Importance Climate Smart Agricultural practices to Sri Lanka

Global warming; culprit of the hazards events

Climate change is a foremost word in today’s socio political debates due to its tremendous importance in many fields including agriculture. Carbon dioxide emission mainly due to modern day industries and transportation have resulted global warming and finally the climate change. Climate change has created a series of endless dangers to the man kind and its wellbeing. In this connection, temperature rise. Sea level rises, droughts, flash floods, landslides, are in the forefront. Nevertheless, many industries that depend directly on nature have impacted heavily due to the unpredictable climate changes and extreme conditions.  

Impacts of Climate Change and expected shortfalls in Agriculture

Agriculture the oldest industry was practiced without much problems and worries since centuries. The industry was encompassed its sustainability with the help of favourable climate conditions. However, recent climate change has started to make significant damages and losses. In this connection, drought, floods, extreme temperature and winds have negatively impacted to the agriculture and its production. According to FAO, it is predicted food production issues and more losses in the upcoming decades. Recent Central Bank Report have evidenced slow GDP growth due to climate change.(CBSL Annual report., 2017) Water and irrigation will be a severe problem in the future. Changes in the monsoon patterns have been noticed alarming us that all these projections are not nightmares. Negatives of climate change have a severe impact on crop production. Further, low yield and quality losses are expected due to the extreme heat conditions. The food security has been identified as a global challenge with these issues.

In Sri Lankan condition, the Island experience extreme climate conditions and has ranked as fourth country among the countries face climate hazards in the global climate risk index (Global Climate risk index. 2018). Sri Lanka experiences floods and significant damages in recent consecutive years. According to the Global Climate Index, the annual losses due to climate impacts 1 623.16 USD

The   policy dialogues have been set off both in regionally and internationally to suppress the negative impacts of climate change. However, the climate change is concerned as a man made catastrophic event lead the entire man kind in to a severe condition. On this backdrop FAO has suggested Climate Smart Agricultural practices as a remedy to the losses and damages to agriculture due to climate change impacts.

What is Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)

The concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) was introduced by FAO   at the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change in 2010.The CSA approach   guides to the required actions for the transformation and redesign of Agricultural systems to   support development and ensure food security aspects .CSA helps   for developing agricultural strategies to withstand the negative impacts of climate change.  Three main objectives have been set off to comply with CSA, in this regard, sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes; adapting and building resilience to climate change; and reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions under possible events are vital.

Under the CSA, stake holders are provided agricultural strategies that suitable to adapt to their local conditions .These strategies have been practiced elsewhere and proven the suitability.  In this regard, the Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook of FAO has included a wide range of knowledge   to policy makers, programme managers, sectoral experts, academics, extensionists and farmers. On this backdrop, Farmers are taught to cultivate crops that are better adapted to the hazards of climate change. Moreover, farmers will grow the best combination of crops and adapt the most suitable practices through learning and testing under CSA.

Why CSA is promoted

World is facing some severe issues such as population rising, resource depletion, climate change etc. The development direction of the world has been carefully planned by giving a due attention to the particular matters. The United Nations (UN)   is expected to adopt the   2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN has introduced CSA under five principles to implement along with 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development for its member countries. These principles are,  Improving efficiency in the use of resources is crucial to sustainable agriculture;  Sustainability requires direct action to conserve, protect and enhance natural resources;   Agriculture that fails to protect and improve rural livelihoods, equity and social well-being is unsustainable;  Enhanced resilience of people, communities and ecosystems is key to sustainable agriculture and Sustainable food and agriculture requires responsible and effective governance mechanisms.   FAO has   included crop and livestock production, fisheries and aquaculture and forestry as the main arms of agriculture. Balancing social, economic and environmental considerations of the particular sections have been considered under particular five different principles providing a framework for policy dialogue and a platform for developing appropriate policies, strategies, regulations and incentives.

Many countries have accepted the practices under CSA. According to FAO study issued in 2016,     32 of the 189 countries that had submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions for the Paris Agreement specifically referenced CSA. Further, Approximately 50 countries have been endorsed, or identified that actions build capacity of adaptation and mitigation of risks in agriculture due to climate change.  Therefore, it is crucial to implement these actions in Sri Lankan context too not only as a timely requirement but to minimize the upcoming shortfalls.

