Journal Article

Impact, adaptation, and mitigation of climate change in Indian agriculture

Pathak, H.

2023

Overview

Climate change poses serious risks to Indian agriculture as half of the agricultural land of the country is rainfed. Climate change affects crop yield, soil processes, water availability, and pest dynamics. Several adaptation strategies such as heat- and water stress-tolerant crop varieties, stress-tolerant new crops, improved agronomic management practices, improved water use efficiency, conservation agriculture practices and improved pest management, improved weather forecasts, and other climate services are in place to minimize the climatic risks. The agriculture sector contributes 14% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) from the country. Mitigation of GHG emission from agriculture can be achieved by changing land-use management practices and enhancing input-use efficiency. Experiments in India showed that methane emission from lowland rice fields can be reduced by 40–50% with alternate wetting and drying (AWD), growing shorter duration varieties, and using neem-coated urea according to soil health card (SHC) and leaf color chart (LCC). Dry direct-seeding of rice, which does not require continuous soil submergence, can reduce methane emission by 70–75%. Sequestration of carbon (C) in agricultural soil can be promoted with the application of organic manure, crop residues, and balanced nutrients. India has taken several proactive steps for addressing the issues of climate change in agriculture. Recently, it has also committed for reducing GHG emission intensity by 45% by 2030 and achieving net zero emission by 2070. The paper discusses the major impacts of climate change, potential adaptation, and mitigation options and the initiatives of Govt. of India in making Indian agriculture climate-smart.

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adaptation / Agricultural conservation / agricultural conservation practice / agricultural industry / Agricultural land / Agricultural practices / Agricultural production / agricultural soils / Agriculture / Agronomic crops / carbon / climate / Climate change / Climate change mitigation / color / Colour / Conservation practices / Crop fields / Crop residues / Crop yield / Crops / direct seeding / Drying / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecology / Ecotoxicology / Emissions control / emissions factor / Environment / Environmental impact / Environmental Management / Environmental monitoring / Environmental science / Floods / Greenhouse effect / Greenhouse gas emissions / Greenhouse gases / India / Land management / Land use / Land use management / leaves / Methane / Methane emissions / methane production / Mitigation / Monitoring/Environmental Analysis / Neem / Net zero / New varieties / Nutrients / Organic fertilizers / Organic wastes / Pest control / pest management / Pests / Rice / Rice fields / Seeding / Soil / Soil conservation / Soil dynamics / Soil fertility / Soil health / soil quality / Soil water / Soils / Submergence / Urea / Water availability / Water conservation / Water stress / Water use / Water use efficiency / weather / Weather forecasting / Wetting / zero emissions