eChapters

8.1 Recommendations

The specific recommendation for NAZ in promoting CA are

• Since fragmentation has come out as a barrier to CA, the community based CA entrepreneurship will be more successful to make CA ecologically resilient, economically viable and socially adoptable.
• Crop residues are viable source for soil nutrients including organic carbon replenishment, but unfortunately left over crop residues are either burnt out or wrongly used. So, a community bank on crop residues in the form of bio-parks on a commercial basis can be a dependable source of organic manure for being blended into the farm soil. Auditing on volume of disposable CR and its proper application can help in making operating farm more resilient and productive.
• Since CA farmers have to go through a minimum gestation period and they are expected to contribute to the ecological resilience and carbon sequestration, economic incentives must be extended for their productive as well as stewardship function. A policy promulgation is the need of the hour to support their contribution
• Since fragmentation of holding poses a potential threat to resource energy biodiversity and economic conservation, so a strong land and farm policy needs to be there to abate disintegration and fragmentation of holding

Research methodology is a detailed plan of investigation and the blue print of procedure for carrying out the research. In this chapter, discussion on the methodology has been made to understand the concepts, methods and techniques, which are utilized to design the study, collect information, analyzing data and interpreting the findings for revelation of truth and formulation of theories. The entire chapter has been broken up under following sub-heads for easy understanding:

1. Locale of research
2. Sampling design
3. Pilot study
4. Variables and their measurements

Introduction 
Artificial intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly had an important influence in the restructuring of higher education by altering traditional teaching techniques and opening the way for long-term growth and innovation. This paradigm shift is distinguished by the usage of sophisticated software algorithms, data mining models, and data analytics into pedagogical and administrative practices. AI technologies have the potential to transform higher education by improving individualized learning experiences, streamlining institutional procedures, and enabling novel research approaches. Universities and colleges that embrace AI technology can not only better prepare students for the problems of tomorrow’s labor market, but also make important contributions to accomplishing sustainable development goals (Lomine, 2024). The inclusion of AI into higher learning is about more than just keeping up with technical breakthroughs; it is about completely altering the educational landscape to satisfy the demands of a digitally native population. Furthermore, the use of AI in this domain not only promises to improve educational outcomes, but it also poses important concerns regarding equity, ethics, and educators’ future role. Artificial intelligence (AI) has undeniably transformed the structure of higher learning, providing a blueprint for long-term progress and innovation in academia. The prospect of AI to revolutionize traditional education techniques and drive long-term growth for future leaders is unsurpassed. Aggarwal, Sharma, & Saxena (2023) proposed that incorporating AI into higher education is critical for educating graduates for the dynamic needs of tomorrow’s labor market as well as also building a more inclusive and forward-thinking academic environment. This paradigm shift toward integrating AI in academia has the capacity to generate a lively and efficient learning ecosystem which suits the different demands of students while also giving real-time feedback to improve academic achievement and retention rates. Furthermore, the application of AI in academic settings can transform research processes by enabling data-driven insights, boosting interdisciplinary partnerships, and hastening the pace of innovation in a variety of disciplines of study.

Introduction

Thar Desert is unique both from floristic and climatic parameters. Biodiversity in this region survives on a very/ fragile ecosysytem under a highly hostile environment. Major area consists of dry undulating mass of loose sand, thus, leading to shifting sand dunes. The sandy plain is full of sand-hills with serve as low depressions where salt and soda are deposited after drying. The whole area is inhospitable and sterile. Trees are rather a few and far between (Bhandari, 2005).

The Thar Desert of western India is known for its rich and ancient culture system and traditions. The communities have long been part of the Thar Desert ecosystem and have evolved specific strategies to live in harmony with its hostile environment. Orans have remained mainstay in balancing this arid ecosystem. Man of this region has never been greedy as he is today. Orans were repositories of ancient system of gene pool conservation. But, there are unregulated encroachment on the marginal lands and over-exploitation of groundwater resources. Orans has been part and parcel of the lifestyle of the Thar Desert inhabitants. Orans are used to provide vital grazing land for livestock, water, minor forest produce, medicinal plants and green cover for the villages. They were worshipped as devbhumi. Orans preserve the endemic, endangered or threatened species, medicinal plants and wild variety of cultivars found.

Mammals are homeothermic, meaning that they have the ability to control their body temperature within a narrow range in an environment whose temperature may change over a wide range.

