essay on climate change and indian agriculture

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29 October 2011

Climate change and Indian agriculture

Following multiple studies that predict climate change-triggered decline in agricultural production in the subcontinent, the Indian government is making substantial investments to find adaptive solutions.

India has commissioned eight national missions under an ambitious national action plan on climate change. One among these missions is the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), which will look at farm-level solutions to counter the damage inflicted by climate change .

When the budget for India's XIth five year plan was being decided there was no plan or provision for NMSA since it came into existence after that. India's ministry of agriculture, which is implementing the project, has now been granted an additional Rs 10,800 crore to implement the mission.

The gloomy studies

Forecasts by global organisations have been disappointing for the entire South and South-East Asia. The fourth report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounded an alarm bell some time back. It predicted a drop in yields of wheat and rice — two staples of the region. Crop simulation models have also indicated substantial losses for rain-fed wheat in the region.

Though these predictions have been challenged by climate change skeptics, IPCC maintains that if the temperature rises between 0.5 and 1.5°C in India, the yield of wheat and maize would go down by 2 to 5 per cent. Nationwide studies suggest a yield reduction of 4.5 to 9 per cent during 2010-2039. This kind of production loss is expected to cost the country 1.5% of the GDP every year.

Rising temperature will not be the only culprit. Variations in drought and flooding patterns are also predicted to cause additional stress on agriculture. With a large part of Indian agriculture being rain-fed and not irrigated, changing monsoon patterns may make things worse, the studies warn.

Regional climate modeling indicates that by the year 2030, the Western Ghats of India will lose about 4% productivity in irrigated rice. At the same time, losses for rain-fed rice may be upto 10% for most of the region. Yields of maize and sorghum may go down by half. Production losses for rice and maize are also predicted in the coastal states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh , Orissa and West Bengal.

Adaptive solutions

Besides the NMSA initiative that is looking to reverse the clock by intervening at the right time, the Indian council of Agricultural Reasearch (ICAR) has launched a National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in February 2011. A total of Rs 350 crore has been sanctioned for the the XIth five year plan for this project. It entails strategic research to combat climate change related problems faced by crops, livestock, fisheries and natural resources.

ICAR's National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) is currently screening wheat germplasm from its gene bank that contains seeds and embryos of numerous varieties of agricultural and horticultural crops found in India. NBPGR director Kailash Bansal said the objective is to "identify genotypes better adapted to climate change, particularly to terminal heat stress, which causes significant yield reduction due to rising temperature in the months of February and March coinciding with grain filling".

Apart from the research activities, the project will also focus on field demonstration of latest technologies and capacity building. The project is to be implemented in the remaining two years of the XIth five year plan of the Indian government and is likely to spill over into the XIIth Plan.

Altogether 21 ICAR institutes across the country are conducting research in the various fields of agriculture. Among the institutes are IARI, New Delhi and Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture(CRIDA), Hyderabad, which will focus on analysing vulnerability of major food crops to climate change.

National Dairy research Institute(NDRI), Karnal and Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izzatnagar will work towards making livestock resilient to climate change. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bangalore and National Centre for Integrated Pest Management (NCIPM), New Delhi will explore relationships between high temperature and pest and disease.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nindia.2011.151

Cruz, R. V. et al. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 469-506 (2007)

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Kumar, S. N. et al. Impact of climate change on crop productivity in Western Ghats, coastal and north eastern regions of India. Curr. Science 101, 332-341 (2010)

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Climate change and agriculture: an indian perspective: a review.

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Submitted 12-03-2021 |

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doi 10.18805/ag.R-2190

Agriculture
Climate change
Global warming

INTRODUCTION

Table 1: Climate change projection for different seasons in India.

Table 2: Projected changes in climate in India 2070-2099.

Table 3: Yield reduction of different crops during the period 2071- 2100.

Table 4: Policies of Government of India with their main objectives.

Table 5: Impact of important policies of India.

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Climate change resilient agricultural practices: A learning experience from indigenous communities over India

Affiliation South Asian Forum for Environment, India

* E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]

Affiliation Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Lausanne, Switzerland

Amitava Aich,
Dipayan Dey,
Arindam Roy

Published: July 28, 2022

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000022
Reader Comments

The impact of climate change on agricultural practices is raising question marks on future food security of billions of people in tropical and subtropical regions. Recently introduced, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) techniques encourage the practices of sustainable agriculture, increasing adaptive capacity and resilience to shocks at multiple levels. However, it is extremely difficult to develop a single framework for climate change resilient agricultural practices for different agrarian production landscape. Agriculture accounts for nearly 30% of Indian gross domestic product (GDP) and provide livelihood of nearly two-thirds of the population of the country. Due to the major dependency on rain-fed irrigation, Indian agriculture is vulnerable to rainfall anomaly, pest invasion, and extreme climate events. Due to their close relationship with environment and resources, indigenous people are considered as one of the most vulnerable community affected by the changing climate. In the milieu of the climate emergency, multiple indigenous tribes from different agroecological zones over India have been selected in the present study to explore the adaptive potential of indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK)-based agricultural practices against climate change. The selected tribes are inhabitants of Eastern Himalaya (Apatani), Western Himalaya (Lahaulas), Eastern Ghat (Dongria-Gondh), and Western Ghat (Irular) representing rainforest, cold desert, moist upland, and rain shadow landscape, respectively. The effect of climate change over the respective regions was identified using different Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenario, and agricultural practices resilient to climate change were quantified. Primary results indicated moderate to extreme susceptibility and preparedness of the tribes against climate change due to the exceptionally adaptive ITK-based agricultural practices. A brief policy has been prepared where knowledge exchange and technology transfer among the indigenous tribes have been suggested to achieve complete climate change resiliency.

Citation: Aich A, Dey D, Roy A (2022) Climate change resilient agricultural practices: A learning experience from indigenous communities over India. PLOS Sustain Transform 1(7): e0000022. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000022

Editor: Ashwani Kumar, Dr. H.S. Gour Central University, INDIA

Copyright: © 2022 Aich et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1 Introduction

Traditional agricultural systems provide sustenance and livelihood to more than 1 billion people [ 1 – 3 ]. They often integrate soil, water, plant, and animal management at a landscape scale, creating mosaics of different land uses. These landscape mosaics, some of which have existed for hundreds of years, are maintained by local communities through practices based on traditional knowledge accumulated over generations [ 4 ]. Climate change threatens the livelihood of rural communities [ 5 ], often in combination with pressures coming from demographic change, insecure land tenure and resource rights, environmental degradation, market failures, inappropriate policies, and the erosion of local institutions [ 6 – 8 ]. Empowering local communities and combining farmers’ and external knowledge have been identified as some of the tools for meeting these challenges [ 9 ]. However, their experiences have received little attention in research and among policy makers [ 10 ].

Traditional agricultural landscapes as linked social–ecological systems (SESs), whose resilience is defined as consisting of 3 characteristics: the capacity to (i) absorb shocks and maintain function; (ii) self-organize; (iii) learn and adapt [ 11 ]. Resilience is not about an equilibrium of transformation and persistence. Instead, it explains how transformation and persistence work together, allowing living systems to assimilate disturbance, innovation, and change, while at the same time maintaining characteristic structures and processes [ 12 ]. Agriculture is one of the most sensitive systems influenced by changes in weather and climate patterns. In recent years, climate change impacts have been become the greatest threats to global food security [ 13 , 14 ]. Climate change results a decline in food production and consequently rising food prices [ 15 , 16 ]. Indigenous people are good observers of changes in weather and climate and acclimatize through several adaptive and mitigation strategies [ 17 , 18 ].

