CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE (CRA)
1. Context
Climate change is real, and for India to continue meeting domestic food demands, agriculture needs to cope with the increasing unpredictability of the weather, declining soil health, and growing air pollution.
2. What is climate-resilient agriculture?
- Climate-resilient agriculture relies on a combination of biotechnological innovations and allied technologies to shape sustainable farming methods and lower reliance on chemical-based inputs, without compromising yields.
- Key approaches include the use of biofertilizers, biopesticides, and assessments of soil microbial health. Advances such as genome editing enable the development of crop varieties that can tolerate stresses like drought, high temperatures, salinity, and pest attacks.
- Alongside this, AI-based analytical tools process diverse climatic and agronomic data to design location-specific agricultural practices.
- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes climate-resilient agriculture as the capacity of farming systems to foresee, prepare for, adapt to, withstand, and recover from the effects of climate variability and extreme weather events.
3. Significance of CRA for India
- India’s agrarian economy supports a fast-expanding population, intensifying the demand for stable and sustained agricultural output.
- However, nearly 51% of the country’s net cultivated land depends on rainfall and contributes about 40% of total food production, rendering it highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations.
- Traditional agricultural practices by themselves are increasingly inadequate to cope with the mounting challenges posed by climate change.
- In this context, climate-resilient agriculture provides a range of technological solutions that aim to boost farm productivity while safeguarding ecological sustainability.
Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture:
- The National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), an initiative of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has examined the effects of climate change on farming systems and rural livelihoods.
- Findings suggest that without suitable adaptation strategies, projected climate changes during 2020–2039 could lead to yield declines of about 3% in irrigated rice, 7–28% in rainfed rice, 3.2–5.3% in wheat, and 9–10% in maize, while soybean yields may increase by 2.5–5.5%.
- Moreover, climate-induced extreme events such as droughts adversely impact food and nutritional intake, deepen poverty levels, trigger migration from rural areas, escalate farmer indebtedness, and weaken the adaptive capacity of agricultural communities.
4. What are CRA Practices?
- Agroforestry: Agroforestry refers to the integration of trees with agricultural crops, which contributes to better soil quality, limits land degradation, and supports ecological diversity. By improving moisture retention in the soil and offering diversified sources of income and resources, this approach provides multiple advantages to farming communities.
- Soil and Water Conservation: Measures such as contour bunds, farm ponds, and check dams play a crucial role in conserving soil moisture, preventing soil loss, and enhancing groundwater recharge. These interventions enable farmers to better manage drought conditions and water shortages, challenges that are intensifying due to climate change.
- Sustainable Agriculture: Approaches like crop diversification, organic cultivation, and integrated pest management minimize reliance on chemical inputs while restoring soil health. In addition, these methods help lower greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen farmers’ livelihoods and food security.
- Livestock Management: Practices including stall-feeding and crop–livestock integration enhance the efficiency and resilience of livestock production systems. At the same time, they reduce stress on natural resources, particularly grazing lands, which are increasingly under pressure as climate impacts intensify
5. What are Government Initiatives?
- The Government of India is implementing the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which serves as the overarching policy framework for climate-related interventions in the country.
- One of its key missions, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), focuses on strengthening the resilience of Indian agriculture to climate stress. Initially, NMSA was approved with three core components—Rainfed Area Development (RAD), On-Farm Water Management (OFWM), and Soil Health Management (SHM).
- Over time, additional initiatives were introduced, including the Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Mission Organic Value Chain Development for the North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER), and the Per Drop More Crop programme. Further, the restructured National Bamboo Mission (NBM) was launched in April 2018 to promote sustainable land use and livelihoods.
- In the research domain, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) initiated a flagship network programme titled National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in 2011 to advance climate-adaptive farming practices.
- This multi-sectoral and multi-location initiative addresses climate variability while catering to the diverse needs of stakeholders across different agro-climatic regions. Its major pillars include research, field-level demonstrations, and capacity building, along with the preparation of policy inputs on agriculture–climate linkages.
- Key achievements under ICAR’s climate resilience efforts include the development of 1,888 climate-resilient crop varieties and the preparation of District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) for 650 districts.
- To shield farmers—particularly small and marginal cultivators—from climate-related risks, the Government launched the yield-based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) alongside the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) from the Kharif season of 2016.
- These schemes aim to ensure income stability and promote sustainable agricultural production by offering financial assistance to farmers affected by crop losses due to natural calamities and adverse weather conditions.
6. India's Stand as of today
- In 2011, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) initiated a flagship network programme titled National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). To strengthen farmers’ capacity to cope with climate variability, the project has promoted and demonstrated location-specific climate-adaptive technologies across 448 climate-resilient villages.
- These interventions include practices such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), aerobic rice cultivation, direct-seeded rice, zero-tillage wheat, adoption of crop varieties resistant to extreme climatic stresses, and in-situ management of rice residues.
- Complementing these efforts, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been designed to improve farm productivity, particularly in rain-dependent regions, by emphasising integrated farming systems, efficient water management, soil health enhancement, and the coordinated use of resource-conserving practices.
- In recent years, the BioE3 policy has further recognised climate-resilient agriculture as a priority area for advancing biotechnology-driven solutions, many of which have already reached the commercial stage.
- A number of private sector firms now provide bio-inputs that enhance soil quality and lower reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
- At the same time, India’s digital agriculture ecosystem is rapidly expanding, with agritech startups delivering AI-based advisory services, precision irrigation systems, crop health surveillance, and yield forecasting tools to support climate-smart farming.
7. Way Forward
India encounters multiple constraints in expanding climate-resilient agriculture, particularly the limited uptake among small and marginal farmers due to challenges related to accessibility, awareness, and affordability. In addition, variations in the quality of biofertilisers and biopesticides have weakened farmer confidence in biological inputs. The diffusion of climate-resilient seed varieties has also been gradual, while advanced approaches such as gene-editing technologies are still at a nascent stage and unevenly adopted across States. Moreover, the digital divide restricts the effective use of precision farming tools and AI-driven advisory systems. These issues are further intensified by declining soil health, increasing water stress, and rapidly intensifying climate variability, which may surpass the pace of existing adaptation measures. Inadequate coordination across policies and institutions also poses a risk to the timely scaling of CRA initiatives.
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For Prelims: Climate Resilient Agriculture, National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), Soil Health Card Scheme (SHC)
For Mains: GS III - Environment and Ecology
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Previous Year Questions
1. In the context of India’s preparation for Climate -Smart Agriculture, consider the following statements:(2021)
Which of the statements given above are correct? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Answer (d) 2. With reference to the ‘Global Alliance for ClimateSmart Agriculture (GACSA)’, which of the following statements is/are correct? (2018)
Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 Answer (b) |
Source: The Hindu
