Climate change has a diversified impact on the accessibility to resources and
maintaining food security for the growing population. In this era, climate-resilient
crops such as millet have greater importance and impact on the food security of
the nation. Millet cultivation in tribal areas of India presents a unique example of
resilience in response to climatic variability. The research was conducted in the
Kolli Hills of the Namakkal district in the state of Tamil Nadu to study the tribal
farmers’ perception of climate change. Data were collected from 125 tribal farmers
from five villages using a multistage random sampling method and a verified
semi-structured interview schedule. Both qualitative and quantitative data were
collected for analysis with different statistical tools. The majority of tribal farmers
were found to be in the young age, with a high level of illiteracy and had less
than 1.5 hectares of land with low mass media utility and limited decision-making
ability. It was revealed that in recent years occurrences of drought, untimely
rains, temperature fluctuations, and irregular weather conditions have increased.
Most of the tribal farmers perceived that climate change substantially impacts
low-resourced farmers’ ability to secure their livelihoods. Social participation and
mass media utilization were positively correlated with tribal farmers’ perception
of climatic variability. Scientific institutional knowledge and local community
knowledge must be integrated with the farmers’ experiences of climate change
to enable them to minimize the effect of climate change on millet production
and develop a strategy that improve production under future climate scenarios.
The study recommends the integration of traditional millet farming practices
with modern agricultural techniques as well as the need for targeted policies that
strengthen institutional support, market access, and capacity-building initiatives
for tribal farmers.