Traditional agroecosystems are receiving rising attention as sustainable alternatives to industrial farming [ 19 ]. They are getting increased considerations for biodiversity conservation and sustainable food production in changing climate [ 20 ]. Indigenous agriculture systems are diverse, adaptable, nature friendly, and productive [ 21 ]. Higher vegetation diversity in the form of crops and trees escalates the conversion of CO 2 to organic form and consequently reducing global warming [ 22 ]. Mixed cropping not only decreases the risk of crop failure, pest, and disease but also diversifies the food supply [ 23 ]. It is estimated that traditional multiple cropping systems provide 15% to 20% of the world’s food supply [ 1 ]. Agro-forestry, intercropping, crop rotation, cover cropping, traditional organic composting, and integrated crop-animal farming are prominent traditional agricultural practices [ 24 , 25 ].

Traditional agricultural landscapes refer to the landscapes with preserved traditional sustainable agricultural practices and conserved biodiversity [ 26 , 27 ]. They are appreciated for their aesthetic, natural, cultural, historical, and socioeconomic values [ 28 ]. Since the beginning of agriculture, peasants have been continually adjusting their agriculture practices with change in climatic conditions [ 29 ]. Indigenous farmers have a long history of climate change adaptation through making changes in agriculture practices [ 30 ]. Indigenous farmers use several techniques to reduce climate-driven crop failure such as use of drought-tolerant local varieties, polyculture, agro-forestry, water harvesting, and conserving soil [ 31 – 33 ]. Indigenous peasants use various natural indicators to forecast the weather patterns such as changes in the behavior of local flora and fauna [ 34 , 35 ].

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach [ 36 ] has 3 objectives: (i) sustainably enhancing agricultural productivity to support equitable increase in income, food security, and development; (ii) increasing adaptive capacity and resilience to shocks at multiple levels, from farm to national; and (iii) reducing Green House Gases (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon sequestration where possible. Indigenous peoples, whose livelihood activities are most respectful of nature and the environment, suffer immediately, directly, and disproportionately from climate change and its consequences. Indigenous livelihood systems, which are closely linked to access to land and natural resources, are often vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change, especially as many inhabit economically and politically marginal areas in fragile ecosystems in the countries likely to be worst affected by climate change [ 25 ]. The livelihood of many indigenous and local communities, in particular, will be adversely affected if climate and associated land-use change lead to losses in biodiversity. Indigenous peoples in Asia are particularly vulnerable to changing weather conditions resulting from climate change, including unprecedented strength of typhoons and cyclones and long droughts and prolonged floods [ 15 ]. Communities report worsening food and water insecurity, increases in water- and vector-borne diseases, pest invasion, destruction of traditional livelihoods of indigenous peoples, and cultural ethnocide or destruction of indigenous cultures that are linked with nature and agricultural cycles [ 37 ].

The Indian region is one of the world’s 8 centres of crop plant origin and diversity with 166 food/crop species and 320 wild relatives of crops have originated here (Dr R.S. Rana, personal communication). India has 700 recorded tribal groups with population of 104 million as per 2011 census [ 38 ] and many of them practicing diverse indigenous farming techniques to suit the needs of various respective ecoclimatic zones. The present study has been designed as a literature-based analytical review of such practices among 4 different ethnic groups in 4 different agroclimatic and geographical zones of India, viz, the Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh, the Dongria Kondh of Niamgiri hills of Odisha, the Irular in the Nilgiris, and the Lahaulas of Himachal Pradesh to evaluating the following objectives: (i) exploring comparatively the various indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK)-based farming practices in the different agroclimatic regions; (ii) climate resiliency of those practices; and (iii) recommending policy guidelines.

2 Methodology

2.1 systematic review of literature.

An inventory of various publications in the last 30 years on the agro biodiversity, ethno botany, traditional knowledge, indigenous farming practices, and land use techniques of 4 different tribes of India in 4 different agroclimatic and geographical zones viz, the Apatanis of Arunachal Pradesh, the Dongria Kondh of Niamgiri hills of Odisha, the Irular in the Nilgiris, and the Lahaulas of Himachal Pradesh has been done based on key word topic searches in journal repositories like Google Scholar. A small but significant pool of led and pioneering works has been identified, category, or subtopics are developed most striking observations noted.

2.2 Understanding traditional practices and climate resiliency

The most striking traditional agricultural practices of the 4 major tribes were noted. A comparative analysis of different climate resilient traditional practices of the 4 types were made based on existing information available via literature survey. Effects of imminent dangers of possible extreme events and impact of climate change on these 4 tribes were estimated based on existing facts and figures. A heat map representing climate change resiliency of these indigenous tribes has been developed using R-programming language, and finally, a reshaping policy framework for technology transfers and knowledge sharing among the tribes for successfully helping them to achieve climate resiliency has been suggested.

2.3 Study area

Four different agroclimatic zones and 4 different indigenous groups were chosen for this particular study. The Apatanis live in the small plateau called Zero valley ( Fig 1 ) surrounded by forested mountains of Eastern Himalaya in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is located at 27.63° N, 93.83° E at an altitude ranging between 1,688 m to 2,438 m. Rainfall is heavy and can be up to 400 mm in monsoon months. Temperature varies from moderate in summer to very cold in the winter months. Their approximate population is around 12,806 (as per 2011 census), and Tibetan and Ahom sources indicate that they have been inhabiting the area from at least the 15th century and probably much earlier ( https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5893/ ).

PPT PowerPoint slide
PNG larger image
TIFF original image

The base map is prepared using QGIS software.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000022.g001

The Lahaulas are the inhabitants of Lahaul valley ( Fig 1 ) that is located in the western Himalayan region of Lahaul and Spiti and lies between the Pir Panjal in the south and Zanskar in the north. It is located between 76° 46′ and 78° 41′ east longitudes and between 31° 44′ and 32° 59′ north altitudes. The Lahaul valley receives scanty rainfalls, almost nil in summer, and its only source of moisture is snow during the winter. Temperature is generally cold. The combined population of Lahaul and Spiti is 31,564 (as per 2011 census).

The Dongria Kondh is one of the officially designated primitive tribal group (PTG) in the Eastern Ghat region of the state Orissa. They are the original inhabitants of Niyamgiri hilly region ( Fig 1 ) that extends to Rayagada, Koraput, and Kalahandi districts of south Orissa. Dongria Kondhs have an estimated population of about 10,000 and are distributed in around 120 settlements, all at an altitude up to 1,500 above the sea level [ 39 ]. It is located between 190 26′ to 190 43′ N latitude and 830 18′ to 830 28′ E longitudes with a maximum elevation of 1,516 meters. The Niyamgiri hill range abounds with streams. More than 100 streams flows from the Niyamgiri hills and 36 streams originate from Niyamgiri plateau (just below the Niyam Raja), and most of the streams are perennial. Niyamgiri hills have been receiving high rainfall since centuries and drought is unheard of in this area.

The Irular tribes inhabit the Palamalai hills and Nilgiris of Western Ghats ( Fig 1 ). Their total population may be 200,000 (as per 2011 census). The Palamali Hills is situated in the Salem district of Tamil Nadu, lies between 11° 14.46′ and 12° 53.30′ north latitude and between 77° 32.52′ to 78° 35.05′ east longitude. It is located 1,839 m from the mean sea level (MSL) and more over the climate of the district is whole dry except north east monsoon seasons [ 40 , 41 ]. Nilgiri district is hilly, lying at an elevation of 1,000 to 2,600 m above MSL and divided between the Nilgiri plateau and the lower, smaller Wayanad plateau. The district lies at the juncture of the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats. Its latitudinal and longitudinal location is 130 km (latitude: 11° 12 N to 11° 37 N) by 185 km (longitude 76° 30 E to 76° 55 E). It has cooler and wetter climate with high average rainfall.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 indigenous agricultural practices in 4 different agro-biodiversity hotspots.

