16-Dec-2022: Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture

According to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2020-21 conducted by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the details of State/UT-wise workforce engaged in Agriculture Sector are given at below.

To meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has launched a flagship network project namely National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). The project aims to study the impact of climate change on agriculture including crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries and to develop and promote climate resilient technologies in agriculture which will address vulnerable areas of the country and the outputs of the project will help the districts and regions prone to extreme weather conditions like droughts, floods, frost, heat waves, etc. to cope with such extremes.

ICAR has developed resilient varieties in different crops tolerant to climatic stresses to improve the food grain production in the face of changing climate. Since 2014, a total of 2122 varieties have been released out of which 1752 are climate resilient varieties which includes 400 abiotic stress tolerant varieties and 1352 are biotic stress tolerant.

Sixty eight location-specific climate resilient technologies have been developed and popularized for wider adoption among the farming communities.

Agricultural contingency plans for 650 districts have been prepared and State officials have been sensitized for preparedness through 57 State-level interface meetings during the past eight years. Agricultural contingency plans have been made available online for policy makers to take decisions in the event of delayed monsoons and other extreme weather events.

District level risk and vulnerability assessment of Indian agriculture to climate change has been prepared which is useful for several Ministries/ Departments for prioritizing resources towards developmental programs.

Based on vulnerability assessment, climate resilient technologies are being demonstrated on farmer’s fields in 151 clusters covering 446 villages.

At present, ICAR in collaboration with India Meteorological Department (IMD) is issuing Agromet advisories twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) to around 6 crore farmers of the country through Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva program. The advisories are reaching the farmers through m-KISAN portal, WhatsApp groups, SMS services etc.

During the past decade, 16,958 capacity building programs were conducted throughout the country under NICRA project to educate stakeholders on various aspects of climate change and resilient technologies, covering 5,14,816 different stakeholders including farmers so as to enable wider adoption of climate resilient technologies.

Further, to deal with the impact of climate change in food grain production, the Government is implementing National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). NMSA is one of the Missions within the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate and to sustain increase in production. To promote efficient use of water and fertilizer through micro-irrigation, Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme is being implemented for which an amount of Rs. 16815.66 crore has been incurred with area coverage of 70.04 lakh hectare. Rainfed Area Development (RAD) scheme is being implemented to promote sustainable Integrated Farming System with an area coverage of 6.74 lakh hectare. for which an expenditure of Rs. 1511.56 crore has been incurred. For promoting organic farming, under Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER), 379 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 1.89 lakh farmers and covering an area of 1.73 lakh hectare. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is being implemented in which so far Rs. 13,300.08 crore has been released with area coverage of 11.26 lakh hectare. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated to promote organic farming in the country and so far 11.80 lakh ha area has been covered with 16.19 lakh farmers being benefitted. Soil health Cards/Soil Health Management Scheme is being implemented for which an expenditure of Rs. 1335.68 crore has been incurred so far for various activities for improving soil health and its fertility. Till now 22.71 crore grid based soil health cards have been distributed to farmers under the scheme.

With the help of technology interventions, the negative impact of climate change on agricultural production has been dealt with effectively.

The foodgrains production has continuously increased in the country during last 5 years as follows;

( in million tonnes)

9-Feb-2021: Effect of Climate Change on Agriculture

Climate change is perceptible through a rise in all India mean temperature and increased frequency of extreme rainfall events in the last three decades. This causes fluctuation in production of major crops in different years.

Impact of climate change on Indian agriculture was studied under National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). Rainfed rice yields in India are projected to reduce marginally (<2.5%) in 2050 and 2080 and irrigated rice yields by 7% in 2050 and 10% in 2080 scenarios. Further, wheat yield projected to reduce by 6-25% in 2100 and   maize yields by 18-23%.  Future climates are likely to benefit chickpea with increase in productivity (23-54%).

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has initiated a network project NICRA during 2011 to address the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture. NICRA project is being reviewed by a High Level Monitoring Committee (HLMC) under the Chairmanship of Secretary, DARE & DG, ICAR with invited members representing different Ministries, Government of India. This committee recommends measures to be taken through NICRA for making Indian agriculture more resilient to changing climate. Besides an expert committee periodically review the project and advise on various aspects.

Vulnerability assessment of Indian Agriculture to climate change is undertaken by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Such an assessment was for 573 rural districts of India (excluding the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep). Based on the vulnerability analysis, 109 districts out of 573 rural districts (19% of total districts) are ‘very high-risk’ districts, while 201 districts are risk districts.

Integrated simulation modelling studies indicated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, maximum temperature is expected to increase by 1 to 1.3oC in 256 districts, by 1.3 to 1.6 oC in 157 districts (2020-2049).  The increase ranged from <1.3 oC in 199 districts to >1.6 oC in 89 districts. Cultivation of wheat in these districts is likely to be affected by heat stress.

