eChapters

Dryland agriculture is a more vulnerable system in view of its high dependency on monsoon rains which are of aberrant nature. The risk of crop failure and poor yields always restrain farmers from investing on new technologies and input use.

Concept of resilience

Resilience is used to describe the magnitude of a disturbance that a system can withstand without crossing threshold into a new structure or dynamic. Resilience is defined as “the ability of a system and its component parts to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or escape from unacceptable standards of living due to the effects of a hazardous event, in a timely and efficient manner”. In other words, resilience describes the capacity of communities in a given context or landscape to maintain and improve their livelihoods—despite stresses and shocks—through the sustainable management of natural resources while maintaining key ecological functions

7.1 Introduction

Water is one of the most essential natural resources of the planet. Water is also the most critical resource for sustainable development in most of the developing countries. The quantities that are needed for drinking and sanitation purpose of humans are relatively small, and much larger quantities of water are required for many other purposes. It is essential not only for agriculture, industry and economic growth of a country, but also it is the most important component of the environment and ecosystem, with significant impact on overall wealth and nature conservation. Agricultural and industrial activities critically depend on a sufficient amount of fresh water that is withdrawn from rivers, lakes and groundwater aquifers. Currently, the rapid growth of world population along with the extension of irrigation dependent agriculture, development of industrial sector and climate change are stressing the quantity and quality of the natural water systems. Due to the increasing problems, human have begun to realize that they can no longer follow “use and discard” methodology either with water resources or any other natural resources. As a result, the need for water management has become evident. Climate change has already started to affect the hydrological cycle and the availability of freshwater for agriculture. So, proper water management practices play crucial roles in the food production and the management of ecosystems. Over the last century global irrigated area has increased more than sixfold from approximately 40 million hectares in 1900 to more than 260 million hectares in 2000. Today more than 40% of the world’s food comes from the irrigated cropland which is 18% of the total cultivated crop land. Irrigated area is increased by almost 1% every year and the demand for irrigation water will increase by 13.6% by 2025 (Jensen, 1993). On the other hand about 8-15% of fresh water supply will be diverted from agricultural sector to meet the increased demand of domestic and industrial use. On the other hand the efficiency of irrigation is very low, only 65% of the applied water is used by the crop (Fig. 1). So, to overcome shortage of irrigation water for agriculture, it is essential to increase the water use efficiency in the crop field and to use marginal water for irrigation.

The global economy has adversely been affected to a considerable extent due to weather related disasters which are not uncommon in the recent past due to global warming and climate change. It is true in the case of the Indian economy too. The year 2010 was the warmest year ever recorded, followed by 2009 in India. The year 2015 was the warmest year globally. Model simulations indicate that a marked increase in rainfall and temperature over India would be seen during the current century. The maximum expected increase in rainfall is likely to be 10–30% over the Central India. Temperatures are likely to increase between 2 and 3^oC by the end of 2100 A.D. Greater number of high surges and increased occurrence of cyclones in post monsoon period along with increased maximum wind speed are also expected along the East Coast of the Country. As a result, the occurrence of floods and droughts, cold and heat waves adversely affected the foodgrains production to a large extent across the Country in one or other region as seen in 2014, 2012, 2009, 2004, 2002 and 1987. It is true in the case of plantation crops also, which are predominantly grown in the Humid Tropics like Kerala (8°15` N and 12°50`N latitudes and between 74°50`E and 77°30`E longitudes). As seen in previous chapters, summer drought and heavy rains including waterlogging during monsoon period is a threat to plantation crops production in the Humid Tropics to a considerable extent. Waterlogging and floods due to excess rains could be minimised by providing surface and subsurface drainage facilities in plantation gardens which will improve the soil health and nutritional status, in turn yields can be increased in plantation crops.

Introduction

Natural resources support livelihood of a large section of India’s population, despite its steady declining share in the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and, in all probability these will continue to play the dominant role even in future. Interaction of several factors in the global climate change scenario has markedly limited the capability of natural resources and thereby threatened livelihood of small holders throughout the world. Factors like agriculture production crisis, fresh water unavailability, energy crisis, deforestation; degradation, wide pandemic, active climate change effects and continuous rise of input cost of farming create threats to the livelihood of millions and it has become imperative to collectively understand the complexities and challenges in natural resource conservation and management.

