Farmers in East Champaran, Bihar are frequently exposed to unexpected climatic events that affect crop yields and income. Climatic aberrations adversely affects rainfed rabi crop performance. This study attempted to assess the loss in productivity and monetary losses incurred by farmers due to climatic aberrations. Data was collected from four villages covering randomly selected 332 farmers using a pretested structured interview schedule. Occurrence of floods and heavy rains reduced yields of paddy and maize crops by 50%, while deficit or delayed rainfall led to a yield decline of 26% in paddy, 24% in maize and 18% in wheat. The occurrence of frost, reported to be a regular feature by 26% of the respondents led to a yield decline of 18% in wheat and 21% in winter maize and potato. Due to these unforeseen events, annual income (from all sources) of INR 1.46 lakhs/year declined to just INR 1.0 lakhs/year, which gets further aggravated due to a lack of non-farm activities during adverse situations. The study revealed that farmers incur significant losses due to unexpected climatic events and it is necessary to popularize in-situ soil moisture conservation practices for the post-monsoon season to ensure satisfactory yields from rainfed rabi crops.

Highlights

• Aberrant climatic conditions like drought, flood, frost etc may cause heavy losses to agricultural crops resulting in reduction in income of farming community.
• Present study assessed that climatic aberration caused loss in productivity of various crops like paddy, wheat, maize and sugarcane varying from 18-50%.
• Net monetary loss in paddy crop due to untimely or delayed rain and flood was INR 9000 to 21000/ha while in wheat, monetary loss due to untimely rain or frost caused monetary loss up to INR 8000/ha.