The promoted actions under CSA

Many thematic areas and possible practices have been identified under CSA.  Among them, Sustainable crop production and farming practices like use of good quality seeds and planting materials of resistance varieties; crop mix, intercrops or crop rotations;  integrated pest management, integrated chemical use are important.  The sustainable crop production mainly coupled with integrated practices to reduce the need of external inputs and increase the efficiency   of resources utilization. The recycling and re use has been promoted to minimize the cost of production the impact on environment.  

Sustainable livestock industry is also vital against climate change impacts. Deep-rooted grasses and legumes have expected to use to improve the sequestration of soil carbon in grass lands. Restoring organic carbon in grass lands and reduction of grass land degradation are expected to be reducing adopting the particular practice. Further, it has suggested shifts in species and breeds, improved feed management, sustainable grazing practices, silvopastoralism and on and off-farm diversification to withstand the impacts of climate change.

Sustainable value chain approach is recommended to make food systems more environmentally sustainable and climate-smart. In this regard, the food system’s carbon footprint will be considered in applicable places. For instance, measures and strategies are needed to reduce the food losses at each step since they have   emitted greenhouse gases during the production process. The existing   food supply chains consume more energy at different steps. Therefore, CSA recommends using sustainable methods to overcome the massive use of particular resources. In this regard, reduction of energy loss and use of rational modes of energy use at possible steps have been emphasized as good practices. For instance, it is recommend using of bio mass instead of fossil fuel in appropriate steps of the food supply chains under CSA.

Climate change mitigation through the improved use and development of genetic resource is also considered under CSA.  Crop wild relatives are expected to use in the purpose of developing valuable traits like water stress tolerance, drought resistance and resistance to pest or diseases   to build resilience to climate change impacts.

Climate change impacts to cause higher evaporation and transpiration rates, reduced groundwater recharge and reduced soil moisture, and a higher incidence of soil Stalinization. In this connection, sustainable soil and land management practices are promoted under CSA to ensure the soil moisture and organic carbon content in the soils.

Climate change has a significant    impact on the components of water cycle.  Changes and variations in the   rainfall    patterns will affect   irrigation sources like river runoff and groundwater recharge.  Sustainable water use and adaptations are introduced to ensure the water availability under CSA. In this regard, Rainwater harvesting, minimal use of water and waste water treatment, water use efficiency measures and watershed management procedures are some examples of options under CSA.

Sustainable practices have been introduced to fisheries and aquaculture sector also under CSA. The sector is predicted to be vulnerable to many short falls due to climate change and sea level rising.   Sustainable water management practices; selective breeding and genetic improvements; improved feed management; strengthened emergency procedures and bio security measures  have been included in to the recommended steps under CSA by FAO.

Climate smart forestry has been introduced to the regions where majority depends on this   primary industry. Climate change is expected to impact on the forests and forest-dependent people. For the sake of forestry, sustainable management of forests, reduce deforestation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) has been concerned under the steps in CSA.

Essential components that helps to adapt the practice of CSA

Few important areas can be identified under this topic. The requirements to implementation, adaptation, knowledge dissemination and institutional set up are major arms under this umbrella.

Climate information and data banks: Reliable weather information is extremely important factor in agriculture. All most all farming decisions are directly based on the climate. Nevertheless, CSA is mainly backed by the technology and modern science including scientific weather forecasts.  In this connection, farmer specific climate information source is a pressing need. That has been identified in Adaptation Plan for Climate Change Impacts in Sri Lanka 2016- 2025. Identifying spatial and timely requirement of climate information of farmers is essential to develop famer centric climate information dissemination systems.  Identifying the communication gaps in climate information dissemination is another vital fact when catering to the to the information demand. In his connection, ICIMS is a timely relevant tool (Integrated Climate Information Systems) to help farmers to adapt and practice CSA. The interaction between the existing traditional knowledge and modern scientific knowledge would be used under ICIMS to provide more accurate climate information to the famers.  Enabling feedbacks and collecting data from farmers   are good approaches to ensure the credibility of information and upgrade famer knowledge towards the climate change. FAO has identified this information need and created many programmes.    i.e. FAO has provided climate information, measuring tools and   communication tools  to  young farm women in rural Nepal  to help their crop management decisions against frequent weather changes.  Maintaining climate information data banks/ centres is also important. Such data collections at farmer level can be an asset to   both farmers and policy makers to practice and promote suitable techniques under CSA.

