Lok Sabha Question No. 310 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-05
Subject: Effects of Climate Change and Pollution on Agricultural Crops
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: ANJU BALA, L.R. Shivaramegowda, Tejpratap Singh,Yadav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 310

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 05/02/2019

## EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLLUTION ON AGRICULTURAL CROPS

310. SHRIMATI ANJU BALA: SHRI L.R. SHIVARAME GOWDA: SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f"k vkSj fdlku dY;k.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that the effects of climate change along with rising pollution are causing direct harm not only to human beings, but also to the agricultural crops;
- (b) if so, the details thereof including Government's reaction thereto;
- (c) whether the Government is aware of the fact that the production of wheat will decline by 6 to 23 percent by 2050 if proper steps are not taken in a timely manner;
- (d) if so, the details thereof including Government's reaction thereto; and
- (e) the measures/steps being taken by the Government for emphasis on organic farming in India?

## A N S W E R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE d`f'k vkSj fdlku dY;k.k ea=ky; esa jkT; ea=h

(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a) Yes, Madam.
- (b) Impact of climate change is expected to be more severe on agricultural crops due to rise in temperature and pollution. Efforts are made to use technologies to reduce the pollution viz.  converting  agricultural  waste  into  usable  concentrated  fodder  or  bio-fuels,  developing and  implementing  business  models  with  private  sector  and  communities  and  incentivizing crop  diversification  to  non-paddy  crops.  A  technology  called  Happy  Seeder  machine  has been found as one of the possible technological solutions. This  machine helps sowing the seeds without removing paddy straw and works well when the straw is spread evenly on the field through the straw management system.

Under  the  ICAR  project  National  Innovations  in  Climate  Resilient  Agriculture (NICRA), following technological interventions as alternatives to crop residue burning are envisaged:-

- 1) Zero till sowing with Happy Seeder;
- 2) Baler for making bundles to biomass based power plants as fuel;
- 3) Straw chopper cum shredder - Zero till sowing;
- 4) Paddy combine harvester with straw management system

About  159  training  programmes  were  taken  up  since  2012  on  the  alternative  uses involving 5026 farmers in the selected villages. Nearly 178 field visits were conducted on these techniques involving 2668 farmers.

In order to curb burning and reducing winter smog pollution, a Central Sector Scheme on  'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization  for In-situ  Management of  Crop  Residue in States  of  Punjab,  Haryana,  Uttar  Pradesh  and  NCT  of  Delhi'  has  been  launched  by Government.  Under  this  scheme,  financial  assistance  is  given  for  purchase  of  straw management implements (50% of the cost of the implement for individual farmers; and 80% of  the  cost  of  implements  for  Custom  Hiring  Centre  (CHC)  by  Co-operative  Societies  of farmers,  groups  or  SHGs,  Farmers  Producers  Organizations  and  Private  Entrepreneurs). ICAR KVKs in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had made concerted efforts for creating awareness and demonstration of the crop residue management technologies in the villages through mass media.

(c) Yes Madam, climate change is projected to reduce the timely sown irrigated wheat yields  by  about  6%  in  2020  scenario  from  existing  levels.  When  late  and  very  late  sown wheat also were taken into consideration, the impacts are projected to be about 18% in 2020 and 23% in 2050 scenarios (NICRA, 2018).

(d) To  reduce  the  impact  of  climate  change  and  climatic  vulnerability,  interventions under  NICRA  project  are  being  implemented  aiming  at  efficient  management  of  natural resources,  crop-based  interventions  consisting  of  resilient  varieties,  cropping  systems  and planting methods. Besides, District Agricultural Contingency Plans have been developed for 648 districts to provide real time agro-advisories to farmers.

(e) Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  through  ICAR-Indian  Institute  of  Farming Systems Research, Modipuram operates a research scheme of Network Project on Organic Farming (NPOF) in which the number of research centres have been increased from 13 (12 States)  to  20  (16  States)  from  2015-16  to  develop  package  of  practices  for  organic production  of  crops  in  cropping  and  farming  systems.  The  scheme  involves  11  State Agricultural  Universities,  8  ICAR  institutes/centres  and  1  deemed  to  be  university.  As  an outcome  of  the  research  of  Network  Project  on  Organic  Farming,  scientific  package  of practices  for  organic  production  of  crops  in  cropping  systems  perspective  have  been developed for 51 cropping systems suitable for 12 States.

Government has launched the  schemes Parampragat Krishi  Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North Eastern region (MOVCDNER) since 2015  which  aims  for  maintaining  soil  health,  reducing  cost  of  cultivation,  empowering farmers through institutional building and also support farmers in providing value addition and marketing linkage to their organic products and thus increasing the income of farmers. During  the  period  2015-16  to  2017-18,  the  scheme  could  successfully  bring  in  2,37,820 hectares  (11,891  clusters  of  20  hectares  each)  of  area  under  organic  farming  against  the target of 2 lakh hectares and 5,94, 550 farmers got benefited under the scheme. An amount of Rs.794.99 crore has been released to the States.

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