Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PARTICIPATORY TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT AND REFINEMENT FOR EVOLVING CLIMATE–SMART ADAPTATIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COCONUT BASED FARMING SYSTEMS UNDER COASTAL SANDY SOIL CONDITIONS OF SOUTH KERALA, INDIA

S. Kalavathi, Jeena Mathew, Jacob Kurien, B. Anilkumar, C.K. Nampoothiri, K. Muralidharan and P. Subramanian

Abstract

Climate-smart adaptations evolved during the course of participatory demonstration and assessment of technologies for management of Coconut Based Farming Systems (CBFS) in the Southern coastal tracts of Kerala resulted in reducing crop loss due to climate vagaries, improvements in soil properties, identification of ideal crops and their varieties and income enhancement from coconut and intercrops. Pine apple was found to be the most ideal crop withstanding water logging, followed by fodder grass and Nendran variety of banana. Climate resilient refinements by farmers viz., modified method of husk burial for pine apple, advancement of planting time, planting of 4-5 months old suckers and earthing up with silt, green manure, coir pith compost and husk for banana, planting of short duration varieties and advancement of planting time for tuber crops were proved to be successful.