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Designing climate resilient agricultural systems with some examples from India

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11931/
 
Title Designing climate resilient agricultural systems with some examples from India
 
Creator Whitbread, A M
Dhulipala, R K
Nedumaran, A
Padhee, A K
Padmaja, R
Ramraj, P
Rao, K P C
Shalander, K
Zougmore, R B
 
Subject Climate Resilient Technologies
Food and Nutrition
Climate Change
 
Description Climate variability is a major source of risk in food production
in the semi-arid tropics that are home to almost 2.5
billion people. With other biophysical, socio-economic and
political factors, climate risk contributes enormously to
food insecurity, economic losses, and poverty. This situation
is likely to be exacerbated by the projected changes in
climate. Past and ongoing work has enabled us to understand
the impacts of climate variability and change on
smallholder agriculture and the perceptions and coping
strategies being adopted by farmers. Research has also
identified a number of potential options that can contribute
to improved management of agricultural systems under
variable climatic conditions. Agricultural productivity and
profitability under these high climate risk environments
aretherefore dependent on: (i) the inherent resilience of the
farming enterprises which is a function of farm design
within the context of the agricultural innovation system
(we term strategic); and (ii) how well the farm activities are
planned and executedin the context of the climatic risks
(we term tactical). The concepts of climate-resilient agriculture or climatesmart
agriculture (CSA) have also emerged in response to
the need to manage a variable and changing climate and to
a large extent, build on well-established agronomic principles
and crop improvement. However, the objectives of
CSA are much broader and encompass increasing productivity
and incomes, adapting practices and technologies to
a changing climate and minimising emissions from agriculture,
including the capture of greenhouse gases into soils.
According to FAO (2021), these objectives may not always
be met simultaneously, and consequently, the CSA approach
should attempt to reduce trade-offs and promote
synergies in their application considering the context.
CSA is a broad catch-all term and encompasses actions
at all levels from farm through to country and regions,
implemented by farmers, the private sector, community
organisations and governments. For example, a study by
FAO (2021) found that the Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Investment
Plan (CSAIP) for Mali, developed by the Ministry
of Agriculture, proposed eight climate-smart crop and
livestock investments (value chains for non-timber forest
products, flood recession agriculture, livestock, the integration
of millet, sorghum and legumes, vegetables, the restoration
of degraded lands, sustainable rice intensification
and wheat).
For the purposes of this short review, we will focus on
CSA as it relates to decisions made at the farm level and
may encompass single technological innovations (e.g., a
more heat or drought tolerant crop variety), packages of
innovations (e.g., a bundle of agronomic practices with
climate information for decision-making) through to the
design of farms and farming systems to cope with climate
variability and extreme events. Examples from semi-arid
farming systems in India are used.
 
Date 2021-11
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11931/1/Whitbread_etal_ClimateResilence_5thIntAgronConf_Hyd_2021.pdf
Whitbread, A M and Dhulipala, R K and Nedumaran, A and Padhee, A K and Padmaja, R and Ramraj, P and Rao, K P C and Shalander, K and Zougmore, R B (2021) Designing climate resilient agricultural systems with some examples from India. In: 5th International Agronomy Congress, 23-27 November 2021, Hyderabad, India.