India is experiencing a phenomenal spurt in the growth of livestock and poultry sectors through various timely and quality measures scientifically over a few decades. Milk production rose by a large leap from about 17.0 million tones in 1950 to about nearly 100 million tones in 2005 standing first in the world for maximum quantum of milk production. From about a ‘naught’ during 1950, the commercial layers have increased to 220 millions in 2005 producing 4500 crores of eggs every yearranking 5th in the world. The meat production is absolutely fascinating with 20 million birds in 1960 to about 2100 million in 2005 (Table 10.1).

Increase in ambient temperature, drought, rainfall, desert, feed and fodder scarcity, water scarcity and other climatic stresses are very common to tropical climatic conditions. The animals living in tropical climate have to undergo some modification for their survival under such extreme conditions. Interestingly, higher percentage of livestock is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. These areas are rich in animal resources. There are several descriptive and non-descriptive breeds of bovine distributed in different agro-climatic conditions of India. They possess several traits which make them adaptive to such climatic conditions. Identifying those traits and propagation of such traits is beneficial in near future in respect of climate change scenario. Climate change is the major concern for the improvement and sustainability of livestock under tropical climatic conditions. The rising of temperature and humidity is one of the major threats to animal’s productive performance that leads to great economic losses. Upadhyay et al. (2009) estimated 2% loss of milk production due to thermal stress in India. It has also been expected that 3.2 million tons reduction by 2020 and more than 15 million tons by 2050. The decline in milk production reported to be higher in crossbreds (0.63%) followed by buffaloes (0.5%) and indigenous cattle (0.4%) (Upadhyay et al., 2009). 

The climatic changes and global warming may impact the economic viability of livestock production systems in a significant manner. The possible consequences of increased ambient temperature on the livestock include reduced feed intake, reduced weight gains, lower milk production and lower conception rates during summer periods. Though animals can, to some extent, adapt to higher temperatures with prolonged exposure, the production losses are likely to be exhibited in response to higher temperature events. However, potential direct and indirect impacts of climate change on livestock production have not yet been thoroughly explored. Changes in availability and quality of fodder have also been identified as one of the major impacts of climate changes leading to lowered productivity of livestock species. Climate change could also affect the distribution of vector-borne livestock diseases. These changes occur as a result of shifts in the geographical ranges of ticks, mosquitoes, flies and other vectors.

The greenhouse effect is thought to be due to the absorption of solar infrared (IR) radiation by gases and the earth’s surfaces, which, as a result, is heated and then reemit IR radiation at low frequency with a high absorptive power. In fact greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are essential for maintaining life on earth, as without them the planet would be permanently frozen because all of the incoming heat from the sun would be radiated back into space by the earth’s surface (Moss, 1993). The threshold concentration of these gases at which their greenhouse effect would be minimized is not known, but it is accepted that their concentrations in the atmosphere should not be allowed to continue to rise. In recent years, there has been an increase in public concern over environmental damage originating from animal feeding operations.

In recent past, extreme weather events are causing great concern in different sectors contributing to Indian economy. India Meteorological Department is doing yeomen’s service by providing advance information including monitoring of the extreme events longs with proper advisories to the farming community by using state of art instruments & technology through efficient delivering mechanism of the information and ultimately help the farmers from incurring great loss. In many cases, the most severe impacts are felt when several extreme events occur together. The major extreme weather events related to agriculture are Tropical cyclones, floods, heavy rain and landslides, cold waves, fog, snow storms, Heat waves, Hailstorms, thunderstorms and dust storms, drought.

Introduction

Modern agriculture has been of great help in alleviating hunger from the world, because the world population more than doubled itself during the last half of the 20th century; it increased from 2.5 billion in AD 1950 to 7.1 billion in 2012 (USCB, 2013). It is predicted that the world population will again double itself by the end of the 21st century and will touch the 12 billion mark. Most of this increase in population has been, and will be, in the developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. India occupies 2.4 percent of the total land area of the world, but supports 16.7 per cent of the world population. Like many other developing countries in the world, population in India is increased from 345 million in 1947 to 1210 million as per the 2011 census with a growth rate of 1.76 during last decade. Therefore, pressure on land has been mounting up at an alarming rate. Population growth coupled with live stock population expansion, urbanization and industrialization are major contributory factors to it. The unscientific and unplanned exploitation of this limited resource takes its toll in terms of degrading the land. A large proportion of the land area shows clear evidence of advanced and continuing degradation seriously affecting the country’s productive resource base (Abrol and Sehgal, 1994). Jammu & Kashmir and  Nagaland  have maximum share of their land (94%) under degradation. This is primarily due to large areas under mountains, cold deserts and other such degraded lands. In the agriculturally prominent states like Uttar Pradesh (63%), Madhya Pradesh (50%) and Karnataka (46%) (Shalander Kumar, 2011) the extent of land degradation is of great concern and posing a big threat to the natural resources, resulting in almost 5 billion tonnes soil and 6 million tones of nutrient loss every year (Singh, 2009).