Previous literatures on the agricultural practices of indigenous people in 4 distinct agro-biodiversity hotspots did not necessarily focus on climate resilient agriculture. The authors of these studies had elaborately discussed about the agro-biodiversity, farming techniques, current scenario, and economical sustainability in past and present context of socioecological paradigm. However, no studies have been found to address direct climate change resiliency of traditional indigenous agricultural practices over Indian subcontinent to the best of our knowledge. The following section will primarily focus on the agricultural practices of indigenous tribes and how they can be applied on current eco-agricultural scenario in the milieu of climate change over different agricultural macroenvironments in the world.

3.1.1 Apatani tribes (Eastern Himalaya).

The Apatanis practice both wet and terrace cultivation and paddy cum fish culture with finger millet on the bund (small dam). Due to these special attributes of sustainable farming systems and people’s traditional ecological knowledge in sustaining ecosystems, the plateau is in the process of declaring as World Heritage centre [ 42 – 44 ]. The Apatanis have developed age-old valley rice cultivation has often been counted to be one of the advanced tribal communities in the northeastern region of India [ 45 ]. It has been known for its rich economy for decades and has good knowledge of land, forest, and water management [ 46 ]. The wet rice fields are irrigated through well-managed canal systems [ 47 ]. It is managed by diverting numerous streams originated in the forest into single canal and through canal each agriculture field is connected with bamboo or pinewood pipe.

The entire cultivation procedure by the Apatani tribes are organic and devoid of artificial soil supplements. The paddy-cum-fish agroecosystem are positioned strategically to receive all the run off nutrients from the hills and in addition to that, regular appliance of livestock manure, agricultural waste, kitchen waste, and rice chaff help to maintain soil fertility [ 48 ]. Irrigation, cultivation, and harvesting of paddy-cum-fish agricultural system require cooperation, experience, contingency plans, and discipline work schedule. Apatani tribes have organized tasks like construction and maintenance of irrigation, fencing, footpath along the field, weeding, field preparation, transplantation, harvesting, and storing. They are done by the different groups of farmers and supervised by community leaders (Gaon Burha/Panchayat body). Scientific and place-based irrigation solution using locally produced materials, innovative paddy-cum-fish aquaculture, community participation in collective farming, and maintaining agro-biodiversity through regular usage of indigenous landraces have potentially distinguished the Apatani tribes in the context of agro-biodiversity regime on mountainous landscape.

3.1.2 Lahaula (Western Himalaya).

The Lahaul tribe has maintained a considerable agro-biodiversity and livestock altogether characterizing high level of germ plasm conservation [ 49 ]. Lahaulas living in the cold desert region of Lahaul valley are facultative farmers as they able to cultivate only for 6 months (June to November) as the region remained ice covered during the other 6 months of the year. Despite of the extreme weather conditions, Lahaulas are able to maintain high level of agro-biodiversity through ice-water harvesting, combinatorial cultivation of traditional and cash crops, and mixed agriculture–livestock practices. Indigenous practices for efficient use of water resources in such cold arid environment with steep slopes are distinctive. Earthen channels (Nullah or Kuhi) for tapping melting snow water are used for irrigation. Channel length run anywhere from a few meters to more than 5 km. Ridges and furrows transverse to the slope retard water flow and soil loss [ 50 ]. Leaching of soil nutrients due to the heavy snow cover gradually turns the fertile soil into unproductive one [ 51 ]. The requirement of high quantity organic manure is met through composting livestock manure, night soil, kitchen waste, and forest leaf litter in a specially designed community composting room. On the advent of summer, compost materials are taken into the field for improving the soil quality.

Domesticated Yaks ( Bos grunniens ) is crossed with local cows to produce cold tolerant offspring of several intermediate species like Gari, Laru, Bree, and Gee for drought power and sources of protein. Nitrogen fixing trees like Seabuckthrone ( Hippophae rhamnoides ) are also cultivated along with the crops to meet the fuels and fodder requires for the long winter period. Crop rotation is a common practice among the Lahaulas. Domesticated wild crop, local variety, and cash crops are rotated to ensure the soil fertility and maintaining the agro-biodiversity. Herbs and indigenous medicinal plants are cultivated simultaneously with food crops and cash crop to maximize the farm output. A combinatorial agro-forestry and agro-livestock approach of the Lahaulas have successfully able to generate sufficient revenue and food to sustain 6 months of snow-covered winter in the lap of western Himalayan high-altitude landscape. This also helps to maintain the local agro-biodiversity of the immensely important ecoregion.

3.1.3 Dongria Kondh (Eastern Ghat).

Dongria Kondh tribes, living at the semiarid hilly range of Eastern Ghats, have been applying sustainable agro-forestry techniques and a unique mixed crop system for several centuries since their establishment in the tropical dry deciduous hilly forest ecoregion. The forest is a source for 18 different non-timber forest products like mushroom, bamboo, fruits, vegetables, seeds, leaf, grass, and medicinal products. The Kondh people sustainably uses the forest natural capital such a way that maintain the natural stock and simultaneously ensure the constant flow of products. Around 70% of the resources have been consumed by the tribes, whereas 30% of the resources are being sold to generate revenue for further economic and agro-forest sustainability [ 52 ]. The tribe faces moderate to acute food grain crisis during the post-sowing monsoon period and they completely rely upon different alternative food products from the forest. The system has been running flawlessly until recent time due to the aggressive mining activity, natural resources depleted significantly, and the food security have been compromised [ 53 ].

However, the Kondh farmer have developed a very interesting agrarian technique where they simultaneously grow 80 varieties of different crops ranging from paddy, millet, leaves, pulses, tubers, vegetables, sorghum, legumes, maize, oil-seeds, etc. [ 54 ]. In order to grow so many crops in 1 dongor (the traditional farm lands of Dongria Kondhs on lower hill slopes), the sowing period and harvesting period extends up to 5 months from April till the end of August and from October to February basing upon climatic suitability, respectively.

Genomic profiling of millets like finger millet, pearl millet, and sorghum suggest that they are climate-smart grain crops ideal for environments prone to drought and extreme heat [ 55 ]. Even the traditional upland paddy varieties they use are less water consuming, so are resilient to drought-like conditions, and are harvested between 60 and 90 days of sowing. As a result, the possibility of complete failure of a staple food crop like millets and upland paddy grown in a dongor is very low even in drought-like conditions [ 56 ].

The entire agricultural method is extremely organic in nature and devoid of any chemical pesticide, which reduces the cost of farming and at the same time help to maintain environmental sustainability [ 57 ].

3.1.4 Irular tribes (Western Ghat).

Irulas or Irular tribes, inhabiting at the Palamalai mountainous region of Western Ghats and also Nilgiri hills are practicing 3 crucial age-old traditional agricultural techniques, i.e., indigenous pest management, traditional seed and food storage methods, and age-old experiences and thumb rules on weather prediction. Similar to the Kondh tribes, Irular tribes also practice mixed agriculture. Due to the high humidity in the region, the tribes have developed and rigorously practices storage distinct methods for crops, vegetables, and seeds. Eleven different techniques for preserving seeds and crops by the Irular tribes are recorded till now. They store pepper seeds by sun drying for 2 to 3 days and then store in the gunny bags over the platform made of bamboo sticks to avoid termite attack. Paddy grains are stored with locally grown aromatic herbs ( Vitex negundo and Pongamia pinnata ) leaves in a small mud-house. Millets are buried under the soil (painted with cow dung slurry) and can be stored up to 1 year. Their storage structure specially designed to allow aeration protect insect and rodent infestation [ 58 ]. Traditional knowledge of cross-breeding and selection helps the Irular enhancing the genetic potential of the crops and maintaining indigenous lines of drought resistant, pest tolerant, disease resistant sorghum, millet, and ragi [ 59 , 60 ].

