Indian agriculture stays climate resilient, says govt
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, December 13: At a time when a number of countries are facing food crisis on account of the climate change, the government has told the Lok Sabha that the Indian agriculture has remained unaffected. The foodgrains productions in the country continue to rise with 315 million tonnes of grains recorded in the last financial year.
In 2021-22, the total foodgrains productions were 315.72 million tonnes, against 310 million tonnes in previous year. In 2017-18, India had recorded a total of 285 million tonnes of foodgrains productions. However, there is an assessment that India may face a lower wheat production in the current year on account of the visible impact of the climate change, which was seen in higher incidents of unseasonal rains in some parts of the country coupled with droughts in other regions.
The government in a written answer in the Lok Sabha said that currently 446 villages with 151 farmers’ producers’ organisations are being covered for climate resilient agricultural practices, with cultivators provided with the requisite technique and technologies. “The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) since 2014 has released 2122 varieties of seeds, which include climate complaint 1752 seed varieties. As many as 68 region specific climate resilient techniques have been developed,” the government told the Lok Sabha.
The government also informed that a total of 70.04 lakh hectare of agricultural land has been covered under the micro-irrigation programme as part of per drop per crop mission at a cost of Rs 16815.66 crores. “So far 22.71 soil health cards at a cost of Rs 1335.68 crores have been distributed to help the farmers make the best use of the fertilisers for better crop productions,” said the government.
While the Indian agriculture has been hailed by the experts for being Monsoon resilient, having become free from the variation in the rainfalls, the climate change is seen as a challenge and the full impact will be seen in the coming years. India’s agriculture has defied the global trends, as Pakistan has reported over 20 per cent dip in the wheat productions on account of the climate change last year. Wheat is the staple food of Pakistan. Similar is stated to be the situation in China, which this year reeled under sever heat conditions followed by floods, which accounted for sharp dip in the productions of rice, which is the staple food of the country. Sri Lanka, some of the Latin American countries have also reported adverse impact of climate change on their agricultural productions.
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