July 15, 2009
Source:
SciDevNet
by William D. Dar, Director
General, ICRISAT
Climate change will make Indian
dryland agriculture harder, but a scientific strategy offers
real hope, says ICRISAT head William D. Dar.
Analysts sometimes describe India's agriculture as a gamble with
monsoons. About 60 per cent of India's farms depend on these
rains, making them crucial for India's agriculture, which
accounts for a sixth of the country's economic output.
But rainfall patterns are likely to shift with climate change.
The monsoons may be delayed and unpredictable rains and heavy
downpours are likely to be the rule rather than the exception.
India is already feeling related effects, including warmer
temperatures for longer periods and long dry spells during the
cropping season.
The World Bank has suggested that India will see a fall in major
dryland crop yields from Andhra Pradesh and that rice production
in Orissa's flood-prone coastal regions could drop by 12 per
cent due to climate change. These changes will affect everyone
but particularly the poorest of the poor.
Yet the perennial gamble can still be weighted in farmers'
favour. Science-based strategies being developed by the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) and its partners can greatly help vulnerable dryland
farming communities cope with the impacts of climate change,
including drought.
Four steps to security
ICRISAT's studies in India's dryland villages since 1975 show
poverty is directly linked to water availability and that land
degradation exacerbates the problem.
But a drought mitigation strategy, developed by ICRISAT and
partners, can break this unholy nexus. Informed by science, it
is based on four key activities.
First is developing drought-tolerant and climate change-ready
crops to match available growing seasons and low soil moisture.
ICRISAT's genebank, with almost 120,000 germplasm samples
collected from 144 countries, is the world's biggest repository
for the genetic traits required to develop drought-tolerant
crops.
Supported by the Indian government, ICRISAT has created an
advanced biotechnology laboratory to enhance breeding on drought
tolerance in key crops. And, with the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR) and state university partners,
ICRISAT has developed and released varieties of sorghum, pearl
millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut that are all more
drought-tolerant than currently-grown varieties.
Second is pre-emptive action to replace vulnerable crops with
more drought-tolerant ones. Fast-growing crops thrive and yield
well even when water may become scarce, as they mature before
soil moisture gets depleted. Farmers in sorghum growing areas,
for example, could plant pearl millet to escape the onset of
drought.
Third is efficiently managing natural resources to arrest land
degradation, conserve soil moisture and harvest water during the
rainy season for supplemental irrigation.
Fourth is empowering stakeholders by building capacity, enabling
rural institutions and formulating policies that support dryland
agriculture. Capacity building, in the form of knowledge sharing
and strategic partnerships, lets people accumulate valuable
'social capital'. But institutional mechanisms for accessing
markets and credit, rural infrastructure and other support
services are also needed.
ICRISAT also recommends farmers grow an array of crops, together
with rearing livestock and having other activities that generate
income. This can enhance farm income when times are good and
lessen the risks of total crop failure if drought strikes.
Such science-based strategies have already been shown to be
effective. A pilot project at Kothapally in Andhra Pradesh has
helped improve livelihoods through community watershed
management. Its success has led to the project being repeated in
240 micro-watersheds in India and other Asian countries,
directly benefiting 250,000 people.
Points for policymakers
With climate change likely to exacerbate water scarcity,
countries need to efficiently manage their water resources. This
means, among other things, immediately formulating and
implementing policies and programmes to support dryland
agriculture. In particular, policymakers must:
1. significantly increase
public investment in dryland agriculture, including
agricultural research and rural infrastructure;
2. develop sophisticated techniques for predicting and
forecasting the monsoons in the context of climate change;
3. enable collective action and rural institutions for
agriculture and natural resource management;
4. rehabilitate degraded lands and diversify livelihood
systems for landless and vulnerable groups;
5. recharge depleted groundwater aquifers and enforce strong
regulations on groundwater extraction;
6. clearly define and enforce water rights in watershed
communities;
7. roll out the community watershed management model;
8. price water and power to more accurately reflect their
opportunity costs;
9. support water-saving options such as drip irrigation and
dryland crops; and
10. include dryland crops in the minimum support price
scheme.
Substantial investments in
improved water management and new technology, along with
appropriate policy and institutional innovations, can
significantly increase agricultural productivity.
India should start investing now for the long-term
sustainability of its farming sector, particularly in dryland
agriculture. Doing so will enable India's farmers to win their
gamble with the monsoons for good. And Indian dryland
agriculture would become a beacon for the rest of the world.
William D. Dar is director general of the International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
This opinion is based on
an article published in The Hindu.
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