Lok Sabha Question No. 86 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-13
Subject: Foodgrain Crisis due to Climate Change
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Reddeppa Nallakonda Gari, Chandra Sekhar Bellana

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE& FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 86

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 th  DECEMBER, 2022

## FOODGRAIN CRISIS DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

- *86. SHRI N. REDDEPPA

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted any comprehensive study on the effect  of climate change on food grain crisis in the country; (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (c) impact of climate change on the foodgrain crisis in the country; (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (e) yield through sustainable methods; and whether the Government has taken any corrective steps to address the adverse whether the Government is implementing any scheme to enhance the foodgrain (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ िष एवं कसान कयाण मंी (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR) (a) to (f):      A statement is laid on the table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO  (f) OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 86 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 13 th  DECEMBER, 2022.

(a) & (b): To meet the challenges of sustaining domestic food production in the face of changing climate, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers  Welfare,  Government  of  India  has  launched  a flagship network project namely National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA).  The  project  aims  to  study  the  impact  of  climate  change  on  agriculture including  crops,  livestock,  horticulture  and  fisheries  and  to  develop  and  promote climate resilient technologies in agriculture which will address vulnerable areas of the country  and  the  outputs  of  the  project  will  help  the  districts  and  regions  prone  to extreme weather conditions like droughts, floods, frost, heat waves, etc. to cope with such extremes. The salient achievements under ICAR are as follows:

1.  ICAR has developed resilient  varieties  in  different  crops  tolerant  to  climatic stresses to improve the food grain production in the face of changing climate. Since 2014, a total of 2122 varieties have been released out of which 1752 are climate resilient varieties which includes 400 abiotic stress tolerant varieties and 1352 are biotic stress tolerant.
2.  Sixty eight location-specific climate resilient technologies have been developed and popularized for wider adoption among the farming communities.
3.  Agricultural contingency plans for 650 districts have been prepared and State officials have been sensitized for preparedness through 57 State-level interface meetings during the past eight years. Agricultural contingency plans have been made  available  online  for  policy  makers  to  take  decisions  in  the  event  of delayed monsoons and other extreme weather events.
4.  District level risk and vulnerability assessment of Indian agriculture to climate change has been prepared which is useful for several Ministries/ Departments for prioritizing resources towards developmental programs.
5.  Based  on  vulnerability  assessment,  climate  resilient  technologies  are  being demonstrated on farmer's fields in 151 clusters covering 446 villages.
6.  At present, ICAR in collaboration with India Meteorological Department (IMD) is issuing Agromet advisories twice a week (Tuesday and Friday) to around 6 crore farmers of the country through Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva program. The advisories  are  reaching  the  farmers  through  m-KISAN  portal,  WhatsApp groups, SMS services etc.
7.  During the past decade, 16,958 capacity building programs were conducted throughout the country under NICRA project to educate stakeholders on various aspects  of  climate  change  and  resilient  technologies,  covering  5,14,816 different  stakeholders  including  farmers  so  as  to  enable  wider  adoption  of climate resilient technologies.

(c) to (f):       Yes, to deal with the impact of climate change in food grain production, the Government is implementing National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). NMSA is one of the Missions  within  the  National  Action  Plan  on  Climate  Change (NAPCC) which aims to evolve and implement strategies to make Indian agriculture more  resilient  to  the  changing  climate  and  to  sustain  increase  in  production. To promote efficient use of water and fertilizer through micro-irrigation, Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) scheme is being implemented for which an amount of Rs. 16815.66 crore  has  been  incurred  with  area  coverage  of  70.04  lakh  ha.  Rainfed  Area Development (RAD) scheme is being implemented to promote sustainable Integrated Farming System with an area coverage of 6.74 lakh ha. for which an expenditure of Rs. 1511.56 crore has been incurred. For promoting organic farming, under Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER), 379 Farmer Producer Companies have been formed comprising of 1.89 lakh farmers and covering an area of 1.73 lakh ha. Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) is being implemented in which so far Rs. 13300.08 crore has been released with area coverage of 11.26 lakh ha. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) was initiated to promote organic farming in the country and so far 11.80 lakh ha area has been covered with 16.19 lakh farmers being benefitted. Soil health Cards/Soil Health Management Scheme is being implemented for which an expenditure of Rs. 1335.68 crore has been incurred so far for various activities for i mproving soil health and its fertility. Till now 22.71 crore grid based soil health cards have been distributed to farmers under the scheme.

Although climate  change is  understood  to have  its  negative  impact  on  food crops,  through  the  help  of  technology,  the  negative  impacts  have  been  dealt  with effectively.  With  the  Government  interventions,  the  food  grains  production  has continuously increased in the country during last 5 years despite the impact of climate change which can be seen in the below table.

(in million tonnes)

| Year                      |   2017-18 |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 |
|---------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Production of food grains |    285.01 |    285.21 |     297.5 |    310.74 |    315.72 |