Agronomic innovations for climate change adaptation and mitigation

Abstract

Climate change and variability are considered biggest threats to agricultural sustainability and severely impact agricultural production and livelihoods of farmers, particularly in developing countries like India. Indian agriculture is more vulnerable as majority of farmers are smallholders, monsoon dependent, subsistent in nature, with poor coping mechanisms. Adaptation and mitigation technologies to climate change and variability play an important role in enhancing productivity, contribute to resilience and mitigation wherever possible. Adaptation and mitigation options are context–specific and prioritization of technologies is to be taken up based on biophysical environment and the resource endowments of farmers. The approach is to stabilize productivity during stress situations and to maximize production during favourable conditions and the extent of yield improvement is dependent on the situation. Several mitigation technologies such as systems of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation, rice–irrigation methods (16–41%), systems of planting (21–50%), carbon sequestration through agroforestry (1.6–4.4 t/ha/year), zero–till (10–79%), balanced ration in animals (6–21%) are developed and the extent of mitigation is variable. Efforts are to be made to popularize these technologies among the farming community, so as to enhance their adoption. Efforts are also to be made to integrate the promising technologies into the ongoing developmental programmes of the state and central governments, so that the benefits of enhanced productivity and adaptation and mitigation to climate change can be achieved at a significant scale.