It covers the effect of climate change in agriculture and what are the different adaptation strategies are available to the farmers.

1. Adaptation to Climate
Change in Agriculture
By-
Rupan Raghuvanshi
Research Scholar
G.B.P.U.A & T, Pantnagar
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2. Introduction
 Climate is a measure of the average pattern of
variation in temperature, humidity, precipitation and
other meteorological variables in a given region over
long period of time.
 Climate dictates where and how species can survive.
 Climatic conditions help to shape various ecosystems
and habitats around the globe. A particular climate
can be a boon to one species and a devastation to
another.
 It is considered as a base for survival of flora and
fauna
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3. Continued…
 It is also a fact that the climate has changed, is
changing and will continue to change regardless of
what investments in mitigation are made (Joel et al.
1998).
 “Climate change" means a change of climate which
is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity
that alters the composition of the global atmosphere
and which is in addition to natural climate
variability observed over comparable time periods.
 It is irreversible process.
Source- Joel, D. Scheraga, E. and Anne G 1998. Risks, opportunities, and adaptation to
climate change. 1998. Washington, DC.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
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4. Causes of Climate Change
 The earth's climate is dynamic and always
changing through a natural cycle. The causes of
climate change can be divided into two categories –
Natural causes Man made causes
• Continental drift
• Volcanoes
• The earth's tilt
• Ocean currents
• Industrial revolution
• Green house gases
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5. Effect of Climate Change
 Climate change have led to the emergence of
large-scale environmental hazards to human
and plant health.
 Climate change has brought severe
permanent alterations to geological,
biological and ecological systems.
 As climatic patterns change there comes
change in the distribution of agro-ecological
zones, habitats, distribution patterns of plant
diseases and pests which can have significant
impacts on agriculture and food production.
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6. Continued…
• The most obvious manifestation of climate change
is the rising of average worldwide temperature,
popularly termed as global warming.
• The mean global annual temperature increased
between 0.4 to 0.7 0
C (Singh, 2008).
• Warming in Himalayas is happening at an
unprecedented rate, higher than the global average
of 0.74º C over the last 100 years (IPCC, 2007a; Du
et al., 2004), at least 2-3 times higher than global
averages.
Source-Singh, G. 2008. Challenges of climate change and options to overcome them.
Intensive Agriculture, pp.9-16.
IPCC. 2007. Fourth Assessment Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Secretariat. Geneva, Switzerland. http://www.ipcc.ch/> 6Company Logo

7. Source- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), UN 7Company Logo

8. Climate Change and Agriculture
 Climate change and agriculture are interrelated
processes.
 The effect of climate on agriculture is related to
variability in local climates rather than in global
climate patterns.
 Despite technological advances, weather is still a
key factor in agricultural productivity.
 Climate change directly affects agriculture
production as agriculture sector is inherently
sensitive to climatic conditions and is one of the
most vulnerable sectors to the risk and impact of
global climate change (Parry et al. 2005).
Source-Parry M, Rosenzweig C, Livermore M 2005. Climate change, global food supply and
risk of hunger. Phil Trans R Soc B, 360: 2125-2136. 8Company Logo

