This chapter observed the latent and construct variables in the farming sector of Gujarat, India through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Thereupon, per hectare farm income (FI/Ha) (farm productivity) was used as dependent variable (DV), and climatic factors, appropriate technology, technological development, agricultural development institutions (ADIs), human resource, cropped area, irrigated area, fertilizer, and adaptation strategies were used as independent variables (IVs) in the regression model. The qualitative and quantitative statistics of 240 farmers were used for CFA and regression analysis. The results based on CFA and regression analysis provided confirmation that FI/Ha was negatively affected due to variability in climatic factors (i.e., maximum temperature, actual rainfall, and average precipitation). Annual income, farming of cash crops, income from non-agricultural sources, economic viability of technology, technical and institutional support, technological advancement, and adaptation strategies were appeared useful to increase FI/Ha.
Top1. Introduction
Previous evidence indicates that most climatic factors work as crucial inputs in agricultural production activities (Kumar, 2015). Production, yield and plant growth of a particular crop depend on climatic conditions and geographical location (Singh et al., 2022b). Therefore, the progress of agriculture and its allied sector also depend on climatic factors (Kumar & Singh 2023). Though, high variability and variation in climatic factors may be harmful for plant growth, production and yield of most crops (Kumar & Singh, 2023). The variability in minimum and maximum temperature, rainfall, wind storms, wind speed, sun intensity and solar radiation increased due to human driven and natural activities (Kumar, 2015; Malhi et al., 2021). Human driven activities have a huge contribution in greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions in the atmosphere (Aggarwal et al., 2019; Kumar & Singh, 2023). Also, demographic changes (i.e., population growth and urbanization), overwhelming industrial and infrastructural development are also accountable to increase GHGs emissions (Kumar & Singh, 2023). High concentration of GHGs emissions in the atmosphere is a sole origin for unexpected changes in climatic factors (Mall et al., 2006; Kumar et al., 2017). Accordingly, mean temperature of earth surface and frequency of natural disaster like floods and drought, hailstorm and heat waves have increased globally due to rising GHGs emissions (Malhi et al., 2021). Moreover, the water availability, air quality, soil fertility and ecosystem services have declined due to human driven activities and climate change (Singh, 2023b). Therefore, human development is also negatively affected due to extreme variability in climatic factors in most agricultural intensive countries (Singh et al., 2022d). The prevalence of various health diseases in different weather seasons have also increased due to climate change (Singh & Singh 2020).
Furthermore, the developing countries which are located at low latitude are more susceptible due to climate change (Kumar, 2015). Yields of many crops are expected to be increased in developed countries, while, the developing countries which are located at lower latitude will get negative returns in the agricultural sector due to climate change (Kumar & Singh, 2023). Low education, poor climate adaptation strategies, poor coping mechanism, low credit accessibility, chronic poverty, lack of agri-entrepreneurial opportunities, insignificant institutional support, low agricultural R&D expenditure, high cost of cultivation, poor irrigation facilities, high pressure of population on agricultural sector, over industrialization, urbanization and low association of farmers with agricultural universities, ineffectual government policies and flexibility in intellectual property rights (IPRs) are also creating several barriers for growth of agricultural sector (Singh et al., 2017; Fierros-Gonzalez & Lopez-Feldman, 2021; Singh et al., 2022c,e; Ashraf & Singh, 2022; Kumar & Singh, 2023). Further, agricultural sector has a large share in GHGs emission and it tolerate the consequences of GHGs emissions and climate change (Kumar et al., 2015a). Therefore, the main intention of global policy maker should be dedicated to achieve sustainable agricultural development (SAD). SAD helps to ensure food and livelihood security of all people (Aggarwal et al., 2019; Singh & Issac, 2018). Therefore, SAD creates a scientific platform to avoid the negative return of climate change in the farming sector (Ziberman et al., 1997; Msomba et al., 2021; Singh et al., 2022d; Singh et al., 2022e).