Youth and children: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has identified youth and children as one of the   major groups that could act as the care takers of the environment. They are dynamic and well educated than the previous generation.  In this connection, the Article 6 on Education of The UNFCCC has highlighted the importance of, Training and   Awareness of such groups. These youth can transfer the knowledge and information to the farmers about modern day practices and technology. The youth groups are needed motivate to develop enterprises especially in rural areas to promote green jobs and generate such opportunities that emit less amount of Carbon Dioxide. UN has implemented such programmes to avoid impacts of climate change in some areas especially in Africa.   Morover, promoting green jobs among youths in agricultural areas under CSA is also have started by in some areas .i.e Nepal. However,   it is yet to be practiced in many other places. 

Policy frame work and evaluation:   Assessment, monitoring and evaluation are identified as essential components of CSA in planning and implementation making decisions on the use of natural resources. Assessments on both past and future impacts of climate variability and change on agriculture and the needs of vulnerable of communities have to be taken in to consideration under CSA as a prerequisite. CSA options should be assessed for their effectiveness in achieving desired goals related to food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation and related to other development goals.

Local agricultural policies should be enriched with CSA practices and measurers along with particular evaluation and monitoring process. The commitment and collaboration of all   stakeholders that involves in agriculture sector planning is required to formulate country specific CSA policies.    However, adaptive management approaches would require that includes innovation, real-time monitoring and evaluation, learning among stakeholders, and restrategizing due to the dynamic nature of climate.

Since CSA has   many sectors like stakeholders, disciplines and different spatial and time requirements, the transition to CSA requires changes at many levels of policy making. To adders these requirements, FAO has introduced   a theory of change for CSA and  recommended set of steps for the smooth run of  the integration of CSA approaches in policy making at the national level. These steps ensure the CSA objectives at local, national and regional levels. Four broad areas of action have been introduced in the theory of change for CSA   based on a country’s needs. In this connection, the development of an evidence base to motivate, support and monitor change; continuous dialogue with stakeholders; the formulation of tools to enable change; innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to create and sustain change in food and agricultural systems are the suggested steps to the policy makers.

Conclusion

CSA is a timely related adaptation practices to Sri Lankan context. Some of these practices have been introduced and recommended by FAO and other international organizations like World Bank already .(World Bank; CIAT. 2015). National adaptation plan for climate change also has included the same  recommended practices under CSA in to the priorities in the upcoming years. The Island experience extreme weather conditions.  Nevertheless, Majority of the rural people (Approximately 70%) have occupations directly or indirectly related to the agriculture. Therefore, the sustainable agriculture should be promoted to withstand the shocks of climate change. On this point, CSA is a good practice to be adapted in to in Sri Lankan Context.

Reference

1: Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook Summary, Second edition, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2017

2: YOUTH AND CLIMATE CHANGE: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-climatechange.pdf

3: FAO: http://www.fao.org/climate-smart-agriculture/en/

4: Youth in action on climate change: inspirations from around the world Youth in action on climate change: inspirations from around: https://www.uncclearn.org/sites/default/files/inventory/unfccc287.pdf

5: World Bank; CIAT. 2015. Climate-smart agriculture in Sri Lanka. CSA Country Profiles for Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean Series. Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.

6: Eckstein, D., Künzel, V. and Schäfer, L., 2017. Global Climate Risk Index 2018. Germanwatch. Available online: www. germanwatch. org/en/cri (accessed on 23 January 2018).

7: Annual Report 2017, Central Bank of Sri Lanka

8: National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change Impacts in Sri Lanka 2016 -2025, Climate Change Secretariat Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment

How to contribute to a mass research project while browsing

Large scientific research requires powerful computations.  Mostly requires super computers which have high calculation powers and storage capacities i.e. Super computers. However, such computers are costly and owned by specific institutes. For instance IBM Blue Gene is used for high calculation performance in space requirements and energy consumption. Similarly,  NEC Earth Simulator is another example that used for Japanese  Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Japan Marine Science and Technology Center . However, only few Individual institutions and countries have such computational powers while others are doing hiring or running small scales.

In this regards, some project have designed to take the public cooperation for their studies. These programs are virtual hard disc sharing programmes. The basic idea of such programs is sharing the available unused memory in the computer while connecting to the internet. This memory is used for the temporary storage of the ongoing processing works of the particular programmes. Such programmes usually focus on more calculation power required tasks. 

SETI @home is such programme which has launched by University of California with NASA.   This programme is used Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).  

