General coping strategies adopted for dairy animals during the 2018 floods in Kerala, India

Introduction

In India, livestock plays a significant role in the agricultural system. Since over 62% of marginal households are directly involved in livestock production, it is more prevalent among small and marginal farmers. It has the ability to eradicate poverty; households that are involved in livestock farming are less likely to fall into poverty (Das et al., 2020) [3] . India boasts the world's largest livestock population at 535.78 million heads, including 192.49 million cattle, contributing about 4.5% to GDP and employing over 20 million rural households (Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, 2019). In Kerala, the sector includes 17.5 million animals-3.4 million cattle, 0.4 million buffaloes, 2.8 million goats, 0.3 million pigs, and over 10 million poultry-bolstering livelihoods in a state with high human development but acute climate vulnerability (Government of Kerala, 2020) [4] . Kerala saw its most severe flooding since 1924 in August of 2018. Over 400 people lost their lives as consequence of the disastrous flood and related landslides, which impacted 5.4 million people. According to the post-disaster report that the Keralan government commissioned, the economic loss exceeded $3.8 million (Hunt and Menon, 2020) [6] . Livestock losses were devastating: over 200,000 animals affected across 14 districts, including 46,000 cattle deaths, widespread fodder destruction, and 25-30 per cent drop in milk procurement (Sasi & Satheesh, 2018) [11] ; (Arun & Senthilkumar, 2025) [1] .

Materials and Methods

The study was carried out in Thrissur, Ernakulam, and Idukki which were purposively selected based on the milk procurement data. These districts showed a sharp decline of 33.58%, 29.58%, and 16.92%, respectively. (Jayawardhana et al., 2022) [8] . (United Nations, 2018) [13] . Based on the severity of the flood, four panchayats from each district were identified. A random sample of 15 affected farmers was chosen from each panchayat utilising secondary data from the Kerala State Animal Husbandry Department and the Department of Dairy Development. Thus, the final sample size consisted of 180 respondents from 12 panchayats. Coping strategies are denoted as the behavioural and cognitive efforts employed by farmers to address environmental stressors, such as floods, impacting their agricultural livelihoods and livestock management. (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) [9] . Following the transactional model of stress and coping, the study specifically focussed on the general management of dairy animals.

Measurement of general coping strategies

Coping strategies were derived from a comprehensive literature review and expert inputs from Kerala's Veterinary and Dairy extension experts. Adoption was measured on a three-point scale: continuously adopted (AC = 2 points), adopted but discontinued (AD = 1 point), or never adopted (NA = 0 points). This scoring enabled adoption indices and district-wise rankings, capturing practice dynamics under recurrent floods (Saravanan et al., 2021) [10] .

Results

The result of Table 1 revealed that in Thrissur district, www.extensionjournal.com clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon was followed by 90 per cent of respondents followed by resorting to practice of selling the non-productive, ailing and old animals before rainy season (80%), construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (70%), construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster (60%), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (40%) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals (30%). In Idukki district, clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon was followed by 93.33 per cent of respondents followed by resorting to practice of selling the non-productive, ailing and old animals before rainy season (88%), construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster (80%),construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (50%), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (30%) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals (24%).

In Ernakulam district, clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon was followed by 92 per cent of respondents followed by resorting to practice of selling the non-productive, ailing and old animals before rainy season (78%), construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (75%),construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster (70%), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (40%) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals (31.7%). Clear the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon 0.90(i) 0.93(ii) 0.92(i) Values in parenthesis indicates the order of merit of preferences by the respondents column wise

The result of Table 2 revealed that in Thrissur district, clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon with an index score of 0.90 ranked first among general coping mechanism. This was followed by resorting to practice of selling the non-productive, ailing and old animals before rainy season (0.88), construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (0.83), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (0.62), construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster(0.60) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals(0.42). In Idukki district, resorting to practice of selling the nonproductive, ailing and old animals before rainy season with an index score of 0.94 ranked first among general coping mechanism. This was followed by clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon (0.93), construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster (0.80), construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (0.63), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (0.50) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals (0.34). In Ernakulam district, clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm before arrival of monsoon with an index score of 0.92 ranked first among general coping mechanism. This was followed by resorting to practice of selling the non-productive, ailing and old animals before rainy season (0.89), construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during rainy season (0.83), construction of community shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster(0.70), following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the monsoon (0.58) and preference of indigenous cattle breed which could cope with flood fury over cross bred animals (0.39). www.extensionjournal.com

