Climate change is one of the crucial factors which threaten the agricultural sector for decades and the sector is more
sensitive to climatic conditions
The agricultural sector contributes 10.9% to the GDP and 31% of the population is
employed and remained as the main source of livelihood for rural communities in Sri Lanka.
The majority of the
population (77.4%) lives in rural sector where farming is extensively practised.
Sri Lanka, a tropical nation, is
highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change and the climate of Sri Lanka is undergoing three major types of
changes, gradual increase in air temperature, changes in pattern of rainfall and increase in frequency and severity of
extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and winds.
The impact of climate change on agriculture production
differs from one country to another and several studies confirm that climate changes negatively impact on
agriculture .
The rural level smallholder farmers are severely influenced by climate change as they have the low
adaptive capacity to climatic change.
Adaptation to particular climate changes seem to be the most appropriate and responsive way for farmers to lower
the negative impacts of climate change as it is the mean of transmitting the outcome of the farmers perception on
climate change.
In Sri Lanka, some scholars point out that adverse impact of climate change on agricultural
production could be minimized by applying suitable adaptation strategies such as introduction of micro irrigation,
changing planting dates, reduction of irrigation depth and crop diversification.