eChapters

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is defined as a process of ‘sustainable intensification of agriculture’ for enhancing and sustaining production at low cost, without deteriorating soil health and flow of environmental services. The process of agricultural intensification increases food production and spares land for the other uses including eco-system services. In line with the vision of Norman Borlaug, agricultural intensification is also known as ‘The Borlaug Effect’. Frameworks such as ‘Conservation Agriculture’, ‘Ecological Intensification’ and ‘Ever Green Revolution’ share a common view of cropping systems as agro-ecosystems designed to make maximum use of fixed resources (land, light and temperature etc.) with optimum use of agri-inputs for attaining sustainable production levels (Cassman 1999)’. Conservation agriculture is also considered as an important component of the overall strategy for ensuring food security, poverty alleviation, health for all, rural development, enhancing productivity, improve environmental quality and preserve natural resources. With limited scope for further expansion of area under agriculture, production gains can be accomplished through intensification of agriculture, achieved by pursuing one or more strategies (with rationale use of natural resources as well as external production inputs) enumerated as under:

Introduction

Agroforestry offers both adaptation and mitigation options to climate change especially for the poor rural communities in the developing world. It is now getting ample attention from different investors, scientists, policy makers and international bodies due to its multiple benefits to the environment; and remain an important component of sustainable land use in agricultural production. Agroforestry provides economic, environmental, and social security to the vulnerable communities who are dependent on agricultural production for their livelihoods, and on forest/ trees for their energy requirement. Agricultual production is vulnerable to climate change, and there is a need to cushion these communities to be less vulnerable to climate change, or natural hazards. The suitable, sustainable and smart method is agroforestry based agriculture which offer host of ecosystem services to cope the vagaries of climate change, particularly in rural areas.

Introduction

Adoption of green revolution technologies during 1960s led to increased productivity and elimination of acute foodgrain shortages in India. These technologies primarily involved growing of high-yielding dwarf varieties of rice and wheat, increased use of chemical fertilizers and other agrochemicals, and spread of irrigation facilities. This was also accompanied by other modern methods of cultivation, which included maximum tilling of land, virtually clean cultivation with complete removal of crop residues and other biomass from the field, fixed crop rotations mostly involving cereals, and elimination of fertility- restoring pulses and oilseed crops in the highly productive north-western plain zone of the country.

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.

India has shown to the world that with 2.4 % of the land and 4 % of the water resources available at the global level, it can provide the food security to its millions. A record production of almost 265 million tonnes in 2013-14 is a testimony to the strides taken in the field of agriculture. However, the agriculture sector faces many new challenges in the future and climate change (global warming) is perhaps the most formidable one.

The new emerging demands of the relatively more-affluent Indian population, particularly its middle class, coupled with a net cultivated area unlikely to exceed 143 Mha in 2050 as well as an estimated rainfed agriculture to cover around 45 % of the net sown area, are further compounded with the harsh reality that highly productive agricultural land is being continuously lost out to the industry and urban sectors. How will the country meet the target of 400 Mt of food grain production is the mute question, in a situation where natural resource base is continuously degrading and climate change with its attendant impact is adversely affecting the agricultural production system (Singh, 2014).

Introduction

Climate is the primary determinant of agricultural productivity. Plant systems, and hence crop yields, are influenced by many environmental factors such as moisture and temperature, may act either synergistically or antagonistically with other factors in determining yields (Waggoner, 1983). In the recent years, climatic change/variability is a biggest challenging factor that affects agriculture in India and elsewhere and concern has been expressed by world community regarding the potential effects of climate change on agricultural productivity. Climate change is expected to influence crop production, hydrologic balances, input supplies and other components of agricultural systems. Agricultural systems are managed ecosystems. The climate change induced atmospheric stress will be the primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most major crop plants. Environmental stresses such as erratic and insufficient rainfall, extreme temperatures, salinity, alkalinity, acidity, heavy metal toxicity, oxidative stress and others limit yield and productivity of many cultivated crop plants. Drought, extreme temperatures and oxidative stress are interconnected and affect the water relations of a plant on the cellular as well as whole plant level causing specific as well as unspecific reactions (Beck et al., 2007). This leads to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth and productivity (Wang et al., 2001).