Irular tribes are also good observer of nature and pass the traditional knowledge of weather phenomenon linked with biological activity or atmospheric condition. Irular use the behavioral fluctuation of dragonfly, termites, ants, and sheep to predict the possibility of rainfall. Atmospheric phenomenon like ring around the moon, rainbow in the evening, and morning cloudiness are considered as positive indicator of rainfall, whereas dense fog is considered as negative indicator. The Irular tribes also possess and practice traditional knowledge on climate, weather, forecasting, and rainfall prediction [ 58 ]. The Irular tribes also gained extensive knowledge in pest management as 16 different plant-based pesticides have been documented that are all completely biological in nature. The mode of actions of these indigenous pesticides includes anti-repellent, anti-feedent, stomach poison, growth inhibitor, and contact poisoning. All of these pesticides are prepared from common Indian plants extract like neem, chili, tobacco, babul, etc.

The weather prediction thumb rules are not being validated with real measurement till now but understanding of the effect of forecasting in regional weather and climate pattern in agricultural practices along with biological pest control practices and seed conservation have made Irular tribe unique in the context of global agro-biodiversity conservation.

3.2 Climate change risk in indigenous agricultural landscape

The effect of climate change over the argo-ecological landscape of Lahaul valley indicates high temperature stress as increment of number of warm days, 0.16°C average temperature and 1.1 to 2.5°C maximum temperature are observed in last decades [ 61 , 62 ]. Decreasing trend of rainfall during monsoon and increasing trend of consecutive dry days in last several decades strongly suggest future water stress in the abovementioned region over western Himalaya. Studies on the western Himalayan region suggest presence of climate anomaly like retraction of glaciers, decreasing number of snowfall days, increasing incident of pest attack, and extreme events on western Himalayan region [ 63 – 65 ].

Apatani tribes in eastern Himalayan landscape are also experiencing warmer weather with 0.2°C increment in maximum and minimum temperature [ 66 ]. Although no significant trend in rainfall amount has been observed, however 11% decrease in rainy day and 5% to 15% decrease in rainfall amount by 2030 was speculated using regional climate model [ 67 ]. Increasing frequency of extreme weather events like flashfloods, cloudburst, landslide, etc. and pathogen attack in agricultural field will affect the sustainable agro-forest landscape of Apatani tribes. Similar to the Apatani and Lahaulas tribes, Irular and Dongria Kondh tribes are also facing climate change effect via increase in maximum and minimum temperature and decrease in rainfall and increasing possibility of extreme weather event [ 68 , 69 ]. In addition, the increasing number of forest fire events in the region is also an emerging problem due to the dryer climate [ 70 ].

Higher atmospheric and soil temperature in the crop growing season have direct impact on plant physiological processes and therefore has a declining effect on crop productivity, seedling mortality, and pollen viability [ 71 ]. Anomaly in precipitation amount and pattern also affect crop development by reducing plant growth [ 72 ]. Extreme events like drought and flood could alter soil fertility, reduce water holding capacity, increase nutrient run off, and negatively impact seed and crop production [ 73 ]. Agricultural pest attack increases at higher temperature as it elevates their food consumption capability and reproduction rate [ 74 ].

3.3 Climate resiliency through indigenous agro-forestry

Three major climate-resilient and environmentally friendly approaches in all 4 tribes can broadly classified as (i) organic farming; (ii) soil and water conservation and community farming; and (iii) maintain local agro-biodiversity. The practices under these 3 regimes have been listed in Table 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000022.t001

Human and animal excreta, plant residue, ashes, decomposed straw, husk, and other by-products are used to make organic fertilizer and compost material that helps to maintain soil fertility in the extreme orographic landscape with high run-off. Community farming begins with division of labour and have produced different highly specialized skilled individual expert in different farming techniques. It needs to be remembered that studied tribes live in an area with complex topological feature and far from advance technological/logistical support. Farming in such region is extremely labour intensive, and therefore, community farming has become essential for surviving. All 4 tribes have maintained their indigenous land races of different crops, cereal, vegetables, millets, oil-seeds, etc. that give rises to very high agro-biodiversity in all 4 regions. For example, Apatanis cultivate 106 species of plants with 16 landraces of indigenous rice and 4 landraces of indigenous millet [ 75 ]. Similarly, 24 different crops, vegetables, and medicinal plants are cultivated by the Lahaulas, and 50 different indigenous landraces are cultivated by Irular and Dongria Kondh tribes.

The combination of organic firming and high indigenous agro-biodiversity create a perfect opportunity for biological control of pests. Therefore, other than Irular tribe, all 3 tribes depend upon natural predator like birds and spiders, feeding on the indigenous crop, for predation of pests. Irular tribes developed multiple organic pest management methods from extract of different common Indian plants. Apatani and Lahaulas incorporate fish and livestock into their agricultural practices, respectively, to create a circular approach to maximize the utilization of waste material produced. At a complex topographic high-altitude landscape where nutrient run-off is very high, the practices of growing plants with animals also help to maintain soil fertility. Four major stresses due to the advancement of climate change have been identified in previous section, and climate change resiliency against these stresses has been graphically presented in Fig 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000022.g002

Retraction of the glaciers and direct physiological impact on the livestock due to the temperature stress have made the agricultural practices of the Lahaula’s vulnerable to climate change. However, Irular and Dongria Kondh tribes are resilient to the temperature stress due to their heat-resistant local agricultural landraces, and Apatanis will remain unaffected due to their temperate climate and vast forest cover. Dongria Kondh tribe will successfully tackle the water stress due to their low-water farming techniques and simultaneous cultivation of multiple crops that help to retain the soil moisture by reducing evaporation. Hundreds of perennial streams of Nyamgiri hills are also sustainably maintained and utilised by the Dongria Kondhs along with the forests, which gives them enough subsistence in form of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). However, although Apatani and Lahuala tribe extensively reuse and recirculate water in their field but due to the higher water requirement of paddy-cum-fish and paddy-cum-livestock agriculture, resiliency would be little less compared to Dongria Kondh.

Presence of vast forest cover, very well-structured irrigation system, contour agriculture and layered agricultural field have provided resiliency to the Apatani’s from extreme events like flash flood, landslides, and cloud burst. Due to their seed protection practices and weather prediction abilities, Irular tribe also show resiliency to the extreme events. However, forest fire and flash flood risk in both Eastern Ghat and Western Ghat have been increased and vegetation has significantly decreased in recent past. High risk of flash flood, land slide, avalanches, and very low vegetation coverage have made the Lahaulas extremely vulnerable to extreme events. Robust pest control methods of Irular tribe and age-old practices of intercropping, mixed cropping, and sequence cropping of the Dongria Kondh tribe will resist pest attack in near future.

3.4 Reshaping policy

Temperature stress, water stress, alien pest attack, and increasing risk of extreme events are pointed out as the major risks in the above described 4 indigenous tribes. However, every tribe has shown their own climate resiliency in their traditional agrarian practices, and therefore, a technology transfers and knowledge sharing among the tribes would successfully help to achieve the climate resilient closure. The policy outcome may be summarizing as follows:

Designing, structuring and monitoring of infrastructural network of Apatani and Lahaul tribes (made by bamboo in case of Apatanis and Pine wood and stones in case of Lahaulas) for waster harvesting should be more rugged and durable to resilient against increasing risk of flash flood and cloud burst events.
Water recycling techniques like bunds, ridges, and furrow used by Apatani and Lahaul tribes could be adopted by Irular and Dongria Kondh tribes as Nilgiri and Koraput region will face extreme water stress in coming decades.
Simultaneous cultivation of multiple crops by the Dongria Kondh tribe could be acclimated by the other 3 tribes as this practice is not only drought resistance but also able to maximize the food security of the population.
Germplasm storage and organic pest management knowledge by the Irular tribes could be transferred to the other 3 tribes to tackle the post-extreme event situations and alien pest attack, respectively.
Overall, it is strongly recommended that the indigenous knowledge of agricultural practices needs to be conserved. Government and educational institutions need to focus on harvesting the traditional knowledge by the indigenous community.

