NEW
DELHI,AKASH DWIVEDI,The
government is doing all efforts to make Indian Agriculture climate resilient
but considering the challenges, there is still lot more to be done in terms of
scale of implementation and adoption more climate resilient technologies, said
Mr Shobhana K. Pattanayak, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers
Welfare at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi today.
The government
is giving adequate emphasis to make agriculture sustainable through effective
agronomic management including soil health and water resources, said Mr
Pattanayak, while inaugurating a ‘Managing Climate Risk in Agriculture,’
organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM).
The Pradhan
Mantri Krishi Bima Yojana (PMKBY) has been operationlised for addressing the
concerns of farmer due to crop damage and extreme climate events. Various other
initiatives like enhanced credit support, market infrastructure, post harvest
management are being emphasized for the benefit of farming community. Information and support and agriculture
extension systems are being strengthened through the Mission on Agriculture
Extension & Technology, said Mr Pattanayak.
The IMT
forecast on weather is a welcome development for us because we all know that
there has been a shortfall of rainfall in the last two seasons and most of the
mini parts of the country especially ten states are having drought like
conditions so the predictions of the normal monsoon is a very good news for all
of us especially the farmers because our khariff will go on in full swings”,
said Pattanayak.
On the issue of distribution concern
Pattanayak said, as you know the crops are sensitive to distribution of
rainfall and we expect that there should be even distribution of rainfall but
there has been prediction that around August and September rains may be
slightly more than in past, but we have to closely watch the situation.
The Agriculture ministry got a higher allocation for micro irrigation
this year and for entire Sinchayee Yojana which includes the micro irrigation,
stated the Secretary.
The
adverse impacts of climate changes can therefore be devastating for
agriculture, disproportionately affecting the poor. Rise in temperatures would
affect tropical countries like India much more as these are already at the
higher end of the temperature band.
The
recent study has done by Indian Agricultural Research institute indicate the
possibility of loss of 4-5 million tons in wheat production with every rise of
1 degree centigrade temperature throughout the growing period even after
considering carbon fertilization. Losses
for other crops are still uncertain but are expected to be smaller, especially
for crops grown during monsoon season, said
Pattanayak.
To
minimize the impact of climate variabilities, government has developed
contingency crop plans based on models on projected climate conditions for
about 600 districts taking into account 126 agro-ecological zones of the
country, highlighted Pattanayak.
To
focus on sustained production of specific commodities to meet the projected
consumption demand, National Food Security Mission has been launched to address
the production and productivity with respect to major crops viz rice, wheat and
pulses.
For
increasing productivity as well as encouraging economic returns from the
wasteland, dry & degraded lands, horticulture plantations have been
encouraged under the scheme of National Horticulture Mission (NHM).
Ambassador
Jonathan Addleton, Mission Director, USAID in India said ‘lack of reliable
climate information at local level is one of the primary challenges that affect
decision-making at the farmer level. There is a critical need to improve access
to good scientific data and a comprehensive approach to utilizing this data,
supported by appropriate risk mitigation approaches’.
To fill thus critical void, USAID-Skymet
program’s is establishing a network of ‘Automatic Weather Stations’ in 31
districts across nine states in India. The program sends daily crop advisory to
farmers as a text message, alerting them about today’s weather conditions. To
further mitigate risks, the program is also promoting farmers to purchases crop
insurance. Majority of smallholders farmer in India and in other developing
countries are vulnerable and do not have the financial capacity to mitigate
risks associated with crop failure, said Ambassador.
The India-US strategic
partnership is a significant contributor to regional and global stability and
prosperity and the two governments are working together and leveraging our
combined capacities to assist other developing countries and address global
development challenges for the benefit of the wider region and the world. This
program will not only strengthen the agricultural sector in India, but also
create stories of success and resilience that will replicated across Asia and
Africa, added Ambassador Addleton.