Discussion

The results of the study depicted that all the flood affected dairy farmers in Thrissur, Idukki and Ernakulam districts coped with flood by clearing the drainage channels in and around the farm and by resorting to selling of nonproductive, ailing and old animals before the flood. (Yadav et al., 2023). [14] Planning and construction of community shed for shelter which could be used in case of flood disaster was being mooted by two thirds of dairy farmers (Indarwan et al., 2022) [7] . Construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during flood season was being practiced by three fourth of farmers in Thrissur and Ernakulam district. In Idukki district only half of the farmers resort to construction of open barn to leave the animal untethered during flood season (Silambarasan et al., 2025) [12] . The reason for low adoption of construction of open barn to leave cattle untethered might be due to undulating and mountainous landscape of Idukki makes it difficult to construct open barns. In all the three districts following proper breeding strategy to avoid pregnancy and birth during the peak flood season and preference of indigenous cattle breed which can cope with flood fury over cross bred animals were being followed by about one third of farmers only. The results are in accordance with the conclusions of Hungerford et al. (2019) [5] who stated that people had built barriers using sand and gravel and created blockade to prevent floodwater entering and had dug trenches outside their home to divert water and Danso and Addo (2017) [2] remarked that flood affected people in order to prevent flood water entering their home they had resorted to building flood steps and had their gutters cleaned.

Conclusion

The findings demonstrate that dairy farmers in the study areas prioritised immediate and practical coping mechanisms against the recurring threat of floods. The widespread and high-ranking adoption of practices like clearing drainage channels and selling vulnerable animals indicates a strong focus on immediate risk reduction and structural management. However, the significantly lower adoption of strategies such as maintaining proper breeding schedules and preferring indigenous breeds suggests that long-term, genetic, and preparatory management remains underdeveloped. The observed regional variation, such as the lower use of open barns in the mountainous Idukki district, underscores how local topography and environmental factors influence the feasibility of certain coping methods. For enhanced flood resilience, future agricultural extension efforts should concentrate on bridging this gap by actively promoting and providing support for the less-adopted, yet vital, long-term preparatory and genetic strategies, ensuring they are practical and accessible within the specific environmental context of each district.

References

1. Arun L, Senthilkumar R. A scale to measure knowledge level of dairy farmers affected by Kerala flood 2018 on disaster. International Journal of Agricultural Extension and Social Development. 2025;8(1S):102-107. doi:10.33545/26180723.2025.v8.i1Sb.1578.
2. Danso SY, Addo IY. Coping strategies of households affected by flooding: A case study of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in Ghana. Urban Water Journal. 2017;14:539-545.
3. Das A, Raju R, Patnaik NM. Present scenario and role of livestock sector in rural economy of India: A review. International Journal of Livestock Research. 2020;10(11):23-30.
4. Government of Kerala. District-wise livestock population: Kerala -20th Livestock Census. Government of India; 2020.
5. Hungerford H, Smiley SL, Blair T, Beutler S, Bowers N, Cadet E. Coping with floods in people of Pikine, Senegal: An exploration of household impacts and prevention efforts. Urban Science. 2019;3:1-13.
6. Hunt KM, Menon A. The 2018 Kerala floods: A climate change perspective. Climate Dynamics. 2020;54(3):2433-2446.
7. Indrawan SE, Anggraini LD, Iswanto R. Structure system for flood disaster emergency shelter on peatlands with a parametric approach. Eduvest Journal of Universal Studies. 2022;2(11):2307-2315.
8. Jayawardhana DTA, Pitawala HMTGA, Hanif A. The Kerala floods of 2018 -Exploring the socio-economic characteristics of flood affected dairy farmers in Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. 2022;20(1):1-10.
9. Lazarus RS, Folkman S. Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company; 1984.
10. Saravanan M, Prasad A, Mathew J, Davis J, Gleeja VL. The impact of flood in 2018 on the socioeconomic conditions of the dairy farmers in Pariyaram panchayat of Thrissur district of Kerala. Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. 2021:272-276.
11. Sasi NN, Satheesh KG. Flood impacts on Kerala dairy sector. New Delhi: The New Indian Express; 2018.
12. Silambarasan P, Vannan TT, Churchil R, Vengadabady N, Saravanan KP, Kannadhasan MS, et al. Management and socio-economic aspects of livestock farming in flood-prone areas of Cuddalore district. International Journal of Bio-Resource and Stress Management. 2025;16(12).
13. United Nations. Kerala post disaster needs assessment flood and landslides - August 2018. Thiruvananthapuram: Government of Kerala; 2018. p. 1-13.
14. Yadav PK, Roy A, Ghosh S. Coping mechanisms of farmers and its determinants in flood prone region of Bihar. Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development. 2023;18(2):645-651.