India’s first national communication, which was submitted to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in 2004, describes the potential impacts of climate change. Two-thirds of the total sown area of the country is drought-prone, with monsoon rains showing high inter-annual, intra-seasonal, and spatial variability. Agriculture production is typically a risky business and farmers faced a variety of agricultural risks due to climate change. To deal with the climate change, farmers have been adapting alternative agricultural practices evolved over by time and experience. This paper investigates the various strategies adapted by the farmers to combat the production risk with a special focus to climatic variables is presented. The study was carried out in the east coastline of Nagapatinam district of Tamil Nadu with sample size of 180 farmers selected by adopting simple proportionate random sampling The Survey was carried out with a well structured interview schedule and with focus group discussion and data were analysed with the help of descriptive statistics and simple percentage analysis. Most (93.38%) of the paddy farmers were aware and experienced in production risks. The probability of occurrence of risk and impact of risk was much perceived with respect to weather based variables and biological variables. The widely adopted strategies were choice or selection of variety, Integrated Pest Management, registered for crop insurance and adopted by 75.55, 71.11 and 66.66 per cent respectively. More than two-third (67.22%), one-fifth (20.00%) and little more than one-tenth (12.78%) of paddy farmers had resorted to ex-post risk management strategies, ex-ante risk management strategies and ex-ante and ex-post risk management combined respectively. Appropriate risk management policy at the macro and micro level should be evolved by considering both ex-ante and ex-post strategies. Designing suitable micro level crop insurance programme, establishing early warning system and promoting Para extension personnel as climate risk manager in every village would be some of the suggested institutional interventions to mitigate the climate change.

Keyword: Risk management strategies, Agricultural risks, Production risks; Climate change