UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN SECURITY (UNU-EHS) REPORT No. 4 November 2012 Report No. 4 | November 2012 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India _ 3 _ 4 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India Report No. 4 | November 2012 ˝Where the Rain Falls˝ Project Case study: India Results from Janjgir-Champa District, Chhattisgarh State Authors: Janakaraj Murali and Tamer Afifi Report No. 4 | November 2012 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India _ 5 Acknowledgements At the outset we are thankful to all of the individuals and house- support needed to complete the report. The donors, AXA Group holds in the villages of Akalteri, Banahil, Jullan Pakaria and Silli and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, also who have participated enthusiastically in the survey. We are also deserve special mention for their generous funding support. grateful to all the experts who shared their knowledge and experience about rainfall variation and its impact on life and the We would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude livelihoods of people in the Janjgir Champa district of to Mr. Magesh Nagarajan (UNU-EHS) for his tremendous efforts Chhattisgarh. and time allocation in statistical guidance and data analysis. We also thank the CARE India country office colleagues, We owe many thanks to Dr. Koko Warner (United Nations Ms. Mousumi Barua, Ms. Maya Nair, Ms. Prerna and CARE University Institute for Environment and Human Security – Chhattisgarh office staff, Mr. Sathish Kumar, Mr. Dilip Sarvate, UNU-EHS), the Scientific Director of the project; to Mr. Kevin Mr. Sandeepta Biswal and their colleagues for their enthusiastic Henry (CARE), project coordinator; and Ms. Aurélie Ceinos support from beginning to end. We would like to extend our (CARE), project officer, for their support before, during and thanks to Mr. Ravi Muthusamy for creating and following up on after the field research. the data entry mask, as well as to Ms. Sophia Zielke and Ms. Verena Rossow (both at UNU-EHS) for their enormous Moreover, we would like to thank Mr. Bruce Ravesloot from support in literature and data-related work. Mr. Davide Marino the CARE Poverty, Environment and Climate Change Network and Mr. Sabu Chittilappilly (both at UNU-EHS) also deserve our (PECCN) for reviewing and helping improve this report. Many thanks for their engagement in the work in its early stages. thanks as well to the peer reviewers of the report Dr. A. K. Singh, Deputy Director General, Natural Resource Management, Indian We would also like to thank Mr. Charles Ehrhart (CARE) for his Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); Dr. B. Venkateswarlu, work in the preparatory and early phases of this project and Ms. Director of the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture Delphine Pinault (CARE) for her inputs and comments on the (ICAR); Dr. Murari Lal, Chairman, Climate, Energy and research protocol for this project. We would like to extend our Sustainable Development Analysis Centre; and Mr. Shirish thanks to the following colleagues at UNU-EHS: Mr. Matthew Sinha, Senior Thematic Advisor, Climate Change, Embassy of Mullins for administrative support and Ms. Thérèse Rosenfeld for Switzerland in India, for their valuable suggestions and support in the preparation of fieldwork. constructive comments. Furthermore, it was a great pleasure working with our national We are duty-bound to thank our institutions – the United junior researchers, field assistants and volunteers, Mr. Tapas Das, Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security Mr. Reji S. Kuruvilla, Mr. Manish Ranjan, Mr. Manoj Kumar (UNU-EHS) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), es- Satpathy, Mr. Amitabh Tiwari, Mr. Deepak Sharad Hate, pecially Dr. R .K .Pachauri, Director General, for providing all the Ms. Mittu Hendry and Ms. Susila, who all worked diligently to _ 6 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India Report No. 4 | November 2012 complete the PRA exercises, the household survey in the field and produced quality outputs. Our special thanks go to Ms. Julie K. Maldonado, PhD in Anthropology candidate, American University, Washington DC, as well as Mr. Philip Maldonado, Professional Environmental Engineer, Virginia Tech, for their active involvement in the fieldwork and for carrying out a high quality photo and video documentation of events as well as enriching the report with valuable quotes and photos from the field. We are grateful to the UNU-EHS communications team, namely Alice Fišer, Andrea Wendeler and Katharina Brach for their valuable work in publishing the case study reports. Last but not least, we would like to thank Ms. Kimberly Bennett (CARE “Where the Rain Falls” communications coordinator) for