The users are required to download a programme and allow the computers to link with the main programme. The login is available by clicking the following link.

https://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

Another similar programme is Rosetta@home. This focuses on the structuring of 3D shapes of protein molecules by using Internet-connected computers. The following link is reklated  to the particular programme.

https://boinc.bakerlab.org/

Climate Information Products (CIPs): Importance in Sri Lankan Perspective

Global warming and impacts 

Climate change impacts due to global warming concerns as an emerging challenge. Therefore, the issue is addressed by various conventions like COP21 at Paris in 2015, Kyoto protocol in 1997 and Rio Earth Summit in 1992. However, the collective efforts and actions on mitigation the climate change are lagged behind due to many geopolitical reasons. Among them, disagreements on carbon dioxide emission levels among countries, promoting the local economic development over the environmental protection etc., are critical issues. 

On this backdrop, Climate change impacts are expected to be increased in the coming years, alarming the loss of some industries and livelihoods. The studies have shown evidently, the impact of climate change could affect badly on agriculture and fisheries causing food security issues. (FAO).This global threat is not a nightmare for Sri Lanka as well. National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change Impacts in Sri Lanka also has concerned this as a critically important fact that needed to be addressed. Therefore; Sri Lankan weather forecasts should be incorporated methods to inform these changes in advance to the vulnerable communities. In this regard, the development of Climate Information Products (CIPs) is important. CIPs are basically a well-defined information packages which could assist   the adaptation against the perusing climate risks.

Climate change impact in Sri Lankan context

Sri Lanka, the tropical island in the Indian Ocean experiences climate related damages consecutively from the recent past years. The nation experienced extreme weather events like flash floods in May of 2016, prolonged drought in 2016 and once again flash floods in May of 2017. These events could make a significant damage to the countrymen and economy in many ways.  Nevertheless, the prolonged droughts affected badly on the staple food production and experienced higher retail prices at the sub urban markets in 2016. The fishermen also faced   hardships due to lack of proper climate and weather information about on-going climate turbulences in the recent Sri Lankan history. The flash floods caused a severe destruction to the farm infrastructure and agricultural lands by the floods in Anuradhapura of North central province of Sri Lanka in 2014. The floods in down South and Sabaragamuwa provinces in 2017 also did a massive destruction to the livelihood of people. Therefore, the food security and threat to livelihoods   could be identified as important areas to address. This emphasizes the importance of suitable climate forecasts to Sri Lankan context. The weather forecasting is important to Sri Lanka in many ways. As an examples to build the resilience against the perusing climate change impacts, build the adaptation of farmers and fishermen, avoid the risks. In this regard many methods have identified in the world. Early warning systems, location specific weather forecast, sophisticated weather forecast models like air ocean climate models etc., however, Sri Lankan weather information forecast system is significantly poor in scope due to many reasons like poor technology, lack of capital, lack of capacity etc. this has arisen many problems currently like pursuing poor accuracy by people ,poor credibility of users etc. However, the nation is looking towards to an upper middle income level in the long economic perspective. The damages due to climate change can act as a barrier to this goal. The socio economic activities and primary industries like fisheries and agriculture are subjected to the climate change impacts. It should be captured by using proper CIPs and introduced CIPs to minimize the possible damages in the near future.  In this regard, this article will focus more on how those Climate information products can be used to help agriculture and farmers to minimize the losses and damages.

Climate information products CIPs and suitability to Sri Lanka

Climate information products have designed to carter to the information demand of people. However, the climate information is not a tangible item. But it can be concerned as a public good in nature due to few reasons. Information is something which (a) can be transferred, (b) has some utility (usefulness), and (c) is capable of having a value attached to it .There is a clearly identified supply chain for climate information.  In this regard, the climate information is supplied globally, regionally and nationally. The demand is also there, with respect to various requirements of users like any another good. The farmers and fishermen are such two categories simply. The demand and supply create the market in commodities; here also the same phenomenon is applicable. The problem of scarcity in economy is ideal to climate information precisely. There are many users and wants but the producers and variation is less in climate information. Therefore, information product also behaves like any other traded product in the market irrespective to the distinctive, problematic nature.

In this regard, different climate information sources have been used across the world as CIPS.as an examples, weather forums, weather out looks, mobile applications are important. It is essential to develop such CIPs in, Sri Lanka as well because the majority use local observations for climate predictions. The modern climate turbulences and expecting rapid climate change in the near future may reduce the accuracy of the local observations. Then, the problem arises   how to people are warned, the answer is development of CIPs that are capable of capture the modern requirements. In this regard some scholar articles and newsletters have shown the importance of establishing such innovative information products. (SOE by IPS, 2013).The CISs are entirely based on weather forecasting techniques and help to improve the adaptation practices against the perusing loss and damages. The studies carried out in Africa and some arid regions have shown that the adaptation of farmers is back by the proper information supply and accessibility to the information.