3.5 Limitation

One of the major limitations of the study is lack of significant number of quantifiable literature/research articles about indigenous agricultural practices over Indian subcontinent. No direct study assessing risk of climate change among the targeted agroecological landscapes has been found to the best of our knowledge. Therefore, the current study integrates socioeconomic status of indigenous agrarian sustainability and probable climate change risk in the present milieu of climate emergency of 21st century. Uncertainty in the current climate models and the spatiotemporal resolution of its output is also a minor limitation as the study theoretically correlate and proposed reshaped policy by using the current and future modeled agro-meteorological parameters.

4. Conclusions

In the present study, an in-depth analysis of CSA practices among the 4 indigenous tribes spanning across different agro-biodiversity hotspots over India was done, and it was observed that every indigenous community is more or less resilient to the adverse effect of climate change on agriculture. Thousands years of traditional knowledge has helped to develop a unique resistance against climate change among the tribes. However, the practices are not well explored through the eyes of modern scientific perspective, and therefore, might goes extinct through the course of time. A country-wide study on the existing indigenous CSA practices is extremely important to produce a database and implementation framework that will successfully help to resist the climate change effect on agrarian economy of tropical countries. Perhaps the most relevant aspect of the study is the realization that economically and socially backward farmers cope with and even prepare for climate change by minimizing crop failure through increased use of drought tolerant local varieties, water harvesting, mixed cropping, agro-forestry, soil conservation practices, and a series of other traditional techniques.

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Climate Resilient Agriculture: The need of hour

Climate change is a ticking time bomb. Every day we are reaching nearer to the tipping point beyond which it may become irreversible. Agriculture is more susceptible to this shifting weather pattern. Rising temperature reduces yield of crops, promotes proliferation of weeds and pests. The shortening of crop duration in annual crops adversely affect productivity. In crops such as rice, wheat, sunflower etc., processes like- reproduction, pollination and fertilization are highly sensitive to temperature. Changes in rainfall pattern causes drought, floods, erratic rainfall which reduces crop yield. It reduces agricultural income by 15-25 % and causes global hunger and poverty. For a country like India which is already facing population explosion and a tremendous slicing of agricultural land; the loss of about 5-8 million hectares of crop due to climate change is a matter of serious concern.

The famous agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan once said – “If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right”. In this hour of need, “Climate Resilient Agriculture” can be a game changer. It is the incorporation of adaptation, mitigation and other practices in agriculture which increases the capacity of the crop to respond to various climatic distributions by resisting damages and quick recovery. It involves a set of sustainable agricultural practices which not only focuses on growing crops; but also cares about soil, air, water and all the living things that depends on them.

A nation-wide action plan was introduced by Government of India to make Indian agriculture more resilient to changing climate. Early maturing, stress tolerant cultivators are introduced to increase yield despite of challenging climate. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana was launched to cop up with scarcity of water. Concept of “Pre-Drop More Crop” was given to promote drip/ micro-irrigation for water conservation. Soil health card scheme launched to analyze soil samples and guide farmers about land fertility. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana was initiated to promote use of climate-smart practices. Integrated Farming System was introduced, under which crop is integrated with activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agroforestry, apiculture etc. to enable farmers not only to give a sustaining livelihood, but also to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events as an income opportunity. Foundation of Climate Resilient Villages by ICAR, with an aim of building carbon positive villages got global recognition. At the behest of Government of India, Year 2023 was declared as International Year of Millet with an aim to increase awareness and production of millet due to their climate resilient, nutritious nature. In addition to this, regular weather advisories are provided to farmers by print, Door Darshan, radio, internet etc. including SMS through Kisan Portal and apps like ‘Meghdoot’, ‘KisanSuvidha’.

As climate change has no boundaries. It is the responsibility of entire world to find and promote climate resilient agricultural practices. “The future belongs to the nations with grains, not with guns. We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it”.

University/College name : National Agri Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali

Biotherapeutics

Biobased chemicals and enzymes and their roles.

हिन्दी अनुभाग
Contributors

Climate change and Indian agriculture

Siddharth Hari

Virginia Tech Department of Economics

[email protected]

Parth Khare

University of Chicago

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Arvind Subramanian

Peterson Institute of International Economics

[email protected]

Indian agriculture remains vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming threat of climate change may expose this vulnerability further. This article presents findings from a study that uses new data to analyse the impact of weather shocks on agricultural productivity in the short run, and that of climate change in the long run. It shows that climate change could reduce farm incomes by 15-18%, and by 20-25% in unirrigated areas.

Agriculture is important in India for the obvious reason of its centrality, given that it accounts for a large share in GDP (gross domestic product) (16%), and an even larger share in employment (49%). Perhaps it is even more important because, as the experience of the last few years illustrates, it has the potential to hold back Indian development: poor agricultural performance can lead to high inflation, rural distress, and political restiveness.

Agriculture in India continues to be vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming threat of climate change has the potential to expose this vulnerability further. A small but growing literature has focused on estimating the impact of weather and climate on economic performance. However, most of these are either cross-country studies, or focus on developed countries, primarily for data reasons, and therefore may not be applicable to a large, climatically diverse country such as India ( Deschênes and Greenstone 2012 , Dell et al. 2012 , 2014 , International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2017 , Burke et al. 2015).

There are a couple of important exceptions. Guiteras (2009) finds that crop yields will decline by 4.5-9% in the short-run (2010-2039) and by a whopping 25% in the long-run (2070-2099) in the absence of adaptation by farmers. Further, Burgess et al. (2014) find that a one standard deviation 1 increase in high temperature days in a year decreases agricultural yields and real wages by 12.6 % and 9.8%, respectively, and increases annual mortality among rural populations by 7.3 % in India. By contrast, in urban areas, they find virtually no evidence of an effect on incomes and a substantially smaller increase in the mortality rate.

Our study brings to bear new data (covering a longer and more recent period, larger geographical area, and more spatially disaggregated) to analyse the impact of weather shocks on agricultural productivity in the short run, and that of climate change in the long run. We also consider possible policy options to reduce vulnerability in Indian agriculture.

To understand the long-run impact of climate change in India, we examined the impact of rainfall, temperature, and extreme events associated with them, featured in Chapter 6 of the Economic Survey 2017-18 (Government of India, 2018). We use a district-level panel of agricultural production in India, and a new dataset on rainfall and temperature, covering the period 1970-2015, to answer a number of important questions:

What have been the trends in rainfall and temperature over the past four and a half decades?

What are the average effects of rainfall and temperature on agricultural productivity?
To what extent can irrigation mitigate these effects?
How significantly will climate change affect agricultural productivity?