Introduction

The organic matter added to soil externally as FYM, crop residues, leaf fall, root deposition etc. has been a part and parcel of Indian agriculture. The total carbon added to soil is subject to microbial decay and slowly the major portion of it finds way back to the atmosphere. There is every possibility that atmospheric CO₂ concentration will increase in near future; that will further lead to increased attention of scientific community to make soil a possible sink for atmospheric CO2. when the carbon sequestration is thought with the perspective of reducing carbon dioxide emission for healthy atmosphere at one hand and improving soil health on the other, there is utmost need to opt for technologies that can fulfill both these objectives. There is growing interest in the use of charcoal or ‘biochar’ to sequester carbon in soil and improve soil fertility (Lehmann and Joseph, 2009). There are many types of soil additives and fertilizers used to improve the structure and functions of soil. Biochar has re-emerged as an issue in the last ten years as everyone is looking for sustainable ways to improve soils and decrease use of chemical fertilizers. 

4.1. Substrate quality
    Litter quality
    Soil organic matter (SOM) quality

4.2. Decomposer community
    Soil animals
    Soil microorganisms
    Terrestrial fungi
    Actinomycetes    
    Bacteria

Introduction

Rainfed agro-ecosystems occupy a considerable place in Indian agriculture, covering 80 M ha in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid climatic zones; constituting nearly 57% of the net cultivated area. Rainfed areas contribute almost 100% of forest products, 84-87% of coarse-grain cereals and pulses, 80% of horticulture, 77% of oilseeds, 60% of cotton and 50% of fine cereals including rice, wheat, maize, sorghum etc (Srinivasarao et al., 2010; 2011). Rainfed regions support 60% of livestock, 40% of human population and contribute 40% of food grains and several special-attribute commodities such as seed spices, dyes, herbs, gums, etc. (Srinivasarao et al., 2011). It is estimated that even after achieving the full irrigation potential, barring for successful completion of river linking project, nearly 45 to 50% of the total cultivated area will remain dependent on rain. Undoubtedly, the rainfed agriculture would continue to occupy a prominent place in Indian agriculture for a long time to come (Venkateswarlu et al., 2011). Despite the progress made so far, rainfed agriculture in India encounters multiple risks and constraints relating to biophysical and socio-economic issues. Agricultural productivity in rainfed areas continues to remain low and unstable due to weather aberrations, nutrient disorder and poor socio-economic status of farmers.

Recent increase in extreme climate events threatens disruptive impacts on both animal and agriculture (Battisti and Naylor, 2009). Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its negative impacts are more severely felt by the poor people in developing countries. Moreover, rural poor communities rely greatly for their survival on animal and agriculture which belong to the most climate-sensitive economic sectors. Climate change is expected to intensify existing problems and create new combinations of risks. The incidences of droughts, snow-storms and blizzard like events have increased rapidly. The situation has further worsened due to factors such as widespread poverty, over dependence on rain-fed agriculture, inequitable land distribution, limited access to capital and technology, inadequate infrastructure, long term weather forecasts and inadequate research and extension. The impact of climate change is expected to heighten the vulnerability of animal systems and reinforce existing factors that are affecting animal production systems in many parts of the world.

Climate change has become a global threat as its impact is evident on the Earth. In the coming decades,the severity of climate change is expected to aggravate the ecosystem. Due to its vulnerable ecosystem and geographical location, the North eastern region (NER)of India that is home to about 40 million people is considered as one of the most climate sensitive areas in the country. The NER is among India’s least developed region andscarce information is available on the impact of climate change in this region. However, initial scientific research and field observations confirm that the region is suffering from the impacts of climate change already. The region comprising 0.26 million km2area occupying 8% of nation’s territoryconsists of the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. These states consist of a part of the east Himalayan region, which extends eastwards from Arunachal Pradesh to the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal. The entire region is a part of Indo-Burma and Himalayan hotspots i.e. characterized by rich biodiversity, heavy precipitation and high seismicity.