Climate information and communication gap in Sri Lanka

The spatiotemporal needs of users (especially farmers) has not included in the current climate information. This has created a poor sensitivity level of farmers. The farmers rely more on local observations rather scientific weather forecasts. The perception of belief towards the scientific climate information is limited basically to extreme events like floods and droughts. The information seeking is extremely poor on existing scientific forecasts with respect to agronomic practices in most parts of Sri Lanka. This information gap has to be filled with a suitable approach. In this concern, CIPs can be developed with farmer participation and incorporating their expectations. Such system can provide more accurate information what they want to use with occupations. When concern the climate information communication in Sri Lanka, it can be observed several channels. Both electronic and printed medium sources are used for the dissemination of scientific climate information. However, the local observations and shared believes use more informal communication systems like oral communication. The communication gap is identified as one of the barriers to climate change adaptation in many regions in the world like arid areas in Africa.(Ref1.) The communication gap has created few issues in Sri Lanka as well. The accessibility, awareness, feedback of the users is needed to concern in this regard. CIPs are such systems where both producers and users exchange their ideas not only producing the products also when using the information. This kind of two way system is important to see the consistency of forecasted information. The current weather forecast doesn’t capture those things.

How to build CIPs and Practice

This is a timely important question. The programmes which focus the adaptation building with suitable climate information sharing are needed to be implemented. The CIP development should incorporate the ideas of needy people and their profiles.  The closely monitored progress and assistance to the adaptation with the farmer requested information are essential components in this regard. The pilot studies can be carried out in   some major cultivation areas to establish such systems. The CIPs developed by such activities can be shared and modified to other sectors like fisheries and rest of the country. Farmer training and establishment a linkage to the identified communication pathways are important in this regard. The action research approach is ideal   to conduct such pragmas in order to do the community mobilization and research component together on behalf of better understand.

References

Sri Lanka State of Economy 2013, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change impacts in Sri Lanka (2016-2025).

Bates, B.J., 1990. Information as an economic good: A re-evaluation of theoretical approaches. Mediation, information, and communication. Information and behavior, 3, pp.379-394

FAO (2012) Post Disaster Damage, Loss and Needs Assessment in Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Bridge the modern climatic forecasts and traditional knowledge to assist the adaptation actions of Sri Lankan farmers: Review of few research actions and their policy recommendations from rest of the world to practice in Sri Lanka. Why Climatic predictions are important to farmers?

Why Climatic predictions are important to farmers?

Climatic forecasts   are becoming an important topic with the modern climatic turbulences due to various reasons like global warming. The both scientific and traditional weather forecasting methods are being used   all over the world to disseminate information which is   important and beneficial for the most vulnerable sectors like agriculture. Farmers must become adept to anticipating climate changes and variations and finding ways of adapting to these changes. Farmers adept is depends on   quality of information relating to climate predictions that fulfill needs of decision maker. This is especially important considering the increased frequency of the extreme weather events that we are experiencing and will experience in coming decades. Climate prediction information can be utilized by crop and livestock producers and agribusinesses to adapt to and minimize the impact of changing weather patterns and adverse weather events. 

Multifarious weather forecasting systems

Scientists and meteorologists more rely on scientific methods like analogue method, teleconnection method, probabilistic weather forecast methods etc, in the same time rural farmers rely on their cultural and indigenous knowledge as well in addition to this scientific weather forecasting information. Due to the importance of existing knowledge of   local people some countries have also linked the existing indigenous knowledge also in to their forecasting systems with the expectation of better adoption practices and prevention of climatic damages as a national policy.

Research actions and study programs

 In this regard , Government funded projects and non government funded projects have triumphed to  link the particular two weather forecasting methods and come up with policy recommendations in some countries of the world. This article discuss a  such   triumphs and policy recommendations     especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America where a  number of studies have been done by various parties.

Such studies were carried out under the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (AKP), in 13 Asian countries to evaluate adaptation needs, engage with policy-makers, planners and practitioners at the national, sub-national and local levels, and interact directly with communities through case studies and pilot projects. The study shows the importance of local knowledge in identifying appropriate adaptation actions. In this regard traditional practices, self-directed local responses to climate impacts, like farmers’ actions to diversify their crops are important components. Thus the policy recommendations were made to overcome the existing considerable knowledge gaps in particular countries, by advising to the  Governments and external funders to focus on scientific researches including downscaling of climate models and conducting local-level researches to capture the observations of farmers, fishermen, forest communities, etc and incorporate  them together to cater to the information needs .