Another reason to undertake the analysis relates to data quality. Raw data on temperature and rainfall are recorded by ground weather stations, which are spatially interpolated into standardised grids. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) maintains data for more than 6,000 rainfall stations and around 300 temperature stations. Existing studies on India involving rainfall or temperature data primarily use one of the following datasets: the Global Human Climate Network (GHCN) maintained by the National Oceanographic Association of America (NOAA) at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) or University of Delaware Precipitation Climatology. The raw data for all these datasets are sourced from the IMD but rely on far fewer weather stations; for instance, NOAA procures data for only 45 temperature stations across India. India is a climatically diverse country with the third highest number of climate zones (16 Köppen classification) globally. Fewer weather stations limit the accurate understanding of local weather variations. Our analysis uses the universe of weather stations available to the IMD and is therefore more representative of actual weather patterns. This distinction turns out to have crucial implications. As shown in Figure 1, IMD data report significantly higher average temperatures (by 1 degree Celsius) and higher average rainfall (by about 100 mm per year) compared to the University of Delaware dataset. Any analysis of climate change and its consequences are therefore likely to be very different across these datasets.

Figure 1. Temperature and rainfall: Comparison of Indian and international data

a) Average annual temperature

b) Average annual rainfall

Average annual temperatures have risen by around 0.48 degrees (between 1970 and 2016), and average monsoon rainfall has declined by 26 mm (between 1970 and 2016). We also find that there has been a steady increase in temperature extremities. The number of ‘very hot’ days as well as the number of dry days has increased, consistent with models of climate change which predict increased variability in weather.

The productivity effects of weather

Next, we turn our attention to the effects of these changes in temperature on agricultural output and yields. A simple correlation at the district level, say between average temperature and average agricultural productivity, will not yield the causal effects of interest. For example, if we find that hotter districts have lower average productivity, it could be because of temperature, but it could also be because of several other factors correlated with temperature – soil quality, availability of water, and so on.

Our approach, instead, is to use year-on-year fluctuations in a district’s rainfall and temperature to identify the effects of weather on agricultural productivity. Such an empirical strategy does not compare hot districts with cold ones, or dry ones with wet ones. Instead, it looks at how agricultural production in the same district changes when rainfall and temperature in that district change. We then combine these estimates with projections of temperature and rainfall from climate models to predict the impact of climate change on agriculture.

For this analysis, we combine the ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) district-level database with data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, to construct a district-level panel on crop production, land use, yields and irrigation, covering the period 1970-2015.

Short-run impact

We conduct the analysis for each cropping season separately, and our key findings are illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. In these figures, the x-axis plots deciles of rainfall and temperature with the 5 th decile being the omitted category against which all comparisons are made. So, if a district’s temperature were in the 10 th decile (that is, the hottest possible), Kharif yields (from July to October) in irrigated areas would be 3% lower than if the temperature was normal. This number rises to 10% for unirrigated areas. Similarly, if rainfall was in the 1 st decile (that is, the driest possible), Kharif yields in irrigated areas would be 13% lower than if rainfall was normal, and this number rises to 18% for unirrigated areas.

Figure 2. Effects of temperature on yields in irrigated (green) and unirrigated (red) areas

These graphs illustrate two crucial findings:

The effects of temperature and rainfall on crop yields are highly non-linear, and felt almost exclusively in the extremes. ‘Moderate’ shocks such as temperature in the 7 th decile or rainfall in the 3 rd decile have little or no effect on crop yields.
There is large variation (heterogeneity) between irrigated and unirrigated areas – irrigated areas are far less susceptible to weather shocks. This is illustrated by the fact that for a majority of instances the red line in Figures 2 and 3 lies below the green line, especially at the extremes of the temperature and rainfall distribution.

Figure 3. Effects of rainfall on yields in irrigated (green) and unirrigated (red) areas

Beyond level of temperature and rainfall

The relationship between weather and agricultural production is governed by factors other than just the level of temperature and rainfall. For example, the timing of rainfall can have significant effects on productivity. The availability of daily rainfall data allows us to explore this question quantitatively. Even after controlling for the levels of temperature and rainfall, each additional ‘dry day’ during the monsoon (that is, days with less than 0.1 mm rainfall) reduces yields by 0.2% on average, and by 0.3% in unirrigated areas.

What do these estimates mean for farmer incomes?

An extreme rainfall shock (defined as rainfall in the bottom two deciles) reduces farm revenues during the kharif by 7% in irrigated areas and by 14.3% in unirrigated areas. Similarly, an extreme temperature shock (defined as temperature in the top two deciles) reduces rabi yields by 3.2% in irrigated areas and by 5.9% in unirrigated areas.

Long-run impact

There are three central channels through which climate change will affect agricultural productivity in the long run:

a change in average temperature levels,
a change in average rainfall levels, and
a change in the number of dry days.

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that temperatures in India are likely to rise by 3-4 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21 st century ( Pathak et al. 2012 ). Combining these predictions with our estimates imply that in the absence of any adaptation by farmers, such as change in cropping techniques or expansion in irrigation, agricultural incomes will fall by 12% on average, and by as much as 18% in unirrigated areas by the end of the century.

Climate models do not have clear-cut predictions for changes in average levels of rainfall. However, if we extrapolate from the observed decline in rainfall over the past three decades, farm incomes could decline by as much as 12% for kharif crops and 5.4% for rabi crops in unirrigated areas.

Most models of climate change predict an increase in the variability of rainfall, in particular, an increase in the number of dry days as well as days with extremely high levels of rainfall. Once again, extrapolating from the observed increase in the number of dry days over the past three decades, this channel alone could account for a 1.2% decline in farm incomes.

Of course, it is likely that increases in temperature, decreases in rainfall levels, and increases in rainfall variability are correlated with each other. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that after taking these correlations into account, climate change could reduce farm incomes by 15-18% on average, and by as much as 20-25% in unirrigated areas.

Policy implications

Given these stark findings in a context of already low farm income levels, it is crucial to develop policies to make agriculture more resilient to changes in climate. At least three policy tools will help in meeting this challenge:

First, there is an urgent to need to spread irrigation. While significant progress has been made over the past few decades, the proportion of cultivated land under irrigation is less than 50% today – a lot remains to be done. The central challenge here is that this spread of irrigation needs to take place against the backdrop of diminishing ground water reserves, particularly in parts of north India.
Second, research in agriculture technology needs to be stepped up in order to develop crop varieties and cropping techniques which are more resilient to the vagaries of weather.
Finally, subsidies (power and fertiliser) that favour the indiscriminate use of water need to be rationalised and reduced, and support should instead be extended through non-distortionary forms such as direct transfers (as Telangana is attempting today). More generally though, the cereal- and sugarcane-centricity of agricultural policy must be reviewed and overhauled ( Subramanian 2017 ).

This article first appeared on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/agriculture/climate-change-and-indian-agriculture

Standard deviation is a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of values from the mean value (average) of that set.

Promoting the use of a novel water-saving agricultural technology among Indian farmers

Running out of water, walking away from farming, willingness to pay for index-based crop microinsurance in india, adoption of water-saving infrastructure in agriculture: the case of laser levellers.

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India: Climate Change - Agriculture and Policy in India

Link to report:.

India’s agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. With a rapidly growing population and limited natural resource base, India’s grain and livestock sectors contribute to significant global greenhouse gas emissions, yet the country’s diverse agricultural systems offer significant ecological benefits that can improve resiliency to climate change impacts. India’s climate policies have been consistent over the years and continue to emphasize climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts through domestic growth and economic development. As the growth center for energy demand the next two decades, India maintains its goal to install 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030, while prioritizing climate adaption policies and supporting rural, agricultural livelihoods.

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Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN)

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Need for climate-smart agriculture in India Premium

Climate-smart agriculture has the potential to assure food security, empower farmers, and protect our delicate ecosystems.

