Need for Climate-Smart Agriculture in India

In Context

• Climate-smart agriculture has the potential to assure food security, empower farmers, and protect our delicate ecosystems.

How Climate Change and Food Insecurity Related

The two most important issues humanity facing in the 21st century are climate change and food insecurity. 

• Challenges of climate change:
  • Some of the ongoing effects of climate change, Like heat waves, flash floods, droughts, and cyclones, are negatively influencing lives and livelihoods.
  • The world’s southern continents are reportedly experiencing severe drought due to climate change, which negatively impacts agricultural production and farmers’ livelihoods. 
• Threats of Climate change for agriculture:
  • As a result of climate change, traditional farming practices are becoming less productive.
    • Farmers are taking a variety of adaptation measures to reduce the negative effects of climate change. 
  • The future impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity could be substantial.
    • In India, crop yield decline owing to climate change (between 2010 and 2039) could be as high as 9%. 
• Concerns of food insecurity:
  • Both population expansion and dietary changes are contributing to an increase in the demand for food. 
  • The need for a holistic strategy is driven by climate change’s dual challenges of adaptation and mitigation, and the pressing need for agricultural production to rise by 60% by 2050 in order to fulfil food demand.

What is Climate-smart agriculture (CSA)

• Climate-smart agriculture is an approach to transform food and agriculture systems to support sustainable development and safeguard food security under climate change. 
• Objective: CSA comprises three pillars or objectives:
  • sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes;
  • adapt and build resilience to climate change; and
  • reduce/remove GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions, where possible.

• Ways of climate-smart practices include:
  • Water-smart, weather-smart, energy-smart, and carbon-smart practices. 
  • They improve productivity, deal with land degradation, and improve soil health.
• How?
  • Improvements in agroforestry, sustainable water management, and precision agriculture are all concrete examples of CSA ideas in action, and they are not limited by any one country. 
  • CSA promotes crop diversification, increases water efficiency, and integrates drought-resistant crop types, all of which help lessen the disruptive effects of climate change. 
  • There has been a worldwide uptick in community-supported agriculture efforts.
    • These efforts are made in an attempt to create agricultural systems that are both resilient and environmentally friendly. 
• CSA in India:
  • The National Action Plan on Climate Change emphasises the role of climate-resilient agriculture in India’s adaptation measures. 
  • Government initiatives in India focusing on CSA: The National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change, National Innovation on Climate Resilient Agriculture, Soil Health Mission, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Biotech-KISAN, and Climate Smart Village are a few examples of government initiatives in India focusing on CSA. 
  • Public and private sector initiatives: Various public and private sector entities such as farmer-producer organisations and NGOs are also working towards the adoption of CSA.

Significance of CSA:

• Enhanced output with ecological stability:
  • The importance of CSA lies in its ability to increase agricultural output while maintaining ecological stability. 
  • This relationship is not only a desirable outcome, but also necessary for long-term food security and sustainable resource use in a warming world.
• Increased resilience:
  • By reducing exposure to climate-related dangers and shocks, CSA increases resilience in the face of longer-term stressors like shorter seasons and erratic weather patterns. 
• Economic stability:
  • In addition to these benefits, a significant outcome of CSA implementation is the increasing economic autonomy of farmers. 
  • CSA causes a dramatic change in farming communities’ economic and social structure by distributing information about and providing access to climate-resilient methods. 
• Uplifting disadvantaged farmers:
  • As the climate changes, farmers, significantly those already disadvantaged, can gain enormously from adopting climate-smart techniques. 
  • The vast majority of Indian farmers are tiny and marginal. As a result, CSA has the potential to significantly enhance their profitability.
• Reduced GHG emissions:
  • The agricultural sector also produces a large amount of GHGs. The sector’s share in GHG’s emissions in 2018 was 17%. 
  • Therefore, CSA implementation is crucial for lowering GHG emissions and protecting biodiversity.
  • Furthermore, it aids in enhancing farmland carbon storage. 

Way ahead

• The most challenging aspect of dealing with global warming is to create localised responses.
  • Therefore, investing in capacity-building programmes and providing practical CSA tools and knowledge is essential.
• India’s CSA initiatives, like as agroforestry and carbon sequestration, can help satisfy international obligations and combat climate change.
• India’s climate fragility and agricultural importance make CSA implementation vital, not just desirable.

Read: World Economic Situation and Prospects Report 2024 on Climate Change and Food Inflation

Daily Mains Question [Q] Adoption of Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in India is not merely desirable but essential. Analyse.