Irrigated agriculture is placing increasing pressure on finite freshwater resources, especially in developing countries, where water extraction is often unregulated, un-priced and even subsidized. To shift agriculture to a more sustainable use of water without harming the food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholders, substantial improvements of water use efficiency will be required.

A study based on farm household survey was conducted in mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh to gain insights on people s perceptions and adaptations to climate change and variability. Results of the study indicated that 88.9 % of people perceived rise in temperature of the region while 88.4 % perceived a decreasing trend in amount of rainfall. People s perceptions for both maximum temperature and rainfall were in accordance with results of linear regression analysis of weather data of the period from 1995- 2011 collected from meteorological station in the region.