"CSA is a holistic and multi-dimensional approach that integrates the climate lens to tackle food insecurity, increase agricultural productivity, and promote sustainable agriculture. CSA does not necessarily imply the introduction of new techniques or technologies but puts forward a suite of simple and smart agricultural practices to boost productivity, improve resilience, and reduce GHG emissions by keeping sustainability at its core."
The climate crisis is real and set to intensify every passing minute if pre-emptive measures are not taken. Agriculture stands at a double whammy of climate change. It contributes to 19–29% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but also bears the brunt of climate change in terms of decreased productivity.
It is estimated that the productivity of most crops will decrease by 10-40% by 2100 due to increases in temperature, rainfall variability, and a decrease in irrigation water.
The strategic importance of a sector like agriculture in India is conclusive. It contributes nearly 18% to the GDP and employs over ~46% of the workforce. Over 89.4% of the farmers in India are small and marginal farmers who own less than two hectares of land and many of them even live below the poverty line.
They stand particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change in the form of higher cost of production, reduced income, loss of livelihood, increased incidence of crop failure due to unforeseen events and pest attacks, and shorter growing periods. A McKinsey research estimates that nearly 80 percent of all smallholder farmers in India could be affected by at least one climate hazard by 2050.
Today, India faces multifaceted challenges in the form of food insecurity, lower agricultural productivity, and climate change. For India to achieve the net-zero commitment by 2070, it will require farmers to transition to less carbon-intensive agriculture. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) stands as the most viable contestant to solve the conundrum.
CSA is a holistic and multi-dimensional approach that integrates the climate lens to tackle food insecurity, increase agricultural productivity, and promote sustainable agriculture. CSA does not necessarily imply the introduction of new techniques or technologies but puts forward a suite of simple and smart agricultural practices to boost productivity, improve resilience, and reduce GHG emissions by keeping sustainability at its core.
Some simple yet effective techniques that are a good starting point for small and marginal farmers to become climate-smart growers are:
- Soil smart: Integrate agroforestry into agriculture, grow cover crops, undertake vermicomposting and mulching, include legumes in the crop mix to reduce external nitrogen application, ensure regular soil health checks, and guide usage of fertilizers based on soil test results and by using leaf color charts to improve soil fertility, prevent nutrient runoff and retain organic soil cover.
- Water smart: Transition or compliment techniques like drip or sprinkler irrigation, rainwater harvesting, precision farming, micro-irrigation, and use of solar-powered irrigation to optimize water efficiency and harvest more crops per drop. For instance, Oorja solar-powered irrigation, milling, and cooling services to smallholder farmers on a pay-per-use basis.
- Crop smart: Practice crop diversification, and crop rotation, and use climate-resilient varieties (i.e. heat, flood, drought, and pest resistance based on need) of seeds to reduce the chance of crop failure during adverse climate events. The selection of seed variety becomes extremely critical for rice cultivators as rice cultivation is India's second biggest source of agriculture-based emissions.
- Pest smart: Optimize the use of fertilizers based on a customized combination of biological, cultural, and chemical methods, invest in pest-resistant seedlings, and maximize the use of manual weeding to reduce pest-based loss without compromising the quality.
- Livestock smart: Use better breeds of livestock, ensure continuous monitoring, and timely vaccination, practice rotational grazing, and maintain quality fodder to reduce methane emissions, increase productivity, and prevent disease outbreaks.
- Process smart: Optimize the farm processes through the synergy of the latest tools with traditional tools, minimize on-farm loss through better storage and packaging, and utilize crop waste for productive purposes such as the production of biogas, composting, and fodder/animal feed.
However, the adoption of CSA remains low in India. To drive mass uptake of CSA, we need efforts at the macro, meso, and micro levels:
Macro (at the government and development institutions level)
Incentives in the form of subsidies, Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) , and government schemes need to be re-calibrated to encourage farmers to adopt CSA.
Networks of on-ground organizations working closely with farmers like FPOs, KVKs, NGOs, and MFIs must be leveraged to spread awareness and impart training to drive the benefits of CSA. Adequate investment in infrastructure and collaboration with private agencies for research and innovation is crucial to making CSA mainstream in the farming parlance.
Meso (Private sector)
The private sector should play a big role in integrating technology with agriculture. Technologies like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and IVR must be harnessed to improve agricultural productivity sustainably.
Financial service providers including loan providers and insurance companies must capitalize on the opportunity and design loans and insurance products to mitigate the impacts of climate change and promote CSA.
Micro (Farmer level)
CSA can be successful in its true sense when farmers are well equipped with the trust, skills, and knowledge to practice CSA on farms. To achieve this, capacity-building sessions for farmers via training, workshops, and live demonstrations must be implemented.
In a nutshell, climate-smart agriculture offers a promising pathway to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It has an immersive potential to revolutionize the agricultural landscape of India. Now is the right time to build a sustainable foundation of an agriculture ecosystem that integrates a climate lens and mitigates climate risks.
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