Introduction

Agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood activity of about 70% of the state’s population. Madhya Pradesh is an agrarian state and the state’s economy is highly dependent on agriculture. Considering the sector’s sensitivity to climatic parameters it can be easily understood that the sector would be highly impacted by any change in these parameters.

Madhya Pradesh has a subtropical climate with three distinct seasons’ viz. winter from December to February, followed by summer season from March to May and rainy season extending from June to October. During winters the mean temperature remains around 10ºC and mean maximum temperature remains 25ºC and the minimum temperature goes down to 1°C in some regions. During summers, the mean minimum temperature is 22ºC and mean maximum is 38ºC. The maximum temperature during summer can go up to 48ºC, especially in May and June which are the hottest months.

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).

Evidence over the past few decades has conclusively established that significant changes in climate are taking place worldwide as a result of enhanced anthropogenic activities. The fast pace of development and industrialization and indiscriminate destruction of natural environment, more so in the last century, have altered the concentration of atmospheric gases that lead to global warming. The major cause for climate change and global warming has been ascribed to the increased levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) etc. beyond their natural levels due to the uncontrolled activities such as burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants, and enhanced agricultural related practices.

Natural disasters are extreme events within the earth’s system (lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere or atmosphere) which differs substantially from the mean, resulting in death or injury to humans, and damage or loss of valuable good, such as buildings, communication systems, agricultural land, forest, natural environment. They are a profound impact of the natural environment upon the socio-economic system (Alexander, 1993). This impact may be rapid, as in the case of earthquakes, or slow as in the case of drought. It is important to distinguish between the terms disaster and hazard. A potentially damaging phenomenon (hazard), such as an earthquake by itself is not considered a disaster when it occurs in uninhabited areas. It is called a disaster when it occurs in a populated area, and brings damage, loss or destruction. Natural disasters occur in many parts of the world, although each type of disaster is restricted to certain regions. Natural disasters are events which are caused by purely natural phenomena and bring damage to human societies (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes). Mitigation of natural disasters can be successful only when detailed knowledge is obtained about the expected frequency, character, and magnitude of hazardous events in an area. Many types of information that are needed in natural disaster management have an important spatial component.

The District-wise weekly agroadvisory service based on medium range weather forecasting (3 to 10 days) has been made operational by the State Agricultural Universities in collaboration with National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India Meteorological Department. The Agroadvisory Bulletin (AAB) contains three parts. The first part of AAB consists of weather events occurred during the past week and weather forecast for three days ahead. These forecasts provide expected weather on cloud amount, rainfall, average wind speed, wind direction, maximum and minimum temperatures and cumulative rainfall. The second part contains the factual information on the varieties of crops, their state and stage, ongoing agricultural operations and occurrence of insect pest and diseases of crops.

Increasing evidences over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are occurring across various regions of the globe in the form of increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The significant cause to this sustained increase in climate variability, known as climate change has been a resultant of increased level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The reason for this increase is mainly ascribed to enhanced human activities such as industrialization, uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants and changed land use patterns and practices. Most significantly, the concentrations of GHGs like CO₂ has already crossed the 400 ppm mark, while other potential contributors like methane and nitrous oxide also show significant rise. As a result of the heat absorbing capacity of these gases, there has been a considerable rise in global mean temperatures, more so in the recent decade and more. The increase in mean air temperatures of the globe was 0.76^ºC during the past 100 years. This rate of increase has been higher during the past two decades and the recent period recorded the warmest years in sequence, the latest being the 2017.

