Climate change action plan aims at sustainable agriculture

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New Delhi, Jun 30: India’s new national action plan on climate change that aims to chart a roadmap for ecologically sustainable development in consonance with international norms plans to make the country’s agriculture sector more resilient to climate change.

The action plan, unveiled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the government will identify and develop new varieties of crops, especially thermal resistant crops and alternative cropping patterns, capable of withstanding extremes of weather, long dry spells, flooding and variable moisture availability.

“Agriculture will need to be progressively adapted to anticipated climate change and our agriculture research systems must be oriented to monitor and evaluate climate change and recommend changes in agriculture practices accordingly,” the policy said.

In India, vast swathes of agricultural land are either totally or partially dependent on natural conditions and every year produce worth millions of rupees is lost due to floods or rain scarcity. As per official estimates just around 40% of the country’s arable land is under irrigation, the rest depends on monsoon for soil moisture.

A classic case of how climate change can impact the country’s agriculture production is in northern provinces of Punjab and Haryana, wherein ground water depletion and heightened temperatures have started threatening crop production. The situation is more acute in those areas, where irrigation is almost negligible.

The action plan on climate change seeks to address this very issue through better sharing of information and a convergence between traditional systems of knowledge and practice of modern tools.