KDB Nature
G
Climate change and Indian Agriculture
Planned adaptation is essential to
increase the resilience of agricultural production to climate change. Several
improved agricultural practices evolved over time for diverse agro-ecological
regions in India have potential to enhance climate change adaptation, if
deployed prudently. Written by Dr. Arunava Sengupta
Climate change impacts on agriculture
are being witnessed all over the world, but countries like India are more
vulnerable in view of the huge population dependent on agriculture, excessive
pressure on natural resources and poor coping mechanisms. The warming trend in
India over the past 100 years has indicated on increase of 0.60°C. The
projected impacts are likely to further aggravate field fluctuations of many
crops thus impacting food security. There are already evidences of negative
impacts on yield of wheat and paddy in parts of India due to increased
temperature, water stress and reduction in number of rainy days. Significant
negative impacts have been projected with medium-term (2010-2039) climate
change, eg. yield reduction by 4.5 to
9%, depending on the magnitude and
distribution of warming. Since agriculture makes up roughly 15% of
India's GDP, a 4.5 to 9.0% negative impact on production implies cost of
climate change to be roughly at 1.5% of GDP per year. Enhancing agricultural
productivity, therefore, is critical for ensuring food and nutritional security
for all, particularly the resource poor small and marginal farmers who would be
affected most. In the absence of planned adaptation, the consequences of long-
term climate change could be severe on the livelihood security of the poor.
Adaptation
on to climate vulnerability
Planned adaptation is essential to
increase the resilience of agricultural production to climate change. Several
improved agricultural practices evolved over time for diverse agro-ecological
regions in India have potential to enhance climate change adaptation, if
deployed prudently. Management practices that increase agricultural production
under adverse climatic conditions also tend to support climate change
adaptation because they increase resilience and reduce yield variability under
variable climate and extreme events. Some practices that help adapt to climate
change in Indian agriculture are soil organic carbon build up, in-situ moisture conservation, residue
incorporation instead of burning, water harvesting and recycling for
supplemental irrigation, growing drought and flood tolerant varieties, water
saving technologies, location specific agronomic and nutrient management, improved
livestock feed and feeding methods. Institutional interventions promote
collective action and build resilience among communities. Capacity building by
extensive participatory demonstrations of location specific agricultural
practices helps farmers gain access to knowledge and provides confidence to
cope with adverse weather conditions. In this project, an effort is made to
marshall all available farm technologies that have adaptation potential and
demonstrate them in farmers' fields in most vulnerable districts of the country
through a participatory approach.
Village
level interventions towards climate resilient agriculture
Building
resilience in soil
Soil health is the key property that
determines the resilience of crop production under changing climate. A number
of interventions are made to build soil carbon, control soil loss due to
erosion and enhance water holding capacity of soils, all of which build
resilience in soil. Mandatory soil testing is done in all villages to ensure
balanced use of chemical fertilizers. Improved methods of fertilizer
application, matching with crop requirement to reduce nitrous oxide emission.
Adapted
cultivars and cropping systems
Farmers
in the villages traditionally grow local varieties of different crops resulting
in poor crop productivity due to heat, droughts or floods. Hence, improved,
early duration drought, heat and flood tolerant varieties are introduced for
achieving op/mum yields despite climatic stresses. This varietal shift was
carefully promoted by encouraging village level seed production and
linking farmers decision-making to
weather based agro advisories and contingency planning.
Rainwater
harvesting and recycling
Rainwater harvesting and recycling
through farm ponds, restoration of old rainwater harvesting structures in
dryland/rainfed areas, percolation ponds for recharging of open wells, bore
wells and injection wells for recharging ground water are taken up for
enhancing farm level water storage.
Water
saving technologies
Since climate variability manifests in
terms of deficit or excess water, major emphasis was laid on introduction of
water saving technologies like direct seeded rice, zero tillage and other
resource conservation practices, which also reduce GHG emissions besides saving
of water.
Farm
machinery (custom hiring) centers
Community managed custom hiring centers
are setup in each village to access farm machinery for timely sowing/planting.
This is an important intervention to deal with variable climate like delay in
monsoon, inadequate rains needing replanting of crops.
Crop
contingency plans
To cope with climate variability,
ICAR/CRIDA has developed district level contingency plans for more than 400
rural districts in country. Operationalization of these plans during aberrant
monsoon years through the district/ block level extension staff helps farmers
cope with climate variability.
Livestock
and fishery interventions
Use of community lands for fodder
production during droughts/floods, improved fodder/feed storage methods, feed
supplements, micronutrient use to enhance adaptation to heat stress, preventive
vaccination, improved shelters for reducing heat/cold stress in livestock,
management of fish ponds/tanks during water scarcity and excess water are some
key interventions in livestock/fishery sector.
Weather
based agro advisories
Automatic weather stations at KVK
experimental farms and mini-weather observatories in project villages are
established to record real /me weather parameters such as rainfall, temperature
and wind speed etc. both to issue
customized agro advisories and improve weather literacy among farmers.
Institutional
interventions
Institutional interventions either by
strengthening the existing ones or initiating new ones relating to seed bank,
fodder bank, commodity groups, custom hiring centre, collective marketing,
introduction of weather index based insurance and climate literacy through a
village level weather station are introduced to ensure effective adoption of
all other interventions and promote community ownership of the entire
programme.
Village
Climate Risk Management Committee (VCRMC)
A village committee representing all
categories of farmers including women and the land less is formed with the
approval of Gram Sabha to take all decisions regarding interventions, promote
farmers participation and convergence with ongoing Government schemes relevant
to climate change adaptation. VCRMC participates in all discussions leading to
finalizing interventions, selection of target farmers and area, and liaison
with gram panchyat and local elected
representatives and maintain all financial transactions under the project.
National Initiative on
Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in February, 2011. The project aims to
enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate
vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration. The
research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries and
natural resource management. The project consists of four components viz.
Strategic Research, Technology Demonstration, Capacity Building and
Sponsored/Competitive Grants. The project was formally launched by the Hon’ble
Union Minister for Agriculture & Food Processing Industries Shri Sharad
Pawarji on 2nd February 2011.
Objectives
With this background, the ICAR has launched a
major Project entitled, National Initiative on Climate Resilient
Agriculture (NICRA) during 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs.350 crores for
the XI Plan with the following objectives.
- To enhance the resilience of Indian agriculture covering crops, livestock and fisheries to climatic variability and climate change through development and application of improved production and risk management technologies
- To demonstrate site specific technology packages on farmers’ fields for adapting to current climate risks
- To enhance the capacity building of scientists and other stakeholders in climate resilient agricultural research and its application.
Early Outcome
Technologies
such as on-farm water harvesting in ponds, supplemental irrigation,
introduction of early maturing drought tolerant varieties, paddy varieties
tolerant to sub-mergence in flood prone districts, improved drainage in water
logged areas, recharging techniques for tube wells, site specific nutrient
management and management of sodic soils, mulching, use of zero till drills
were enthusiastically implemented by the farmers. State of
the art infrastructure is being built at the major research institutes of the
ICAR to take up long term basic and strategic research on the impact of climate
change on crops and livestock, modeling future climate impacts on agriculture,
water resources and development of location specific adaptation and mitigation
options.
References:
www.nicra-icar.in
www.crida.in
http://www.iihr.ernet.in/nicra
http://www.ndri.res.in/PanApps/
http://www.nicra.iari.res.in/
PhoTo Source-
http://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-4093198-stock-footage-wheat-harvest-in-field-at-sunset-crop-of-cereals-agriculture-land-farming.html
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