Agricultural production in India is still vulnerable to vagaries of monsoon rainfall in spite of rapid technological advancements like 1) Availability of high yielding varieties 2) Improved crop management practices and increased irrigation availability and effective control of pests and diseases and etc, over last few decades. Majority of Indian farming community which broadly comprising of small and medium farmers are often subject to climate extremes such as droughts, floods, heavy rainfall events, heat and cold waves, frost, hail storms during the crop growing season. The probabilities of occurrence of such climate extremes and associated crop damages and production losses are common in tropical countries like India. Compensation to the resource crunched farmers in the form of crop insurance seems to be the best option for speedy recovery from the losses incurred during the season. It provides security and stability to farm income by protecting the farmers’ investment in crop production and then improves their risk bearing capacities. Crop insurance scheme is based on the fundamental principle of insurance business in which risk is distributed across space and time. For successful implementation of any crop insurance scheme operating presently in the country, proper monitoring of accurate weather parameters at the identified locations throughout the crop life cycle is important.

Climate change is a multifaceted alteration of climate which is perceptibly subtle and yet continuous, nevertheless it is extremely important due its consequences on whole biome that thrives under constant or relatively unchanged climates. The effects of climate change have reached such an extent that irreversible changes in the functioning of the planet are feared. Some of the main effects of climate change with specific reference to agriculture and food production especially during the last decade are: increased occurrence of storms and floods; increased incidence and severity of droughts and forest fires; steady spreading out of frost-free intervals and potential growing season; increased frequency of diseases and insect pest attacks; and vanishing habitats of plants and animals. Currently, the world is facing a challenge of producing sufficient food from dwindling natural resource base for the constantly increasing population.

Eastern India is frequently affected by weather hazards, such as drought, flood and heat wave. The region consists of Orissa, West Bengal, and Bihar. The coastal states of Orissa and West Bengal frequently face cyclones, while Bihar and eastern U.P. face cold wave. Due to unfavorable seasonal weather, crop productivity is poor. However, the recent change in climate induced by global warming has further threatened the agricultural productivity in the region. Rice is the principal crop of Eastern India and rice based cropping systems has long been practiced in the region. While rice-rice is the most dominant cropping system in Orissa and West Bengal, rice-wheat is in Bihar and eastern U.P. Besides, rice-groundnut occupies a considerable area in the region. It is now doubtful whether the resilience of these cropping systems would continue sustaining the productivity under the climate change. The major aim of the proposal was to identify suitable adaptation measures of crop production under projected climate change. Climate change is expected to alter precipitation pattern, increase temperature, change in humidity level and decrease sunshine. As a result it is like to influence right from land preparation to the harvest and post harvest process. Thus the project aim was to revisiting the existing package of practices of selected cropping systems by simulation modelling, deduce suitable adaptation measures and validate these by OTC experiments.

The Northeast Region (NER) of India consists of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, covering an area of 255168 km2. The area is characterized by rich biodiversity, heavy precipitation and high seismicity. Although the contribution from agricultural sector towards gross domestic product has declined, yet it remains the predominant sector for Indian Economy. Over 75% of the people of NE India directly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Therefore, better performance of agriculture has a direct and multiplier effect across the economy of the region. Because of climate change the rain fed agriculture is facing a greater risk as it is resource poor and having limited flexibility for adaptation. Under changing scenarios there is increase in demand for fresh water and nutrient requirement, increase in soil erosion and nutrient losses affecting soil health, intensification of pest, disease and weed problems, reduction in nutritional quality and low input use efficiency. Continuous mono-cropping and the associated excessive tillage, inadequate erosion control measures and large scale slash and burn cultivation (Jhum) resulted in significant environmental damage and a non-sustainable crop production system in the region.