Global warming is the biggest long term threat to life on earth. Rise in temperature may drive thousands of species to extinction, trigger more frequent floods and droughts and sink low lying islands and coastal areas by rising sea levels. It is the result of rising atmospheric content of CO₂ mainly owing to burning of hydrocarbons or fossil fuels like as petrol and diesel. Destruction of forests and their degradation too contribute to rise in carbon dioxide levels. The IPCC (2006) projected the rate of warming for the 21st century to be between 0.8 and 4.4^ºC at various stabilized CO₂ levels in atmosphere and it is most likely to be 3°C by the end of this century. It could cost global economy almost $7 trillion by 2050, is equivalent to a 20% fall in growth if no action is taken on greenhouse gas emissions. If action is taken, it will cost only $350 billion due to climate change already taken place, just 1% of the global GDP. The winter 2007 was the warmest and recorded 0.85^ºC above average of 12oC and the previous highest was 0.71^ºC, which occurred in 2002 in Northern Hemisphere. The entire Europe Union recorded the warm winter, having more than 2^ºC above average. New York experienced the highest temperature of 21.7^ºC on a day in January, 2007 and the second highest was recorded as 17.2^ºC in 1950. The year 2007 was the warmest winter in the NHS. However, floods and excess rains were also noticed due to hurricanes and tropical storms worldwide in 2007. The year 2010 was the warmest year in India, followed by 2009. It was the second warmest year globally after 1998. It was also one of the wettest years globally in recent years and it was a landmark in annals of climatology.

3.1    Factors Contributing to Climate Change
    3.1.1    Natural Causes to Climate Change
    3.1.2    Human Causes to Climate Change
    
3.2    Climatic Trends
    3.2.1    Global level
    3.2.2    National level
    
3.3    Climate Projections
    3.3.1    Global level Projections on Future Changes in Climate
    3.3.2    Climate Projections at the National level
    3.3.3    Climate Projections at the Regional level
    3.3.4    Projections of Extremes in Rainfall and Temperature
    
3.4    Consequences of Climate Change on Droughts and Agriculture
    3.4.1    Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in some States of India
    
References

Introduction

Increase in atmospheric carbondioxide (CO₂) and other green house gases viz. methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and CFC (Chloro-Flouro- Carbon) due to fossil fuel burning, rapid industrialization and deforestation, which reduces the amount of earth’s radiation, that escapes to space. Role of these gases to change in climate over a longer period of time is the key issue of climate change. Climate change is a change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity (IPCC 2007).

IPCC :The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and WMO (World Meteorological Organization) jointly established IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) to assess available scientific information on climate change as well as to study its impact during 1988. Since establishment, IPCC has produced five major assessment reports. According to IPCC, climate change is defined as a movement in climate system as a result of internal changes within climate or interaction among its components. Frequency of extreme events (viz. heat waves, intense rain, floods, droughts etc.) are reported to follow increasing trend. Fig.1 is showing natural climatological cycle in the earth throughout different seasons as various components of climate system (IPCC 1996).

Livestock farming is an integral part of crop farming and contributes substantially to household nutritional security and poverty alleviation through increased household income. Indian agriculture is an economic symbiosis of crop and livestock production with cattle as the foundation. Dairy animals produce milk by converting the crop residues and by products from crops which otherwise would be wasted. Dairy sector contributes by way of cash income, drought power and manure. Livestock provides for human needs by way of food, fibre, fuel, fertilizer, skin and traction. India has the largest livestock populations in the world. It has 57 per cent of the world’s buffalo population and 16 per cent of the cattle population. It ranks first in respect of cattle and buffalo population, third in sheep and second in goat population in the world. 70 per cent of the livestock are owned by 67 per cent of small and marginal farmers. 76 per cent of the milk is produced by weaker sections of society. Out of total livestock in the country, 37.28 per cent are cattle, 21.29 per cent are buffaloes, 12.71 per cent are sheep, 2640 per cent are goats and only 2.01 per cent are pigs. All other animals are less than 0.37 per cent of the total livestock. The species-wise breakup of livestock population in India (Table 16.1)