Smart Practices and Technologies for Climate Resilient Agriculture

Abstract

The National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary network project launched by ICAR in 2011. The project aims to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate variability through strategic research and technology demonstrations. Technology Demonstration Component (TDC) of NICRA offers a great opportunity to work with farmers to address current climate variability with matching responses. On-farm participatory demonstrations of available technologies are being implemented in 100 most vulnerable districts. Climatic vulnerabilities addressed are drought, flood, cyclone, heat wave, cold wave etc. Interventions include resource conservation practices and technologies for natural resource management, and efficient use of resources and inputs for improved crop, livestock and fisheries production. Realizing the need for support in the form of better access to farm machinery and implements for wider adoption of resilient practices and technologies by farmers, custom hiring centres (CHCs) were established in the NICRA villages. Village climate risk management committees were established to prioritize the interventions, resource allocations and running of village level institutions like CHCs. The overall focus of technology demonstrations under NICRA is to enhance resilience of farms and the farming community to climate risks so as to ensure sustainability over a period of time. Enhancing resilience is the key to achieve sustainability in agriculture especially in the context of climate vulnerability. Thus the focus is on adaptation to climate variability and entails appropriate responses to contingency situations. Sustainability is the immediate goal in highly intensive production systems facing natural resource degradation. Therefore, the main focus of technology demonstrations in such regions is not on enhancing productivity but on interventions related to coping with vulnerability as well as improvement in natural resource use efficiency for sustaining the productivity gains already achieved. This publication attempts to capture and highlight some of the key interventions that were successful in participatory demonstrations and have the potential for further up-scaling though various Missions under the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC), especially under the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture. Technology demonstrations will be expanded to cover more climatically vulnerable districts in the XII plan and we believe that many more resilient practices and technologies to address climate risks will be identified for mainstreaming and further up-scaling.