Climate Change and Agriculture: Adaptation and Mitigation

Abstract

Agriculture sector not only contributes to GHGs, but is very sensitive to climate change. Crop yields are influenced by variations in climatic factors such as precipitation, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and the frequency and severity of extreme events like droughts, floods, hot wave, cold wave, windstorms and hailstorms. Adverse impact on agriculture will pose serious risks to economy and livelihood security of agrarian class in particular and the country as a whole. Farmers have, so far, been coping with erratic climatic conditions by adjusting their farming practices. Scientific management practices have also been developed to reduce adverse impacts of natural climate variability. The projected climate change and associated variability, however, brings new risks that will require new adaptation and mitigation strategies. Considering the multi-dimensional facets of climate change, the book has been compiled to address various relevant issues to sensitize the stakeholders about different aspects of climate change and their impacts on arid and semi-arid agriculture.