India calls for global action to evolve climate-resilient agriculture

India has called for characterisation of climate risks at actionable scales and evolving necessary tweaks for better assessment of risks of climate change in agriculture.

Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, has said the G20 countries need to identify scalable resilient practices after vetting them through social-economic analysis to assess benefits.

She called upon scientists, researchers, experts, academicians, policymakers, and stakeholders to work closely to promote climate-resilient agriculture. “We should pitch for a global action for climate resilient agriculture to ensure the food and nutritional security of the people and animals,” she said.

“We need to map the niche areas with agro-ecology specific analogous approach, so that they can be shared within and across the G20 Nations,” she said, on the sidelines of the inaugural of the three-day G20 Technical Workshop on Climate Resilient Agriculture here on Monday.

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“Impacts of climate risks are at various scales. For agriculture, it is necessary to characterise climate risks at actionable scales.

“In India, the climate-resilient practices are being demonstrated on farmers’ fields in a participatory mode in 446 villages in 151 highly risk-prone districts,” she said.

She also stressed the need for establishing Village Climate Risk Managing Committees to promote the adoption of resilient practices.

“We should also promote custom hiring centre for small farm mechanisation, seed production systems, fodder production systems and Agromet advisory services,” the minister said.

Stating that the world is celebrating the International Year of Millets this year, she said millets, which are climate-resilient crops, need to be promoted in various agro-ecologies.

Collaboration

The minister called for fostering collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and communities.

“By pooling our expertise, we can create a robust system to address climate change issues. We should encourage and support interdisciplinary research that can lead to breakthroughs in climate-resilient agriculture,” she said.

“Web platforms need to be established to connect researchers, exchange data, share communication products and thematic briefs to encourage research in climate-resilient agriculture,” she said.