Lok Sabha Question No. 947 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-24
Subject: Climate Resilient Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: (ADV.) JOICE GEORGE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 947

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 24 TH  JULY, 2018

## CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE

## 947.   ADV. JOICE GEORGE:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any plan to promote climate-resilient agriculture across the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has any scheme which covers small and medium farmers, who are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any of the States has any such projects and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  impact  of  climate  change  will  hit  small  and marginal farmers very badly in the coming years and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the precautions recommended by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

.

- (a) & (b): Yes,  Madam.    The  Government  is  implementing  number  of  schemes  for promoting climate resilience agriculture.  As many as 10 key dimensions for adaptation namely improved  crop  seeds,  livestock  and  fish  culture;  water  use  efficiency;  pest  management; improved farm practices; improved nutrient management; agricultural insurance; credit support; markets; access to information and livelihood diversification are emphasised. Important initiatives in this regard include National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Mission for Integrated Development  of  Horticulture  (MIDH),  National  Mission  on  Oilseed  &  Oil  Palm  (NMOOP)  and Rashtriya  Krishi  Vikas  Yojana  (RKVY).  Soil  Health  Card(SHC),  Paramparagat  Krishi  Vikas Yojana(PKVY),  Rainfed  Area  Development  (RAD),  Sub-Mission  on  Agroforestry  (SMAF)  and National Bamboo Mission (NBM) are component of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) which is one of the eight Missions under National Action Plan  for Climate Change.

The National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a flagship program of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) undertaking systematic long term research on the impacts and adaptation of Indian agriculture to climate change. The initiatives cover  not only grain  crops  but  also  horticulture,  natural  resources,  livestock  and  fisheries  and  strategic research.  Under  this  initiative  best  practices  on  farmers'  field  to  cope  with  current  variability have  been  demonstrated  in  121  climatically  vulnerable  districts  of  the  country.    Innovative institutions  at  the village  level  such  as,  Village  Level  Climate  Risk  Management  Committee, Seed Banks, Fodder Banks, etc have been established.

(c): A GEF assisted Green-Ag project has been approved for implementation in MP, Odisha, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, intervention of which will make these landscapes resilient to Climate Change.

(d) & (e): Climate  change  is  expected  to  impact  both  temperature  and  rainfall.  The temperature is likely to rise and the rainfall will face variability, while the total quantum may not be affected. These changes are expected to adversely affect the yields. However in some of the regions,  increase  in  yields  are  also  predicted  due  to  increase  in  rainfall.  Adaptation  and mitigation techniques have been developed to minimize the adverse impacts. It is emphasised that several location specific technologies have been developed due to which the country could produce the highest food grain (279.51 MT) in addition to more than 305.42 MT of horticultural production in 2017-18.

During  XII  Plan  (2012-2017),  more  than  400  climate  resilient  germplasm  lines  have been identified  and  58  genotypes  characterised  with  high  water  and  nutrient  use  efficiency. 18.97 lakh ha area was brought under organic farming, 249 lakh ha area under horticulture, 28.46 lakh ha under precision irrigation and 7.65 lakh ha under System of Rice Intensification (SRI),  24.15  lakh  milch  animals  were  covered  under  ration  balancing  programme  and  five bypass protein feed making units (50 MT/day capacity) were set up between 2012-2017.

The  District  Agricultural  Contingency  Plans  (DACP)  have  been  developed  in  a  project mode with financial support from DAC&FW, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India.  623  contingency  plans  have  been prepared and hosted on ICAR/DAC&FW and ICARCRIDA  websites  (http://farmer.gov.in/,  http://agricoop.nic.in/acp.html,  http://crida.in)  to advise States to address various weather aberrations.

************