Climate change impact is visible everywhere. Erratic weather, rising global temperature and more instances of extreme floods & droughts, hit the headlines nearly every day. Gorakhpur city, in Uttar Pradesh, susceptible to floods and water logging due to multiple factors is no exception. Rapid urbanisation occurring here is further straining the natural resources and absorbing the existing agricultural land on the periphery of the city.

For farmers, this translates into greater insecurity and unstability. This large scale conversion of agriculture land for non-agriculture uses is exacerbating climate change risks by increasing water logging and run-off. But the peri-urban farmers of Gorakhpur have learned to stay ahead of the curve in building resilient farming systems to face climate change. A look at a few of these innovative farmers!

These initiatives are an outcome of a project titled ‘Enhancing Climate Resilience of Gorakhpur city by Buffering Floods through Climate Resilient Peri-urban Agriculture’, supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, USA.

Marching together towards resilience: Meet Sakol Prasad Create line charts

Marching together towards resilience: Meet Shobha Devi Create bar charts

Marching together towards resilience: Meet Biddo Create bar charts

This is the fourth series of real life stories of peri-urban farmers, originally featured in the booklet ‘Peri-Urban Agriculture & Ecosystems: Resilient Narratives’ by Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), 2016