The Climate has been changing
and the temperature of the earth is on rise. Climate threatens everything including
agriculture. To have the trace of
climate change, the IPCC or Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provides
assessment reports. Basically, IPCC
produces an assessment on a specific issue and methodology Reports, which
provide practical guidelines for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories.
The Sixth Assessment Report AR6
The IPCC is currently in 6th
Cycle and it will be finalized in first half of 2022 under the Paris agreement.
The meeting to draft the
outline of the sixth assessment report took place in Addis Ababa in May 2017.
In Dec 2018, the IPCC has
published report on Global Warming at 1.5 degree Celsius. In the report there
was an emphasized on the need to strengthen and enhance existing coping
capacity and to remain committed to the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
The report has mentioned that the
world has become 1 degree Celsius warmer and due to human activities. The
warmer temperature of the earth has caused extreme events and obstruction to
the normal functioning of ecosystem.
Magnitude of such events has
impacted on the indigenous populations, local communities, migration,
livelihood and agriculture.
India and Agriculture
More than half of the
population of India gets employment from agriculture. A huge population also
needs food and other commodities which are produced by agriculture. Therefore,
there is a greater connect between agriculture, climate change and economy. Rivers
are polluted and dying, and rain is unpredictable. In such scenario agriculture
needs attention.
When the heat wave increases
When the heat wave increases it
impacts upon the livestock- it affects the crop, and the livestock. Climate change has caused farmed income loss,
and in un-irrigated areas it will increase 20 to 30 percent according to the
economic survey of 2017 to 2018.
Is it possible to prevent such
impact of climate change?
The climate change adaption
plan is needed for agriculture as well. Planned strategies would help in
reducing the menace however, along with small steps taken in agriculture; there
should be concrete efforts for reducing the rising temperature.
So, to cope with climate
change, there is a need to reshape the response at all level of decision
making. There are two types of level in agriculture- Micro and Macro. Micro is
for small and marginal farmers. They have to be included in safe planning as
well. At micro level the traditional wisdom has been encouraged, however, the
traditional knowledge is not sufficient to stand against the climate change. Climate
resilient technologies have to be promoted. The attitude shift is also the need
of hour. Climate exposure can be reduced through agronomics managements
practices such as inter and multiple cropping and crop rotation,, shift to non-farm
activities, insurance covers, Scaling greener and cleaner technologies like
solar pump, drip irrigation and sprinkler etc.
The problem is that there have
been several reports and the climate change has visible negatives yet the
process of adapting technologies is slow. Farmers often do not understand the
paper work, and they are unaware of the insurance schemes too. As a result as
National Sample Survey‘s 70th round showed that the very small
segment of agriculture households utilized crop insurance.
Macro Level
At macro level solutions, the
climate adaptation technologies are to be adapted. However, the Economic Survey
of 2017- 2018 reveals that the current developmental framework is yet to be
executed or at a nascent stage. Government’s planning and implementations have nowhere
started. Multiple policy scales are
required for developing possible synergy between micro-macro levels and the government
needs to address several cross – cutting issues. The clarity about identifying
the barriers – which hampered the implementation of the policies and adaptation
of new technologies by farmers have to be identified.
What can be done?
The proactive approach which is
solution based is the need of the hour. Promotion
of satellite- enabled agriculture risk management, creating micro level agro
advisories, providing customized real time data, and capacity building remain
the crucial areas to work.
There are various programmes
which have been initiated by the government like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi
Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Soil Health Card, Paramparagat Krishi
Vikas Yojana, and e-NAM etc. All these programmes should be implemented in
better ways as people in the village are not much getting benefitted with
these.
The exclusive schemes are available
for tackling the climate like- the National
Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), the National Mission for
Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), the National Adaptation Fund, and the State
Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC). However, again the implementation
and awareness is the need of this hour.
References
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/11/AR6_brochure_en.pdf
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/farming-in-a-warming-world/article25746161.ece
