Ministry to prepare for climate change effects

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has asked the Department of Agriculture and Food to prepare action plans to increase preparedness for management of the likely effects of climate change on agriculture.His direction came at the end of a National Conference on Climate Change and Indian Agriculture that highlighted the fact that Himalayan glaciers were receding and could cause problems of irrigation in the long term and that the increase in the intensity and frequency of drought and floods would lead to wider variability in foodgrain production. Increasing temperatures would cause lower production of crops, fish and livestock and climate changes could cause imbalance in food trade. This is expected to have a positive impact on the agriculture of Europe and North America and a negative impact.Stressing that climate change was "a reality," Mr. Pawar said there was greater consensus now that in future climatic variability would increase leading to more frequent extremes of weather. Global warming, particularly changes in rainfall and temperature, was likely to enhance the current stresses and increase vulnerability of food production and livelihoods of the farming community. "The recent Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change and a few other studies indicate a probability of 10 to 40 per cent loss in crop production with increases in temperatures by the end of the century due to global warming," he said.
Noting that the conference highlighted the "generally negative" impact of climate change on Indian agriculture, Mr. Pawar asked the organisers — the Indian Council of Agriculture Research — to cash in on the positive impacts, if any.In its recommendations, the conference called for strengthening research for effective technology development to overcome the likely effects of climate change on the farm sector. It also suggested increase in national and international collaboration and stressed on evolving national and international collaboration.Mr. Pawar assured the delegates that the government would provide all necessary support for the action plans that would be developed to implement the suggestions.

The Hindu October 15