Abstract

Climate change is well acknowledged fact globally and in India has been witnessed with more frequent cloud bursts, highly variable frequency and distribution of rainfall, high seasonal thermal variations, receding glaciers and unstable agricultural production. Likely impact of climate change is expected to reduce agricultural productivity, production stability and incomes in some areas that already have high levels of food insecurity. However, Agriculture has the potential to retard the pace of climate change by capturing a significant part of the excess atmospheric carbon in the soil and plants in the form of organic matter and also competent to reduce emissions of nitrous oxide and methane if practiced in smart ways so developing climate-smart agriculture is thus crucial in achieving future food security and climate change goals. Transformations are needed in both commercial and subsistence agricultural systems, but with significant differences in priorities and capacity. Several climate smart agriculture practices such as cropping system improvement (e. g. crop rotation, diversification, improved varieties and integration of legumes), integrated nutrient management (e.g. green manure, compost and site specific nutrient management), resource conservation (e.g. minimum/zero tillage, keeping the land consistently covered with crop residues), precision water management (e.g. planting crops in bed, laser land leveling, mulching with crop residues) and agro-forestry have been proposed for adaptation to climate change and variability. However, their adoption decisions by the farmers are largely dependent on economic benefits associated with the interventions. It should be clearly understood that climate smart agriculture does not make use of different practices but certainly it uses them differently.

Introduction

Climate smart agriculture (CSA) refers to the incorporation of adaptation and mitigation practices in agriculture that enhances the system-resistance and recovery-mechanism against climatic hazards. Climatic hazards / disturbances include drought, flood, heat / cold wave, erratic precipitation, sudden dry spell etc. In nutshell, CSA is the ability of the system to bounce back. It can also be explained as an approach to build-up resilience of agricultural systems, to increase adaptive capacities of farming communities to climate change and variability, and to ensure food security (Prasad et al., 2015).

Climate change can be defined as a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting of an extended period, typically three decades or longer (Pathak et al., 2014; NAAS, 2013, Bhattacharyya et al., 2016). The surface air temperature, sea level rise, occurrence of extreme events (heat wave, cyclone, flash flood) is the direct evidences of climate change. The annual average surface temperature has increased by 0.87^°C in 100 years (IPCC, 2018). Recent report revealed that more than 90% of Northern Hemisphere land areas outside the tropics showed at least 1^°C above average, whereas temperatures were less extreme in Southern Hemisphere. Importantly, temperatures were above normal over most of the ocean areas. Global sea level rose to about 15 mm, in between November (2014) and February (2016), as a result of ElNino, which was well above the post-1993 trend of 3.0-3.5 mm year^-1. However, Indian summer monsoon rainfall since 1901 to 2012 showed no long-term trends, with some regional changes. Importantly, night temperatures have increased sharply during recent years, which couple with erratic precipitation could significantly affect agricultural production. The fifth IPCC (IPCC, 2014) reports clearly brought out global and regional impacts of climate change on Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU). South Asia has been characterized as one of the most vulnerable regions. Impacts of climate change witnessed all over the world; however, countries like India is more vulnerable because of its huge population primary dependent on agriculture for livelihood, predominance of small and marginal farmers, and fragmented land holding.

