Climate-smart Agriculture to Ensure a Food-secure Future

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Climate-smart Agriculture to Ensure a Food-secure Future

Thanks to the ClimaAdapt project, 90,000 Indian smallholders now have access to extensive knowledge on how they can adapt their agricultural practise to a changing climate.

30iUsBc.jpgClimate change with its extreme weather conditions poses a serious threat to the global food security, especially those who live in rural areas and are highly dependent on natural resources. Credit: Ragnar Våga Pedersen

ClimaAdapt in brief

To help Indian farmers combat the challenges linked with climate change, it is critical to provide them with good and relevant information at the right time and develop climate-smart agriculture technologies.

The primary objective of the ClimateAdapt project has been to improve the adaptive capacity of the farming communities and agriculture and water sectors in the three Indian provinces of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. This has been done through pilot testing of selected adaptation measures and developing methodologies for upscaling the tested measures, as well as capacity building of local stakeholders and agencies involved in climate change adaptation.

The project was initiated in 2012 and had its final meeting in May 2017.

Approximately 25-30 scientists with expertise in various disciplines including climate and hydrology modelling, agronomy, soil science, irrigation, pests and diseases, economics, policy and gender have been affiliated with the project.

Countries in the tropics and sub-tropics are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as extreme weather conditions pose a serious threat to their food security. In India, droughts and damaging floods are continuously affecting the well-being of a growing population, of which the vast majority reside in rural areas and are highly dependent on natural resources for their food, shelter and income.

NIBIO's Director General, Nils Vagstad said:

"ClimaAdapt has been particularly successful in that the project's main focus has been the farmer. By helping smallholders adapt their agricultural practice to a changing climate, we can contribute to food security for a growing population - not only in India, but also on a global scale," he says.

More crop per drop – new rice growing technologies

In ClimaAdapt, three different rice growing and irrigation methods have been tested, upscaled and implemented. These are SRI, or system of rice intensification, alternate wetting and drying, and direct sowing of rice. All work towards reducing the amount of water used on the rice crops while at the same time increasing the yield.

"SRI is one of the main technologies we've promoted because we discovered that by modifying the cultivation system from the traditional one, which is more of a flood based irrigation system, this technology can contribute to a 20-25 percent reduction in water usage," says Professor V. Gheeta Lakshmi from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

She adds that the alternate wetting and drying method has proven advantageous for the nutrient uptake of the crops, as well as other biochemical reactions in the soil. This results in higher yields.

Women play an important role in India’s agricultural development, both as farmers and agricultural labourers, but are often not taken into account as far as decision making goes. By employing women at the Village Knowledge Centres, they are …more

Dr Johannes Deelstra from the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research confirms this, and says their measurements show that the new rice growing alternatives introduced by ClimaAdapt result in an increase in yield and a reduction in water use.

"This leads to an improved water use efficiency – which basically means more crop per drop," he says.

Extensive use of ICT

In recent years, however, India has seen a shift toward a more demand-driven agricultural extension service with the use of new information and communication technologies.

The Village Knowledge Centres have made use of this, and mobile services are now used to send out text messages several times a day to farmers in the participating villages. The messages include weather or market related information, or information linked to farming practices during the cropping season.

"One main focus of ClimaAdapt has been to provide farmers with timely information on climate resilient crop technologies, farming practices that farmers need to take up during the course of a cropping season, soil management, planting, crop management, need-based fertiliser and pesticide application, harvesting and marketing", says Dr Nagothu.

"Our aim has been to link farmers together and provide need-based and correct information that help them adapt to climate change, as well as increase their yields and income. Thanks to new information and communication technologies such as internet services and mobile phones, we have been able to reach farmers faster and provide them with relevant information – even in the remotest of villages," he adds.

The Village Knowledge Centres also serve as an important platform for farmer interaction, not only with other farmers, but with scientists, government agencies and other stakeholders. The Centres have developed into extensive information hubs, both for agriculture, and for additional services within for example health, livestock research and social services.

Read more: Phys.org

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