Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture
According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), 2020-21 conducted by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the details of the State/UT-wise workforce engaged in the Agriculture Sector are given below.
To meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has launched a flagship network project namely National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). The project aims to study the impact of climate change on agriculture including crops, livestock, horticulture, and fisheries, and to develop and promote climate-resilient technologies in agriculture which will address vulnerable areas of the country the outputs of the project will help the districts and regions prone to extreme weather conditions like droughts, floods, frost, heat waves, etc. to cope with such extremes. The salient achievements under ICAR are an Annexure:
ICAR has developed resilient varieties in different crops tolerant to climatic stresses to improve food grain production in the face of changing climate. Since 2014, a total of 2122 varieties have been released out of which 1752 are climate resilient varieties which include 400 abiotic stress tolerant varieties and 1352 are biotic stress tolerant.
Sixty-eight location-specific climate-resilient technologies have been developed and popularized for wider adoption among farming communities.
Agricultural contingency plans for 650 districts have been prepared and State officials have been sensitized for preparedness through 57 State-level interface meetings during the past eight years. Agricultural contingency plans have been made available online for policymakers to take decisions in the event of delayed monsoons and other extreme weather events.
District-level risk and vulnerability assessment of Indian agriculture to climate change has been prepared which is useful for several Ministries/ Departments for prioritizing resources towards developmental programs.
Based on vulnerability assessment, climate-resilient technologies are being demonstrated on farmer’s fields in 151 clusters covering 446 villages.
At present, ICAR in collaboration with India Meteorological Department (IMD) is issuing Agromet advisories twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) to around 6 crore farmers of the country through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva program. The advisories are reaching the farmers through the m-KISAN portal, WhatsApp groups, SMS services etc.
During the past decade, 16,958 capacity-building programs were conducted throughout the country under the NICRA project to educate stakeholders on various aspects of climate change and resilient technologies, covering 5,14,816 different stakeholders including farmers so as to enable wider adoption of climate resilient technologies.
Further, to deal with the impact of climate change in food grain production, the Government is implementing National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). NMSA is one of the Missions within the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to the changing climate and to sustain increase in production. To promote efficient use of water and fertilizer through micro-irrigation, Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme is being implemented for which an amount of Rs. 16815.66 crore has been incurred with area coverage of 70.04 lakh hectare. Rainfed Area Development (RAD) scheme is being implemented to promote sustainable Integrated Farming System with an area coverage of 6.74 lakh hectare. for which an expenditure of Rs. 1511.56 crore has been incurred. For promoting organic farming, under Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER), 379 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 1.89 lakh farmers and covering an area of 1.73 lakh hectare. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is being implemented in which so far Rs. 13,300.08 crore has been released with area coverage of 11.26 lakh hectare. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated to promote organic farming in the country and so far 11.80 lakh ha area has been covered with 16.19 lakh farmers being benefitted. Soil health Cards/Soil Health Management Scheme is being implemented for which an expenditure of Rs. 1335.68 crore has been incurred so far for various activities for improving soil health and its fertility. Till now 22.71 crore grid based soil health cards have been distributed to farmers under the scheme.
With the help of technology interventions, the negative impact of climate change on agricultural production has been dealt with effectively. The foodgrain production has continuously increased in the country during last 5 years as follows;
( in million tonnes)
| Year | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
| Production of food grains | 285.01 | 285.21 | 297.50 | 310.74 | 315.72 |
This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
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SNC/PK/MS
Annexure
Percentage of usually working persons (ps+ss) engaged in agriculture sector during 2020-21 for each State/ UT
| State \ UT | percentage of usually working persons (ps+ss) engaged in agriculture sector |
| (1) | (3) |
| Andhra Pradesh | 48.10 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 53.59 |
| Assam | 40.40 |
| Bihar | 49.09 |
| Chhattisgarh | 66.02 |
| Delhi | 0.25 |
| Goa | 12.21 |
| Gujarat | 45.47 |
| Haryana | 28.25 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 57.57 |
| Jharkhand | 54.94 |
| Karnataka | 46.84 |
| Kerala | 25.53 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 60.40 |
| Maharashtra | 49.36 |
| Manipur | 30.61 |
| Meghalaya | 40.17 |
| Mizoram | 41.43 |
| Nagaland | 43.26 |
| Odisha | 46.84 |
| Punjab | 25.54 |
| Rajasthan | 55.97 |
| Sikkim | 44.01 |
| Tamil Nadu | 29.64 |
| Telangana | 45.79 |
| Tripura | 39.98 |
| Uttarakhand | 42.21 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 55.09 |
| West Bengal | 37.43 |
| Andaman & N. Island | 23.81 |
| Chandigarh | 0.48 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu | 20.65 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 40.94 |
| Ladakh | 37.49 |
| Lakshadweep | 24.31 |
| Puducherry | 18.67 |
| all India | 46.46 |