Abstract
Climate change significantly impacts the aquaculture industry, threatening productivity and food security. Rising temperatures, ocean acidification, extreme weather events, and shifting habitats disrupt species’ growth, survival, and reproductive cycles. This chapter explores climate-smart aquaculture (CSA) as a response, which focuses on sustainable practices to enhance resilience and mitigate climate change effects. CSA strategies include the selective breeding climate-resilient species and using advanced technologies like integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) to reduce environmental stress. These methods help maintain aquaculture productivity while reducing climate-related vulnerabilities. Adopting spatial technologies, including satellite remote sensing and site-suitability models, allows identifying optimal aquaculture sites less susceptible to climate impacts. Furthermore, disaster relief programs and insurance provide financial protection against the effects of climate-related losses, offering support during extreme events such as storms and algal blooms. Implementing these climate-smart practices is crucial to ensuring aquaculture’s sustainability and long-term viability, helping to secure global food systems in the face of a changing climate.
Keywords: Climate change, salinity intrusion, sea-level rise, ocean acidification and salt-resistant

Climate change may manifest itself as rapid changes in climate in the short term or subtler changes over decades. Generally, climate change is associated with an increasing global temperature. Various climate model projections suggest that by the year 2100, mean global temperature may be 1.1–6.4 °C warmer than in 2010. The difficulty facing livestock is weather extremes, e.g. intense heat waves, ?oods and droughts. In addition to production losses, extreme events also result in livestock death (Gaughan and Cawsell-Smith, 2015). Animals can adapt to hot climates, however the response mechanisms that are helpful for survival may be detrimental to performance. In this article we make an attempt to project the adverse impact of climate change on livestock production. There is a two-way relationship between livestock production and environmental health.

Impact of climate change on livestocks

The potential impacts on livestock include changes in production and quality of feed crop and forage, water availability, animal growth and milk production, diseases, reproduction, and biodiversity. These impacts are primarily due to an increase in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, precipitation variation, and a combination of these factors. Temperature affects most of the critical factors for livestock production, such as water availability, animal production, reproduction and health. Forage quantity and quality are affected by a combination of increases in temperature, CO₂ and precipitation variation. Livestock diseases are mainly affected by an increase in temperature and precipitation variation.

Agriculture is the largest human activity in the world which depends on climatic parameters. Despite technological advances, such as improved crop varieties, genetically modified organisms, and irrigation systems, weather is still a key factor in agricultural productivity, as well as soil properties and natural communities.

Introduction

Despite recent significant increases in global food production Sustainable development goal- “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” seems unachievable. Globally, 1 in 9 people are undernourished, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries. Under nutrition causes wasting or severe wasting of 52 million children worldwide. It contributes to nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children per.Today, the majority of the world’s hungry people—nearly 870 million—live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Climate change impacts on food security and livelihoods are already alarming and affecting millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (FAO, 2016).

In view of today’s 795 million hungry and the additional 2 billion people expected by 2050, there is an urgent need for a change of global food and agriculture systems in order to sustainably increase food production (UN, 2016). This will exert intense pressure on agro-ecosystems that are already overburdened, particularly in developing countries as most of those increases in production have to occur in this part of the world. The environmental impacts of satisfying this increased food demand will be further aggravated by climate change. With increased frequency and severity of droughts, extreme heat conditions and over dependence on rainfed agriculture, there is a growing agricultural productivity crisis, dwindling household food availability and the economic prosperity of countries whose national economies are dependent on agriculture. Considering that climate change impacts are felt differently within regions, context-specific adaptation measures are required to reduce risks and build adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers (Altieri, M.Aet al.2017).

Application of Climate-Smart Agriculture

Agricultural production systems are expected to change in response to climate change and ensure food security in different countries. Climate variability may further affect the agricultural production in future. To meet such challenges, there are many options to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on agricultural systems, make them resilient to climate change, and reduce emissions. Many technologies and practices can increase crop yields, farm income, and input-use efficiency, and may reduce GHG emissions (Khatri Chhetri et al. 2017). Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is suggested to address the adverse effects of climate change and ensure food security. It is intended to achieve the three objectives of ensuring productivity, adapting and building resilience and reducing emission of GHG.

Many aspects of the global climate are changing rapidly. Evidence for changes in the climate system abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans. The climate system is the highly complex system consisting of five major components; the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the land surface and the biosphere, and the interactions among them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forcings such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations and human-induced forcings such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land-use.

The term ‘climate variability’ is often used to denote deviations of climatic statistics over a given period of time (e.g., a month, season or year) from the long-term statistics relating to the corresponding calendar period. In this sense, climate variability is measured by those deviations, which are usually termed anomalies.