Under NICRA project, wheat germplasm comprising of advanced breeding lines and land races have been screened for heat/drought tolerance. ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has released the high yielding varieties such as HD 2967 and HD 3086 which are being grown in large areas of North-west and North India. Zero till planting of wheat has advanced the wheat sowing in Punjab and Haryana.

20-Mar-2020: Action-Plan to tackle Adverse Impact of Global Warming on Food Crops

Global Warming associated with the increase in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is one of the reasons for the increase in extreme weather events. Due to global warming agriculture sector is likely to be affected and climate change is expected to impact yields of agriculture crops in a business as usual scenario.

Simulation studies using integrated modelling framework showed that rainfed rice yields in India are projected to reduce marginally (<2.5%) in 2050 and 2080 scenarios while irrigated rice yields are projected to reduce by 7% in 2050 and 10% in 2080 scenarios. Climate change is projected to reduce wheat yield by 6-25% towards the end of the century with significant spatio-temporal variations. Climate change in 2050 and 2080 scenarios is projected to reduce the kharif maize yields by 18 to 23%. Kharif groundnut yields are projected to be increased by 4-7% in 2050 scenarios where as in 2080 scenario the yield is likely to decline by 5%. Future climates are likely to benefit chickpea with increase in productivity (23-54%).

During XII Plan (2012-2018), more than 400 climate resilient germplasm lines have been identified and 58 genotypes characterised with high water and nutrient use efficiency by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

 National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) one of the missions under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate.

National Food Security Mission (NFSM) programme is implemented in the identified districts across the country with the objective of increasing foodgrains production through area expansion and productivity enhancement, restoring soil fertility and productivity at individual farm level and enhancing farm level economy.

 ICAR has launched a flagship network project National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA).

The NICRA aims at strategic research on adaptation and mitigation, demonstration of technologies on farmers’ fields and creating awareness among farmers and other stakeholders to minimize the impacts of global warming on agriculture. Under this project, large number of indigenous genetic resources and improved crop varieties of pulses (black gram, green gram, pigeon pea, chickpea) and cereals (rice and wheat) are screened for major abiotic stresses like drought and heat to identify superior cultivars for large scale adoption in farmer’s fields genetic materials for cultivation at farmers field. In the process number of genetic materials including improved varieties were identified, some of which are already in the farmer’s fields. Besides, location specific NRM technologies are being demonstrated under Technology Demonstration Component of NICRA in 151 climatically vulnerable districts to achieve climate resilient agriculture.

17-Mar-2020: Impact of Climate Change on Farmers

The country has initiated action to address the problems likely to arise due to climate change. These efforts have provided valuable inputs in terms of the regional and national level impacts of climate variability and climate change on crops, horticulture, livestock and fishery. Through its programmes and schemes, focus on climate resilient agriculture, appropriate adaptation strategies have been devised for ensuring food security, enhanced livelihood opportunities and economic stability.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), one of the Missions under National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC), includes programmatic interventions like Soil Health Card (SHC), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), Rainfed Area Development (RAD), National Bamboo Mission (NBM) and Sub-mission on Agro Forestry (SMAF). These and other programmes including Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) are ensuring judicious use of natural resources. Assistance is provided under National Food Security Mission (NFSM) for inter alia stress tolerant/climate resilient varieties of food grains.

Under NMSA following ten deliverables are monitored:

1. Area under organic farming,
2. Production of Bio-fertilizers,
3. Precision Irrigation,
4. SRI/ Direct Seeded Rice from Transplantation,
5. Crop diversification,
6. Additional Area under plantation in Arable land,
7. Climate Resilient Varieties (CRV) Identified/ Released,
8. Identification of genotypes of crops with enhanced CO2 fixation potential and less water consumption & Nutrients, and Climate Resilient genotypes with greater adaptation to drought, flood, salinity and high temperature,
9. Coverage of milch animals under ration balancing programme and
10. Establishment of bypass protein feed making unit.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed 45 models for climate resilient Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) which are replicated in Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) for demonstration and extended through the Rainfed Area Development (RAD) programme. Climate resilient villages have been developed, one in each of 151 districts under the project National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). This follows a multi-pronged strategy encompassing strategic research on adaptation, mitigation and demonstration of technologies on farmers’ fields to create awareness, aiming mainly to evolve crop varieties tolerant to climatic stresses like floods, droughts, frost, inundation due to cyclones and heat waves. An atlas on vulnerability of Indian agriculture to climate change has been prepared by Central Research Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad. District Agriculture Contingency Plans for 648 districts have been prepared for managing weather aberrations for sustainable agriculture.

Due to preparedness and introduction of climate resilient varieties, total food grain has increased from 208.60 Million Tonnes in 2005-06 to 284.95 Million Tonnes in 2018-19 (4th Adv. Est.) and horticulture production from 116.9 Million Tonnes in 2004- 05 to 313.85 Million Tonnes in 2018-19 (3rd Adv. Est.).