9. Continued…
 The climatic change could affect agriculture in
several ways :
1. Productivity
2. Agricultural practices
3. Environmental effects
4. Rural space
5. Adaptation
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10. Agriculture and Climate Change in India
 India is a agriculture dependent country, more then
2/3rd
of its population directly or indirectly depends
on agriculture for their survival.
 Indian agriculture has high dependency on monsoon
rains hence a close link exists between climate and
water resources.
 Poor rural households, whose livelihoods depend
predominantly on agriculture and natural resources,
will bear a disproportionate burden of adverse
impacts of climate change (Satapathy et al. 2011,
Mendelsohn et al. 2007, Kates 2000).
Satapathy, S. (2011) ‘Adaptation to Climate Change with a Focus on Rural Areas and India’ Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, India Project on Climate Change Adaptation in Rural Areas of India
Mendelsohn, R., A. Basist, P. Kurukulasuriya, and A. Dinar. (2007) ‘Climate and rural income’ Climatic Change 81(1):
101-18.
Kates, R. (2000) ‘Cautionary tales: Adaptation and the global poor’ Climatic Change 45 (2000) (1), pp. 5–17.
10
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11. Continued…
 The key impacts will be the faster retreat of
Himalayan glaciers, frequent floods and decrease in
crop yields.
 Wheat is negatively impacted in Rabi due to
terminal heat stress. Rice will be affected both by
temperature and water availability.
 The productivity of most cereals would decrease
due to increase in temperature and CO2 and the
decrease in water availability.
 Legume crops such as soybean and groundnut are
likely to benefited due to increased
temperature/CO2 if water availability is not limited.
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12. Continued…
 According to the study of Central Research
Institute for Dryland Agriculture, it was found that
Kharif crops will be impacted more by rainfall
variability while Rabi crops by rise in minimum
temperature.
 There will be a projected loss of 10-40% in crop
production by 2100 if no adaptation measures are
taken.
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13. Adaptation to Climate Change
 Agricultural system respond to the changing
production environment through the process of
adaptation.
 Adaptation is a response to climate change that
seeks to reduce the vulnerability of social and
biological systems to climate change effects.
 Adaptation to climate change requires that farmers
first notice that the climate has changed, and then
identify useful adaptations and implement them
(Maddison, 2006).
Source-. Maddison, D. 2006. The perception of and adaptation to climate change in
Africa. Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa Discussion
Paper No. 10.
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14. Continued…
 Climate change adaptation is especially
important in developing countries since those
countries are predicted to bear the brunt of the
effects of climate change.
 Adaptation to climate change is different across
locations, making it a local process (Blaikie et al,
1994 Agrawal et al. 2008).
 The impact of the changing climate depends on
the adaptive capacity of an agriculture system.
Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davies, I., Wisner, B. (1994). At risk – natural hazards, people’s
vulnerability and disasters. London: Routledge.
Agrawal A. McSweeney, C., Perrin N. (2008) ‘Local Institutions and Climate Change
Adaptation’
World Bank, Washington, DC. 14
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15. Adaptation Options
 Smit and Skinner (2002) organize agricultural
adaptation options within four interdependent
categories-
1. Technological developments
-Crop development
-Weather and climate information systems
2. Government programs and insurance
-Agricultural subsidy and support programs
-Private insurance
-Resource management programs
Source: Smit B. and M.W. Skinner. 2002. Adaptations options in agriculture to climate change:
A typology. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 7: 85–114.
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16. Continued…
3. Farm production practices
-Land use
-Irrigation
-Timing of operations
4. Farm financial management
-Crop insurance
-Household income
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17. Extension and Adaptation
 Extension can help farmers prepare for greater
climate variability and uncertainty, create
contingency measures to deal with exponentially
increasing risk, and alleviate the consequences of
climate change by providing advice on how to deal
with droughts, floods, and so forth.
 There are three ways in which extension can help
with adaptation and mitigation-
1. Technologies and management information
2. Capacity development
3. Facilitating and implementing policies and
programmes.
Source- Singh, I and Grover, J.2013 International Journal of Farm Sciences 3(1) :
144-155, 2013
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18. Institutions and Climate Change
 Recognizing that climate change is a global
challenge, India has engaged actively in
multilateral negotiations in the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
 The objective is to establish an effective,
cooperative and equitable global approach based
on the principle of ‘common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities’.
Source- Uttarakhand State Action Plan for Climate Change , 2012
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19. Continued…
 In 2008, India’s National Action Plan on Climate
Change, (NAPCC), is designed with the focus on
promoting understanding of climate change,
adaptation, mitigation, energy efficiency and
natural resource conservation while pursuing
overall economic growth.
 All Indian States have been asked to prepare State
Action Plans for Climate Change (SAPCCs) in line
the NAPCC.
Source- Uttarakhand State Action Plan for Climate Change , 2012
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20. Continued…
 The Indian Council of Agricultural Research with
CRIDA has started the “National Initiative on
Climate Resilient Agriculture” (NICRA) in 2011
which focuses on adaptation and mitigation.
 This programme has three components:
I. Strategic research
II. Technology demonstration
III.Capacity building
 It assess vulnerability, development of heat/drought
tolerant crops and an up scaling of the outputs of
KVKs and the National Mission on Sustainable
Agriculture for adoption by farmers.
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21. Thank You
Make Presentation much more fun
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