‘Climate change’ refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically decades or longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or due to persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. The United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines ‘climate change’ as ‘a change of climate behaviour 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’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between ‘climate change’ attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and ‘climate variability’ attributable to natural causes. Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions measured by changes in temperature, precipitation, wind, snow cover, and other indicators. It can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, changes in extreme conditions.

A key difference between climate variability and change is in persistence of ‘anomalous’ conditions. In other words, events that are used to be rare occur more frequently, or vice versa. Occasionally, an event or sequence of events occurs that has never been recorded before, such as the exceptional tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 or hurricane season in the Atlantic in 2005. Yet even that could be a part of natural climate variability. If such a season does not recur within the next 30 years, by looking back it could be called as an exceptional year, but not a ‘climate change’. Only a persistent series of unusual events taken in the context of regional climate parameters can suggest that a potential change in climate has occurred.

The global production of cocoa is around 36.49 lakh tonnes against the demand of 37.37 lakh tonnes. Ivory Coast leads in cocoa production in the world with a contribution of 38 per cent, followed by Ghana and Indonesia. Unlike in other crops, it appears that the production and demand of cocoa at the global level match each other to a large extent. However, the recent trends in the world production of cocoa beans indicated that there was a drop of nine per cent in 2006–07, declining from 3.8 million tonnes in 2005–06 to 3.4 million tonnes in 2006–07 (Table 9.1). It was attributed to unfavourable conditions in many cocoa producing areas. West Africa, the main cocoa producing region, was hit by a severe harmattan (dusty dry wind from November to March) and its inherent dry weather, which lasted from the end of 2006 to February 2007, had a strong negative impact on global cocoa production. In Asia and South America, El Nino- related weather conditions developed in September 2006 and continued until the beginning of 2007. It led to relatively low cocoa production in 2007–07. However, it was rebounced in 2007– 08 to some extent though it was low (36.49 lakh tonnes) when compared to that of 2005–06. The favourable weather which prevailed over most of the cocoa growing regions during 2002–03 and 2003–04 helped to achieve better production during the above years while dip in the global production in 2006–07 due to unfavourable weather. It reveals that the weather abnormalities like floods, droughts, cold and heat waves across the cocoa growing regions of the world adversely affect the Coca production and the cocoa industry is likely to suffer.

Food security is one of the most important issues during this century under the projected climate change scenario. The world is facing severe food crisis due to weather vagaries as a part of global warming and climate change. One sixth of world’s population is under starvation. It is estimated that 300 million people in the world do not get food three times a day. About 18,000 children die every day due to malnutrition. Many Asian-African countries are under severe food crisis. It is also estimated that out of the World’s most hungry people, 29 per cent is in India. 47 per cent of children below three years of age are suffering from malnutrition problem. 75 per cent of world’s population is dependant on agricultural activities for their livelihood. Therefore, there is an urgent need to produce more and more foodgrains at the global as well as national levels to meet the food requirement of growing population under the projected climate change scenario. There has been a major decline in world rice production since late 2007 due to various reasons including global warming and climate change in top rice producing countries. Deficit monsoon over India during 2009 resulted to poor foodgrains production including rice as the area under rice cultivation was less. There were also devastating floods in southern States of India viz., Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Andhra Pradesh, one of the major rice producing states of India, was affected first by drought and then by floods. Thus rice production decline in India was a real set back in 2009. Similar was the case in 2010 due to excess rain during monsoon and floods during NE monsoon across the rice growing regions. At the same time, Philippines got hit by two major typhoons in September-October, 2009 causing damage to rice crop on ground. Approximately one million tonnes of rice in storage also got damaged. These events resulted to low world rice production over the country in 2009. The immediate impacts of global warming and climate change on rice production systems and food security will be felt in the form of adverse effects of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat and cold waves, hailstorms and cyclones on rice production. Less immediate but significant impacts are anticipated due to changes in mean temperatures, increasing weather extremes and sea level rising.