Climate change and its variability imposed a great threat to agriculture production and ultimately on food security. Understanding of anomalies in climatic variables is essential to make agriculture sector resilient. Jharkhand state, geographically located at 220 28’ N – 250 30’ N latitude and 830 22’ – 870 40’ E longitude with an altitude up to 1142 m above msl and having humid to sub-humid tropical monsoon type of climate, has a number of agro-climatic/physiographic constraints. The state has 3 agroclimatic sub-zones viz; Central and North Eastern Plateau sub zone (zone IV), Western Plateau sub-zone (zone V) and South Eastern Plateau sub-zone (zone VI) falling under agroecological regions XI, XII and XIII. Zone IV is having 15 districts; Zone V has 6 and Zone VI have 3 districts. Agriculture in Jharkhand is very tedious due to topographical, physiographic and climatic constraints. Vagaries of climate put greatest limitation before the agricultural production system in the State.

Bihar’s economy is highly dominated by agriculture and allied sectors. Around 85 to 90 percent of the population still lives in rural areas, where agriculture along with animal husbandry, is the main source of their livelihood. In Bihar, the gross and net sown area is estimated at 8.26 and 5.64 million hectares, respectively. Nearly 60 per cent area under cultivation in the state is rainfed (Anon, 2008). The region comes under sub-humid subtropical monsoon climate. Most of the annual rainfall (almost 85 per cent) received from south-west monsoon, occurs during June to September (Sattar, 2010). There are three crop growing seasons in the state commonly known as kharif, rabi and zaid. The important kharif season crops, which are planted in May-June and harvested in September–October, are rice, maize, sesame, sorghum and bajra. Pigeon pea is an important long duration pulse crop sown during kharif season as sole crop or intercropped with maize. The important rabi crops which are sown in October–November and harvested in February–March are wheat, rabi maize, potato, chickpea, lentil, rapeseed, mustard, barley.

The State of Himachal Pradesh encompasses a geographical area of 55.7 lakh ha and is situated between 31°22’40" and 33°12’40"N latitude and 75°45’55" and 77°10’20"E longitude. The state is bordered by Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west, and Haryana on the south-west (Fig. 19.1). About 12 per cent of the state area is under agriculture which is mostly (80 per cent) rain fed. Wheat, maize, rice, and barley are the principal crops. In state, there are 12 districts, viz., Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul & Spiti, Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Una. About 20 per cent of the area is under forest cover. It is rich in biodiversity of flora and fauna. Nearly 27 per cent of the area of the state is covered under permanent pastures. The state is endowed with a wide range of physiography/landform, climate, vegetation and geology which have influence on genesis of soils. The soils are mostly shallow, medium deep to deep, well/excessively drained, sandy, sandy-skeletal, loamy-skeletal, coarse-loamy and fine-loamy, calcareous as well as non-calcareous with low available water capacity. The State is the biggest montane ecosystem in India situated in northern part of the country. It is seventeenth largest state in terms of area and twentieth in population of which 65 per cent people are dependent on agriculture and 60 per cent of GDP comes from agriculture sector. Increasing temperature and reducing rainfall affecting the crop growth and crop production is a major issue everywhere in the world nowadays and this state has also not remained untouched by these prime issues of climate change. For sustainable development of agriculture in state, there was/is a need to identify and quantify climatic change where agriculture has a significant influence on both the economy and livelihood.

Agriculture is very intensely influenced by weather and climate. While farmers are often compliant in managing weather and annual variability, there is however a high degree of adaptation to the local climate. This may be in the form of conventional infrastructure, native agricultural practices or personal experience. Climate change an in this way be relied upon to affect the agriculture, possibly threatening established characteristics of farming systems and provide chances for improvements. The role of climate change in influencing human activities and the natural environment is all around acknowledged. This may go from an extreme event enduring just a couple of hours (i.e. hurricane, thunderstorm and showers) through to the multi-year dry spells (Maracchi et al., 2005). Increase in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere further contribute to climate change. This results in a strong impact on human activities and natural environments. Essential areas, for example agriculture and forestry, will be more susceptible than auxiliary and tertiary segments, for example manufacturing and retailing (Parry et al., 1998).