Climate Change Adaptation and Agriculture

Every facet of economic growth is affected by climate change.  However, agriculture suffers the brunt year in and year out either with drought, flood, high temperatures or outbreak of pests and diseases.  The cumulate climate change effect on agriculture results in reduced agricultural production and labor productivity, and incidences of poverty and youth unemployment.

Failure to ensure sustained agricultural production has adverse social and political implication demanding unprecedented level of political commitment with increased investments at national and local levels. 

Farmers are trapped in a cycle of poverty and vulnerability not only due to diminishing resources but also due to the declining productivity of the resources.

Agriculture and climate change are naturally inter-linked and have negative correlation, and they cannot be separated.  Agriculture, the way it is, has been adversely affected by climate change but agriculture can and has the potential to be the solution to climate change. 

Intensification of food production through better access to improved seed of stress tolerant varieties, soil fertility management, efficient use of available water, diversification towards higher value crops, value adding (processing),and marketing and storage infrastructure have always been advocated.  But with the adverse impact of climate change setting in increasingly, the essence of advocacy is eminently shifting from prosperity to survival, and hence the adoption of technologies available for climate change adaptation can no longer be kept at bay.

Climate forecasting and provision of timely advice to all stakeholders, and weather-related crop and livestock insurance are now the strategies for survival and have become more critical than ever.

The array of adaptation options are available, ranging from purely technological measures to managerial adaptation and policy reform. However, recognizing the receding water resources, receding glaciers of Himalaya, and increasing demand of water by growing urban centers, industries and hydropower, water should be the starting point for climate change adaptation, and it should begin with capacity building. 

The imperative is to assess how technical, policy and institutional interventions enable farmers to adapt to climate change.  It is justified by the fact that greater impact of climate change is being felt first and most severely by the farmers.  Where agriculture is largely rain fed, the extreme rainfall events always have dire consequences.

It is impending that the predicted impacts of climate change is introduced into development planning and policy decisions supporting adoption of best practices, water use technologies, water resources management and conservation. 

Capital investment for water resource conservation at local level, small irrigation schemes for food crops and capital investment support for water harvesting and efficient use of available water using drip and other micro-irrigation technologies for horticultural crops should be the preferred policy direction.