Building Farm‐Level Capacities in Irrigation Water Management to Adapt to Climate Change

Climate change characterized by global warming has become a hotspot of research in recent years for water resources, agriculture, ecology and other disciplines. In India, studies have shown an increasing trend in surface temperature, with decreasing trends in rainfall. Farmers are also more affected by the climate variability which has a serious influence on their production and income. The climate change and adaptation (ClimaAdapt) programme was implemented from 2012 to 2016 to build farm-level capacities and enhance the adaptive capacity of the agricultural and water sectors in the Krishna basin of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. Water-saving interventions such as direct seeded rice, a modified system of rice intensification and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) of rice were implemented in a cluster approach and enhanced water productivity. The training and implementation programmes increased the adaptation and awareness of farmers. Water measurements were carried out by using flumes and ultrasonic sensors. The area under direct seeded rice has increased to 64% in the study district and 77% of the trained farmers are adopting the practice. Capacity building, implementation and science–policy linkages are the key pillars of the programme to improve the adaptive capacity and scaling-up of water management practices. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.