The natural habitat of rubber (Heavea brasiliensis) is rain forests of the Amazon basin, situated within 5° North and South at altitudes below 200m. The climate of this region is equatorial monsoon type characterized by mean monthly temperature by 25 to 28°C, well distributed rainfall and no marked dry weather. Though it is originated in the Amazon basin, it is now predominantly grown in the tropics where an equatorial monsoon type climate prevails. Regions between 8°N and 10°S which includes Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, southern part of Sri Lanka and some other Islands, are better suited to rubber cultivation. The production of natural rubber in the country was 8.65 lakh MT in 2008–09, registering a 4.74 per cent growth compared to the previous year.

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is one of the most important beverage crops in the World and the second most commonly drank liquid on earth after water. It has numerous medicinal benefits mainly due to its antibacterial and antioxidant properties. The major tea growing regions of the world are South-East Asia (India and Sri Lanka), Eastern and South Africa consisting of Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique. All these countries are producers of black tea. China and Japan are the major producers of green tea.

Climate change is now a global phenomenon and its impact on livelihood health and wellbeing, and overall quality of life is not deniable. No country is free from the overall impacts of climate change, but poor people of developing countries have been disproportionately affected by the adverse effects. Vulnerability in the context of climate change is a function of sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacities. Odisha is the 9^th largest state by area and the 11th largest state by population in India. The state has an area of 155,707 km², which is 4.87 per cent of the total area of India, and a coastline of 480 km. In the eastern part of the state lies the coastal plain. It extends from the Subarnarekha river in the north to the Rushikulya river in the south. The State is broadly divided into four geographical regions, i.e. Northern Plateau, Central River Basins, Eastern Hills and Coastal Plains. The climate of the state is characterized by hot summer and cold winter in the interior parts. The state has historically been highly prone to climate change and multiple hazards – mainly cyclones, droughts and ?oods. Natural disasters devastate millions of lives and livelihoods in Odisha each year. More children and women suffer from the effects of natural disasters and this is predicted to worsen as storms ?oods and droughts become more severe and frequent because of climate change.

Introduction

As global temperatures rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, the agricultural sector faces escalating challenges. The need for climate-resilient agriculture has never been more urgent. This chapter embarks on a journey to unravel the intricacies of adapting farming practices to changing weather patterns. It explores the multifaceted nature of climate change impacts on agriculture, emphasizing the importance of sustainable and resilient solutions.

Understanding Climate Change And Agriculture

The chapter begins by elucidating the current state of climate change and its specific implications for agriculture. It highlights shifts in temperature, altered precipitation patterns, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events, underscoring the urgency for proactive adaptation measures.

Abstract
Climate-resilient agriculture is an approach designed to adapt agricultural practices to the challenges posed by climate change while maintaining productivity and sustainability. This chapter explores the principles, strategies, and technologies involved in developing climate-resilient agricultural systems. It covers various aspects, including soil management, water conservation, crop diversification, and innovative technologies. The chapter also examines the role of policy, research, and community engagemen in fostering climate resilience. Through a comprehensive analysis of current practices and future directions, it aims to provide a thorough understanding of how agriculture can adapt to a changing climate while ensuring food security and environmental sustainability.
Keywords: Climate resilience, agriculture, soil management, water conservation, crop diversification, climate adaptation, sustainable agriculture, innovative technologies, policy, community engagement.

Climate change presents horticulture with increasing challenges including heat stress, water scarcity, erratic rainfall, extreme weather, new pest pressures, and changing crop suitability. This chapter examines strategies for developing climate-resilient horticultural systems through improved cultivars, efficient irrigation, protected cultivation, mulching, canopy management, soil-health practices, and diversification. Climate-smart production also requires better forecasting, monitoring, risk management, and resource efficiency. Future horticulture is expected to integrate biotechnology, artificial intelligence, precision agriculture, automation, renewable energy, and resilient production systems. The chapter emphasizes adaptation rather than dependence on a single technology, promoting integrated approaches that maintain productivity, quality, profitability, and ecological sustainability under changing climatic conditions.