Lok Sabha Question No. 1156 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-11
Subject: Climate-Resilient Agriculture
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Dr. M P Abdussamad Samadani

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1156

TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 TH  FEBRUARY, 2025

## CLIMATE-RESILIENT AGRICULTURE

1156.  DR. M P ABDUSSAMAD SAMADANI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष और ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that climate change can reduce agricultural income by 15-25 percent in the country and it is high time for Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) to be valued and implemented, if so, the details thereof; and
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  taken  any  measures  for  adaptation  of  appropriate mitigation technologies such as the cultivation of tolerant breeds to overcome climate stress and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी     ( SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a) & (b): Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  is  implementing  a  project, National  Innovations  in  Climate  Resilient  Agriculture  (NICRA)  that  studies  the  impact  of climate change on agriculture including crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries. It also develops  and  promotes  climate  resilient  technologies,  which  helps  the  regions  prone  to extreme  weather  conditions  like  droughts,  floods,  frost,  heat  waves,  etc.  The  studies conducted  under  NICRA  showed  that  in  the  absence  of  adaptation  measures,  climate change is likely to reduce yield of rainfed as well as irrigated rice, wheat, Kharif maize etc. Under NICRA, risk and vulnerability assessment of agriculture to climate change has been carried out at district-level for 651 predominantly agricultural districts as per Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) protocols. Out of 310 districts identified as vulnerable, 109 districts have been categorized as 'very high' and 201 districts as 'highly' vulnerable. District Agriculture Contingency Plans for these 651 districts have been prepared to address weather aberrations and recommended location specific climate resilient crops and  varieties  and  management  practices.    For  enhancing  the  resilience  and  adaptive capacity of farmers to climate variability, the concept of 'Climate Resilient Villages' (CRVs)

has been initiated under NICRA. Location-specific climate resilient technologies have been demonstrated in 448 CRVs of 151 climatically vulnerable districts covering 28 states / UTs for  adoption  by  farmers.  Capacity  building  programmes  are  conducted  to  educate  the farmers  on  various  aspects  of  climate  change  for  wider  adoption  of  climate  resilient technologies.  Several  schemes  have  also  been  initiated  under  National  Mission  on Sustainable  Agriculture  (NMSA)  by  the  Government  to  deal  with  the  adverse  climate situations in the agriculture sector.  To address the impact of climate change, the National Agricultural Research System under the aegis of ICAR has released a total of 2900 varieties during last 10 years (2014- 2024). Out of which, 2661 varieties are tolerant to one or more biotic and/or abiotic stresses. Climate resilient technologies such as system of rice intensification, aerobic rice, direct seeding of rice, zero till wheat sowing, cultivation of climate resilient varieties tolerant to extreme weather conditions such as drought and heat; in-situ incorporation of rice residues; etc. have been developed and demonstrated.

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