Updated - November 25, 2023 03:05 pm IST

Published - November 25, 2023 12:59 am IST

Climate change is increasing the dangers faced by farmers, prompting them to re-evaluate their practices. Photo: elearning.fao.org/

T he two most important issues facing humanity in the 21st century are climate change and food insecurity . Some of the ongoing effects of climate change, such as heat waves, flash floods, droughts, and cyclones, are negatively influencing lives and livelihoods. The world’s southern continents are reportedly experiencing severe drought due to climate change, which negatively impacts agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods. Both population expansion and dietary changes are contributing to an increase in the demand for food. The effects of the environment on farm output only add to the difficulty. As a result of climate change, traditional farming practices are becoming less productive. Climate change is increasing the dangers faced by farmers, prompting them to re-evaluate their practices. Farmers are taking a variety of adaptation measures to reduce the negative effects of climate change. The need for a holistic strategy is driven by climate change’s dual challenges of adaptation and mitigation, and the pressing need for agricultural production to rise by 60% by 2050 in order to fulfill food demand.

Also Read | Is climate change affecting global health?

A viable option

As a viable option, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) provides a holistic framework. The Food and Agriculture Organization said in 2019: “Climate-smart agriculture is an approach for transforming food and agriculture systems to support sustainable development and safeguard food security under climate change. CSA comprises three pillars or objectives: (1) sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; (2) adapt and build resilience to climate change; and (3) reduce/remove GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions, where possible.” Dimensions of climate-smart practices include water-smart, weather-smart, energy-smart, and carbon-smart practices. They improve productivity, deal with land degradation, and improve soil health.

The future impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity could be substantial. In India, crop yield decline owing to climate change (between 2010 and 2039) could be as high as 9%. In order to combat climate change and sustainably boost agricultural output and revenue, a radical reform of the agriculture industry is required. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals aim to end hunger and enhance environmental management; CSA’s foundation is in achieving these goals through sustainable agriculture and rural development. The National Action Plan on Climate Change emphasises the role of climate-resilient agriculture in India’s adaptation measures. Programmes such as the Soil Health Card Scheme use precision nutrient management to optimise agricultural methods. The concept of precision farming is still somewhat novel in India. While certain private companies offer services, the scope of these initiatives is extremely limited.

Community-supported efforts

CSA’s value in minimising and adjusting to the effects of climate change on agriculture is becoming widely acknowledged on a global scale. There has been a worldwide uptick in community-supported agriculture efforts. These efforts are made in an attempt to create agricultural systems that are both resilient and environmentally friendly. Improvements in agroforestry, sustainable water management, and precision agriculture are all concrete examples of CSA ideas in action, and they are not limited by any one country. CSA promotes crop diversification, increases water efficiency, and integrates drought-resistant crop types, all of which help lessen the disruptive effects of climate change. The importance of CSA lies in its ability to increase agricultural output while maintaining ecological stability. This correlation is not only a desired consequence but rather essential for long-term food security and sustainable resource usage in a warming planet.

By reducing exposure to climate-related dangers and shocks, CSA increases resilience in the face of longer-term stressors like shorter seasons and erratic weather patterns. In addition to these benefits, a significant outcome of CSA implementation is the increasing economic autonomy of farmers. CSA causes a dramatic change in farming communities’ economic and social structure by distributing information about and providing access to climate-resilient methods. As the climate changes, farmers, significantly those already disadvantaged, can gain enormously from adopting climate-smart techniques. The increasing popularity of CSA is a promising indicator for the future of biodiversity conservation. CSA’s ecosystem-based approach and different crop varieties help cropland and wild regions coexist together. This collaborative effort helps to safeguard native plant species, keep pollinator populations stable, and mitigate the effects of habitat degradation.

The problem may also work in reverse directions. The agricultural sector also produces a large amount of GHGs. The sector’s share in GHG’s emissions in 2018 was 17%. Therefore, CSA implementation is crucial for lowering GHG emissions and protecting biodiversity.

Furthermore, it aids in enhancing farmland carbon storage. The Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming by reducing GHG emissions is tied directly to the success of the CSA. Agroforestry and carbon sequestration are two examples of CSA measures that could help India meet its international obligations and contribute to the global fight against climate change. Rather than being a rigid set of rules, CSA is more of a flexible concept with a wide range of potential applications. However, the most challenging aspect of dealing with global warming is to create localised responses. Therefore, investing in capacity-building programmes and providing practical CSA tools and knowledge is essential.

Production resources are diminishing, and demand for agricultural products is increasing; thus, there is a need for resource-efficient farming to cope with climate variability. CSA substantially contributes to climate adaptation, mitigation, and food security. Studies from different climate-smart techniques used in India show that they improve agricultural production, make agriculture sustainable and reliable, and reduce GHG emissions. One study from the northwest Indo-Gangetic Plain for wheat production shows that site-specific no-tillage is advantageous for fertilizer management and can boost yield, nutrient usage efficiency, and profitability while lowering GHG emissions.

A unique juncture

The majority of Indian farmers are small or marginal. Therefore, CSA can play a significant role in helping them increase their profits. The intersection of climate vulnerability and agricultural importance places India at a unique juncture where CSA adoption is not merely desirable but essential. The National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change, National Innovation on Climate Resilient Agriculture, Soil Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Biotech-KISAN, and Climate Smart Village are a few examples of government initiatives in India focusing on CSA. Various public and private sector entities such as farmer-producer organisations and NGOs are also working towards the adoption of CSA.

Explained | Why making agri commodity value chains sustainable is a tough task

CSA has the potential to assure food security, empower farmers, and protect our delicate ecosystems by merging innovation, resilience, and sustainability. In the face of a changing climate, the path of CSA stands out as a source of inspiration and transformation for a world working to ensure a sustainable future.

Ishawar Choudhary is pursuing Ph.D. in Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance at BITS Pilani, Rajasthan; Balakrushna Padhi is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance at BITS Pilani, Rajasthan. Views are personal

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Agriculture Water Management, Food Security, and Sustainable Agriculture in the People's Republic of China and India under Climate Changeto

27 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2024

Jeetendra Prakash Adyal

International Center for Biosaline Agriculture

Dil Bahadur Rahut

Asian Development Bank Institute

Augusto Becerra López-Lavalle

Tetsushi sonobe.

Date Written: July 24, 2024

Water shortage is one of the major environmental challenges in emerging Asian economies such as India and the People's Republic of China (PRC), presenting significant threats to livelihood and food security in coming decades. The growing population, increasing demand for food, rapid urbanization, and climate-induced water stress will make water an increasingly scarce and critical resource in these nations. Agriculture, as the largest water-consuming sector, accounting for 64% of water use in the PRC and 80% in India. Understanding both the demand and supply sides of water management in agriculture is crucial to addressing future water and food security in these countries. While there are significant differences between the PRC and India in agricultural water management, both countries have predominantly focused on supply-side measures, emphasizing sustainable production practices such as "more crop per drop". To manage agricultural water resources effectively and ensure long-term sustainability, it is essential to adopt a broader perspective that integrates a comprehensive food system and natural resource management approach. This holistic view will help in developing strategies that balance both the supply and Page 2 of 27 demand sides of water management, addressing the complex challenges of water scarcity in India and the PRC.

Keywords: agricultural water management, food security, sustainable agriculture, India, People's Republic of China

JEL Classification: Q25, Q50

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

International Center for Biosaline Agriculture ( email )

Dil bahadur rahut (contact author), asian development bank institute ( email ).

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Syngenta initiates ‘Climate Smart Project’ in Punjab, Haryana to tackle climate change

Company targets regenerative agriculture on 50 million hectares by 2030, says global ceo jeff rowe .

By Subramani Ra Mancombu

Global agricultural technology company Syngenta has initiated the “Climate Smart Project” along with its value chain partners in Haryana and Punjab to tackle climate change challenges that have led to fluctuations in rice production, the company’s global CEO Jeff Rowe has said.