editing this report. Report No. 4 | November 2012 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India _ 7 Table of contents Figures 10 Tables 11 Abbreviations and acronyms 12 Glossary 13 Executive summary 14 Section 1: Introduction 17 1.1 Background and rationale 17 1.2 Goals and objectives of the research 18 1.3 Structure of the report 18 1.4 Profile of case study country – India 18 1.5 Profile of Chhattisgarh State and Janjgir Champa district 20 Section 2: Literature review 23 2.1 Impacts of climate change in India and Chhattisgarh 23 2.2 Rainfall variation and its impact on agriculture and livelihoods 24 2.3 Livelihood support mechanism and food security 25 2.4 Mobility and migration as a coping and adaptation strategy against rainfall variations 26 Section 3: Methodology 29 3.1 Research design and process 29 3.2 Research methods 29 3.3 Data sources, sampling and distribution 34 3.4 Pre-testing and validation 34 3.5 Data analysis 34 3.6 Research limitations and difficulties 34 Section 4: Introduction to the case study area 39 4.1 Site selection 39 4.2 Socio-demographic profile of surveyed community 45 4.3 Challenges in the site selection 45 _ 8 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India Report No. 4 | November 2012 Section 5: Climate variability 49 Section 6: Livelihood and food security 59 Section 7: Migration and human mobility patterns 75 Section 8: Linking rainfall variability, food security and migration 83 Section 9: Summary and conclusion 91 Section 10: Reflections for policymakers 93 Annex I: List of experts and institutions interviewed in Chhattisgarh 96 Annex II: National research team composition 98 Annex III: Map of research area 100 References 103 Report No. 4 | November 2012 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India _ 9 Figures: Figure 1 Map showing the location of Chhattisgarh and Janjgir Champa district 20 Figure 2 Cultivable area under irrigation 27 Figure 3 Location of study villages 42 Figure 4 Types of crops cultivated by farmers in the study villages 45 Figure 5 Average annual and monsoon rainfall in Janjgir 1981–2010 51 Figure 6 Comparison of annual rainfall and monsoon pattern in Janjgir Champa from 1981–2010 51 Figure 7 Consolidated Venn diagram on access to food security depicting key institutions and organizations 67 Figure 8 Wealth ranking across the various classifications of the farmers 70 Figure 9 Food shortages (from own production) by month 71 Figure 10 Food shortages (due to lack of income) by month 71 Figure 11 Gender distribution of migrants 76 Figure 12 Type of employment of migrant workers 79 Figure 13 Map showing the cities/towns where migrants from all the study villages go for alternative livelihoods 80 Figure 14 Impact diagram of local community against rainfall variations 85 _ 10 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India Report No. 4 | November 2012 Tables: Table 1 Sequence of Participatory Research Approach tools, expected outputs and number of sessions held in the base camp 30 Table 2 Sequence of Participatory Research Approach tools, expected outputs and number of sessions held in satellite villages 32 Table 3 Group composition of the Participatory Research Approach sessions 33 Table 4 Details of village-wise household survey conducted 33 Table 5 District selection criteria 40 Table 6 Ranking and evaluation of potential sites to select the base camp and satellite villages 43 Table 7 Socio-demographic profile of surveyed community in Janjgir Champa 46 Table 8 Land ownership of households in Janjgir Champa district 47 Table 9 Consolidated seasonality calendar of study area 55 Table 10 Perception of climatic changes in the households 56 Table 11 Rainfall changes observed by the households 57 Table 12 Livelihood risks and coping strategies of communities in Jullan Pakaria base camp 62 Table 13 Livelihood risks and coping strategies of communities in Akalteri 63 Table 14 Livelihood risks and coping strategies of communities in Banahil 64 Table 15 Livelihood risks and coping strategies of communities in Silli 65 Table 16 Main economic activities of the village households’ members 69 Table 17 Coping and adaptation strategies used by communities to survive food shortages 73 Table 18 Number of migrants among the various classifications of farmers 76 Table 19 Classification of migrants in the research site 77 Table 20 Community perception about rainfall impact on food production 84 Report No. 4 | November 2012 Where the Rain Falls Project − Case Study: India _ 11 Abbreviations and acronyms BCM Billion Cubic Meter BPL Below Poverty Line CBO Community-Based Organization CO Country Office CRIDA Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture EACH-FOR Environmental Change and Forced Migration Scenarios FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FGD