Studies in Latin America have revealed that traditional knowledge is compatible with scientific knowledge disregarding its local nature which includes techniques that are capable of meeting the challenges of climate change expected over the coming decades. Traditional knowledge and technologies from Latin America has proven its usability with modern science and in many cases. As an example, traditional water management systems, such as amunas, can be implemented along with modern irrigation technology to cultivate both native and improved crop varieties in Latin America. Therefore, traditional knowledge   has the potential of contributing towards the climate change adaptation processes .It should be participated in the adaptation strategy design and implementation. However, social exclusion, lack of information systems and poor attention and protection from governments have caused to the slow erosion of traditional knowledge slowly. Thus   , the study emphasizes the importance of having a government policy   to incorporate traditional knowledge and technologies   into climate change adaptation practices. For the conservation of this knowledge, they recommend further integration of this knowledge into climate change adaptation strategies, including establishing adequate and appropriate legal frameworks to protect the intellectual property rights of indigenous communities. Never the less as a fact, indigenous knowledge provides information for a specific region. Thus, this study shows the applicability of local knowledge for the development of locally-appropriate, low-cost climate change adaptation strategies. Some indigenous knowledge may not be applicable in other regions however, though it could be transferable to areas where similar geography and cultures exist.

Similar researches have conducted in Africa also show the same conclusions and recommendations for the policy makers. ASSAR is such research activity    undertaken in the semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia, which considered the dynamics and drivers of vulnerability, while exploring ways to enhance the resilience of people, local organizations and governments. ASSAR emphasize the importance of Traditional authorities and religious institutions as credible sources for mobilizing actions on adaptation. Thus their policy recommendations were, successful in cooperating strategies that local communities use to respond to climate change need to be taken into consideration in the design of national adaptation processes and climate interventions that do not align with people’s needs may be unsuitable.   

Sri Lankan weather forecasting practices

Sri Lankan farmers also have their own weather forecasting patterns and senses as any other farmer. Their adaptations are basically back by observations in nature and indigenous knowledge. This knowledge has been used throughout the history. But due to the current climatic turbulences, Sri Lankan farmers   face vulnerabilities similar other farmer in the world.

According to the recent studies, it evidence that Sri Lankan farmers’ perception on local climate are based on the shared beliefs and perceptions held by village tank farmers in dry zone. Usually such beliefs based on local weather patterns and set of local signs that provide clues about upcoming climate events especially about rain fall. These local weather indicators use to plan their crop calendar based on two farmer defined seasons called Yala and Maha . Never the less,   the local weather indicators and sharing beliefs in the tank system are used for   adopting and decision making process within the farming community as community-based adaptation practices. As the local climatic indicators many observations and events are used. As the events, farmers expect different types of rain falls and intensities. As an example for January they expect low intensity rainfall namely Duruthu wehilla which rains continuously throughout the month. Farmer observations are mainly consisted of observations in nature and animal behavior changes. As the natural observations, wind direction, speed of winds, cloud formation patterns, visibility changes, and temperature changes can be identified. Water level changes and spill patterns of tanks also have been used especially with their cascade systems. As the animal behavioral changes, appearance of certain animal, sudden rise in insects, nesting behavior of birds and migration of some species have been considered. In summary all these things are good indicators which are very unique and specific to the dry zone. This local knowledge sources were helped farmers to survive and     these kind of specific rain falls have been identified for the all twelve months by the dry zone farmers. 

The current weather forecasting system doesn’t have   policies or actions to grasp farmer’s indigenous knowledge   into the national forecasting system and farmer adaptation plans. This gap should be addressed by adopting suitable practices like in   particular countries to create a better adaptability. Predictions are need with longer time scale as well   seasonal and

inter-annual scale. The main arm of climatic information producer ,department of meteorology should be strengthen in technology, suitable information dissemination methods and harmonization forecasting practices with local knowledge. This will be helpful to increase benefits to farmers in many ways, to improve crop yield, to Improve production input planning (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides) to reduce risk, reduce losses of extreme climate events, to making decisions of agricultural development plan. Thus it is important to conduct Research on consensus forecasting methods to disseminate information about the timing, location and intensity of these climatic changes and events .it will provide valuable and actionable information to agricultural decision makers to increase production, reduce risk and mitigate the environmental impacts of these events and improve the adaptability.