk yield found in both the districts with respect to indigenous cows and buffalo during lockdown and post-lockdown periods when compared to pre-lockdown period. However, the milk yield of crossbred cattle was reduced by 2.26 per cent in Bengaluru rural district (P < 0.01) and by 4.01 per cent in Chikkaballapura district (P < 0.001) during lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. During post-lockdown period, the milk yield of crossbred was reduced by 2.35 per cent in Bengaluru rural district (P < 0.01) and by 0.94 per cent in Chikkaballapura district as compared to pre-lockdown period. • In Bengaluru rural district, the procurement price of the milk was reduced from ₹ 29 per liter in pre-lockdown to ₹ 26.5 per liter in lockdown. Further, it was reduced to ₹ 23 per liter during post-lockdown period. In Chikkaballapura district procurement price of the milk remained same as ₹ 28 per liter during pre-lockdown and lockdown periods. But during the post-lockdown period, the procurement price of the milk was reduced to ₹ 26.15 per liter. • When compared to pre-lockdown period, the cost of concentrate feeds was increased by about 37 per cent and 21 per cent in both the districts during lockdown and postlockdown period respectively. • About 81 per cent and 87 per cent of farmers from the Bengaluru rural and Chikkaballapura districts respectively witnessed loss in their income from dairying during lockdown or post-lockdown. • In Bengaluru rural district, net return per liter of milk for high productivity crossbreds was reduced by 33.05 per cent during lockdown and by 48.64 per cent during postdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. Dairy farmers rearing moderate productivity crossbreds witnessed net return loss of 93.68 per cent per liter of milk during post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. • In Chikkaballapura district, net return per liter of milk of high productivity crossbreds was reduced by 20.89 per cent during lockdown period and by 22.77 per cent during post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. Dairy farmers rearing cross-bred with moderate productivity witnessed loss of 42.71 per cent per liter of milk during post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. • In BAMUL and KOMUL, there was no reduction in milk procurement quantity during lockdown and post-lockdown periods. While the quantity of milk sold by both the milk unions BAMUL and KOMUL increased during the month of April i.e., during lockdown as Government of Karnataka purchased milk from milk unions for distributing it to the poor. During rest of the months of lockdown i.e., May and during the post lockdown same trends were observed as that of previous years. • Among the milk products, the sale of curd, paneer, Mysore Pak decreased during both lockdown and post-lockdown periods. • The results suggest that there is an urgent need for revision of current milk procurement prices in Karnataka based on the recent trends in feed costs and labour wages. • In general, there is a need to increase the demand of milk and milk products by engaging modern technologies. Hence, milk unions should establish collaboration with online consumer businesses like Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo etc. and supply milk and milk products at doorsteps of consumers in order to ensure continuous demand.ThesisItem Open Access EFFECTS OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL(ICAR-NDRI, KARNAL, 2021) BISWAS, SUBHANKAR; VERMA, AJAYAgricultural activities are highly sensitive to climate variability and climate change. A slight change in climatic factors is bound to have significant effects on agricultural production. Developing country like India is more sufferers to climate change, and variability as India highly depends on agriculture. The present study was undertaken to analyse the spatiotemporal trends of climate parameters, assess the impact of climate variability on major crops and milk production, and document the farmers' perceptions of climate variability and their management strategies in West Bengal. The choice of the region was guided by the fact that this is the most densely populated agriculturally productive state of the country. Both secondary and primary data was used for the study. Analysis results of trends indicated that Kharif and Rabi seasonal and annual rainfall shows significant decline trends. Mean maximum temperature and mean minimum temperature have shown an increasing trend across the Kharif season districts. In Rabi season, mean maximum temperature has shown increasing trends, whereas mean minimum temperature shown decreasing trends. Rice production in Kharif season was responsive to rainfall (-0.1%) and wind speed (-10.1%), while Rabi season production was responsive to relative humidity (+4.2%). Jute production was responsive to maximum temperature (+11.7%), relative humidity (+14.3%) and wind speed (-15.6%) in the Kharif season. Potato production was responsive to minimum temperature (-7.1%) and wind speed (-10.9%) in Rabi season. Wheat production was responsive to maximum temperature (11.3%), minimum temperature (-17.0%), relative humidity (-1.9%) and wind speed (-10.5%), while mustard production was only responsive to maximum temperature (+5.3%) and minimum temperature (-11.9%) in the Rabi season. The indigenous cow milk production was responsive to annual minimum temperature (+3.3%), while crossbred cow milk production was responsive to annual maximum temperature (-17.7%) and relative humidity (-7.6%). The buffalo milk production was only responsive to annual maximum temperature (-12.1%) and relative humidity (-4.3%). More than half (56.00%) of farmers had a medium level of experience in farming. Majority of farmers were perceived climate variability in general like increase in temperature during the summer season, late onset of monsoon and early withdrawal of monsoon season. For crop farming, ‘crop diversification’ was the most preferred adaptation strategy among the farmers followed by ‘changing crop variety’. For dairy farming, ‘provide proper shed and shelter’ was most preferred adaptation strategy followed by ‘provide additional fresh drinking water in summer’. Education level has negative significant correlation with adoption index for both farming. Experience and annual income have positive significant correlation with adoption index for crop farming and dairy farming, respectively. It is suggested that the government should ensure that farmers have access to credit and subsidies. The state government should also ensure that bank credit terms are flexible to maximize farmers' access to affordable credit for enhancing their ability and flexibility to adjust crop and dairy farming practices in response to climate variability. Policies aimed at promoting climate adaptation should emphasis on the need of providing information on better farming practices and climatic variability.
