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Acharya and Das

The results of the composite value computation validate that Mayurbhanj district is the least vulnerable, although the
district has the highest percentage of tribal population. A high concentration of tribal population is often characterized as a
low socioeconomic indicator but for better biophysical factors. Particularly the fact that the district is situated in the north-
central region having excellent irrigation facilities, the majority of land resources covered under various crops (higher gross
cropped areas). It signifies the district’s low climatic vulnerability toward agriculture production. Similarly, Ganjam, although
the district is in the coastline of the state and is possess vast stretches of flood-plain areas with ample irrigation facilities and
less concentration of tribal population. The district is found to be faring better in terms of agriculture production ecosystem.
On the other hand, Bhadrak is the most vulnerable district having low social and economic attributes along with
biophysical factors. This district, like Ganjam, is also located in the coastline of the State. However, frequent natural
disasters such as flood and cyclone compel the district to face high climate-induced vulnerability in agriculture ecosystem
management. Districts such as Sonepur and Boudh tell similar stories. Although these two districts’ geolocational position
is a central part of the State historically, these two districts have recorded low socioeconomic parameters with a few
portions of land left out for cultivation and frequent occurrence of natural disasters, particularly drought. Often these
districts encounter long drought spells. The analysis in the study has also resulted low scores in both biophysical as well
as socio-economic attributes for these districts despite having significant forest coverage. These are the districts that are
characterized with few areas available for cropping, few cultivable lands having irrigation facilities, and low cropping
intensity, low percent of women literacy, high concentration of scheduled tribe, and scheduled caste population. These
are probably the factors that contribute to higher climate sensitivity coupled with low resilience and adaptive capacity
in result in high climate vulnerability. The frequent occurrence of natural disasters in terms of drought due to climate
vulnerability resulting in an extreme shortage of food and food security becomes a chronic issue resulting in a high burden
of child and women malnutrition. Past studies observed that natural disasters had impacted the food security of people
disproportionately (Duncan, Tompkins, Dash, et al., 2017; Mishra, 2017).
Climate vulnerability of Odisha has a close inter-association with agriculture production system through the gross
cropped area and forest area which the past studies have also recorded (Mishra, Sahu, and Sahu, et al., 2015; Das, 2017)
so far (Mishra, Sahu, and Sahu, 2015; Das, 2017). The empirical pieces of evidence establish that in Odisha, climate
vulnerability has a significant role among factors that influence the agriculture production system and its consequent impacts
on household nutrition status, particularly with children and women nutrition. Further, our observations have come up in
the light of findings from one literature that confirms women’s socioeconomic and biomarker status has a significant impact
on the household child nutrition (Rachel, Levin, Hale, et al., 2020; Hoddinott, Alderman, Behrman, et al., 2013; Popkin,
Horton, Kim, et al., 2001; Cook and Frank, 2008; Finucane, Stevens, Cowan, et al., 2011; Patnaik, Das and Bahinipati,
2016). Moreover, our findings also indicate that child nutrition status relates not only to socioeconomic factors but also to
biophysical factors such as district’s predisposition to gross cropped area, percentage of an area having forest coverage,
annual rainfall, and irrigation facility along with the socioeconomic attributes such as women’s social category and level
of urbanization. Although the composite value of climate vulnerability does not have a greater role in predicting household
nutrition directly, the individual level factors play a crucial role in determining household nutrition. Findings also reveal
that gross cropped area, availability of forest areas, and average annual rainfall are negatively associated with household
child wasting and are positively associated with area under irrigation and cropping intensity. Our study has found out that
districts having good cropping pattern or cropping intensity generally have high agriculture production and better women’s
biomarker indicators such as anemia which is positively associated with the household child nutrition status.
The Odisha government has recently formulated Odisha State Agriculture Policy – “SAMBRUDHI-2020,” where
the emphasis has been laid on doubling of farmers’ income by promoting farmer-friendly agriculture programs. The
document also highlights the promotion of nutritional crops by changing cropping pattern from staple grain dominant
system to non-staple diversified cropping system. The document also echoes the role of the climate-smart agriculture
system. It also initiates action toward the promotion of climate-resilient crops and varieties along with pro-poor climate
policies with adaptation strategies for agriculture.
This study has some limitations as it has drawn the inferences analyzing different secondary data sources. Hence,
the exact prediction and interpretation need caution. The limitation of the accuracy and precision of the secondary data
sources along with the availability in timeliness is another point of concern.
5. Conclusions

It has been observed that due to the diverse agro-climatic conditions of Odisha, there prevails a great extent of variations
in the climate vulnerability among the districts in the result of a high impact on the production system. Bhadrak (0.193),

International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1 51