The company has set a target of enabling regenerative agricultural practices across 50 million hectares by 2030. It is committed to innovations and will continue to bring these in crop protection, biological and seeds to help Indian agriculture get more sustainable and profitable, Rowe said in an email interaction with businessline .

Stating that Syngenta works with farmers across the globe to adapt and mitigate the challenges of climate change, he said under the “Climate Smart Project” soil health analysis is undertaken to regulate the use of fertilizers.

Success story

“For example, urea accounts for 82 per cent of the nitrogen source influencing greenhouse gas emissions, so we train growers on soil health. Crop residue management is also carried out to reduce burning. Every year, paddy farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh burn 23 million tonnes of crop residue,” the Syngenta global CEO said.

Read: Balanced cow nutrition: Essential for enhancing agricultural productivity

One of Syngenta’s success stories has been in India through its Climate Smart Agriculture programme for basmati rice. “This programme offers soil health analysis, crop residue and water management, stewardship, and tools to measure carbon sequestration. It has already reached 700 growers across nearly 14,000 hectares,” he said.

The company’s “SoilCare Program” is supporting Indian farmers by providing personalised soil reports and recommendations on better soil management. Participating farmers understand how to optimise their fertilizer application and receive training in best practices like crop rotation, Rowe said.

Read: Depression forms over Bay of Bengal, IMD upgrades outlook to deep depression by Monday

The programme has benefited 5,425 farmers so far covering 10,525 acres across 133 villages in northern India. “Farmers have reduced their costs by 15 per cent and increased yields by 10 per cent. We have undertaken this initiative with our NGO partner ISAP India Foundation, an organisation committed to advancing ag-based livelihoods and the economic empowerment of rural communities,” he said.

‘Exploring innovative solutions’

On its efforts to compete with its competitors who have launched direct seeded rice and zero tillage in wheat, the company’s global CEO said his company recognises the importance of sustainable agricultural practices that can enhance productivity while minimising environmental impact. “Our teams are continuously exploring innovative solutions and best management practices across various cultivation methods, and we are aware of the potential advantages of direct seeded rice and zero tillage wheat systems,” he said.

Syngenta is accelerating its product pipeline leveraging data and AI ( artificial intelligence ) across the company. “Data analytics is completely transforming our R&D efforts in genetics, chemistry and biologicals. All our research projects to find new active ingredients use machine learning models to optimise molecular design and selection across the phases of discovery, optimisation, and selection,” Rowe said.

New products

This translates into a major improvement in innovation value for farmers, including in India, from advanced breeding techniques to climate-resilient crop varieties to satellite imagery and remote sensing technologies to help treat crops.

Stating that the company continuously innovates and brings new products to Indian farmers across crop protection, seeds and digital solutions portfolios, he said some of them include introducing advanced input technologies, such as its broad-spectrum insecticide PLINAZOLIN and high-yielding hybrid rice varieties to “enhance crop productivity and resilience”.

“We are also leveraging digital technologies in India through solutions like our Cropwise Grower App, currently connecting 1.7 million registered farmers with crop advisors delivering recommendations on crop management to enable farmers to make informed decisions and optimise their yields,” said the Syngenta Global CEO.

Crop Doctor service

Its digital initiatives such as the CropWise Grower App and the Crop Doctor Service are helping farmers detect pest and diseases on their crops sooner and take remedial actions faster, ensuring the crop is not extensively damaged.

The company’s Crop Doctor Service offers immediate pest and disease identification to 1,50,000 farmers free of charge, he said, adding Syngenta has launched two crop protection technologies in India — PLINAZOLIN® and ADEPIDYN® technology.

PLINAZOLIN is an insecticide which is effective on a broad variety of crops, while ADEPIDYN is a fungicide that needs very few applications and extends the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables. It also protects the wheat crop against fungus fusarium, he said.

“We also introduced SapRaise TM (April 2024), aiming to set new standards for seedling quality and agricultural innovation as a model initiative for Maharashtra,” Rowe said.

SapRaise TM , a pioneering smart seedling solution, promises to bring about transformative change in the agricultural sector in Maharashtra and create a high-tech resource of quality vegetable seedlings for the farmers of Nashik and Pune, he said.

Drone technology

Syngenta was the first to adopt drone technology and it is training farmers in drone spraying. It is providing a drone spray service from growers in partnership with IoTech, a drone manufacturer and seller.

On regenerative agriculture, Rowe said Syngenta is supporting the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices to help farmers improve productivity, soil health, bio-diversity and mitigate climate change impact.

Rowe, who was in India last week after assuming charge as the global CEO, said he would be exploring how Syngenta could further leverage its expertise in areas such as digital agriculture, precision farming, and drone technology to help Indian farmers grow more “productively and to do so sustainably”.

Modelling the nexus between green energy, agricultural production, forest cover, and population growth towards climate change for the transition towards a green economy

Published: 09 September 2024

Cite this article

Karambir Singh Dhayal ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0000-4330 1 ,
David Forgenie ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4729-7326 2 ,
Arun Kumar Giri ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7122-4517 3 ,
Nikmatul Khoiriyah ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6818-9485 4 &
Wendy-Ann P. Isaac ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6043-6461 5

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India’s rapid industrialisation and burgeoning population have positioned the nation as a leading global carbon dioxide emitter primarily responsible for climate change. This study delves into various critical factors driving emissions and proposes actionable strategies for a sustainable green economy. This study examines the impact of the energy mix (comprising fossil fuel usage and green energy consumption), forest cover, population, and agricultural production towards carbon emissions (CO 2 ) in India from 1990 to 2019. This study makes use of the autoregressive distributed lagged model and co-integration analysis. The study also uses the Toda and Yamamoto causality test to explore causal relationships among variables. While green energy shows potential for CO 2 reduction, further efforts are needed to promote its use. The present study necessitates several urgent and robust policy interventions, including transitioning to clean energy, enforcing afforestation initiatives, managing population growth sustainably, and promoting eco-friendly agricultural practices. These measures are essential for balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability, aligning with India’s commitment to meeting the sustainable development goals.

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Karambir Singh Dhayal

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The contribution of the authors are as follows: Study Concepualisation, Design, Data Sourcing and Analysis, Manuscript Drafting: Karambir Singh Dhayal and David Forgenie. Data Analysis and Interpretation—David Forgenie and Nikmatul Khoiriyah. Project Supervision—Arun Kumar Giri, Nikmatul Khoiriyah, and Wendy-Ann P. Isaac. Writing and Revision—Karambir Singh Dhayal and David Forgenie. The first draft of the manuscript was written jointly by Karambir Singh Dhayal and David Forgenie. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Dhayal, K.S., Forgenie, D., Giri, A.K. et al. Modelling the nexus between green energy, agricultural production, forest cover, and population growth towards climate change for the transition towards a green economy. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05385-9

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Climate change resilient agricultural practices: A learning experience from indigenous communities over India

1 Introduction

2 Methodology

2.2 Understanding traditional practices and climate resiliency

2.3 Study area

3 Results and discussion

3.1.1 Apatani tribes (Eastern Himalaya).

3.1.2 Lahaula (Western Himalaya).

3.1.3 Dongria Kondh (Eastern Ghat).

3.1.4 Irular tribes (Western Ghat).

3.2 Climate change risk in indigenous agricultural landscape

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What have been the trends in rainfall and temperature over the past four and a half decades?

Figure 1. Temperature and rainfall: Comparison of Indian and international data

The productivity effects of weather

Short-run impact

Figure 2. Effects of temperature on yields in irrigated (green) and unirrigated (red) areas

Figure 3. Effects of rainfall on yields in irrigated (green) and unirrigated (red) areas

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