NATIONAL MISSION FOR SUSTAINABLE

AGRICULTURE.

INTRODUCTION.

In this presentation, SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE : To focus on four crucial areas – Dry

land agriculture Risk management, Access to information and promoting the use of Biotechnology.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE.

A kind of farming that encourages the farmer to earn a decent living growing good food on healthy land.

NATIONAL MISSION FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULUTRE.

The mission would devise strategies to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate. It would identify and develop new varieties of crops and alternative cropping patterns, capable of withstanding extremes of weather, long dry spells, flooding, and variable moisture availability.

Agriculture will need to be progressively adapted to projected climate change and our agriculture research systems must be oriented to monitor and evaluate climate change and recommended changes in agriculture practices accordingly.

Contd…. This will be supported by the convergence and

integration of traditional knowledge and practice system, information technology, geospatial technologies and biotechnology. New credit and insurance mechanism will be devised to facilitate adoption of desired practices.

Focus would be on improving productivity of rainfed agriculture. India will spearhead efforts at the international level to work towards an ecologically sustainable green revolution.

Contd…. Contributing 21% to the country’s GDP

accounting for 11% of total exports, employing 56.4%of total workforce, and supporting 600 million people directly or indirectly, agriculture is vital to Indians economy and the livelihood o its people. The proposed national mission will focus on four areas crucial to agriculture in adapting to climate change, mainly dry land agriculture, risk management,acess to information , and use of biotechnology.

DRYLAND AGRICULTURE. Out of net cultivated area of approximately141

million hectares, about 85 million hectares (60%) falls under the dryland/rainfed zone. Accordingly , to realise the enormous agriculture growth potential of the drylands in the country and secure farm based livelihoods, there is a need to prevent declines in the agriculture

yields during climatic stress. Priority actions on dryland agri- culture with particular relevance to adaptation will be as follows:

Contd…. Development of drought and pest-

resistant crop varieties. Improving methods to conserve soil and

water. Stakeholder consultations, training

workshops and demonstration exercises for farming communities, for agro-climate information sharing and dissemination.

Financial support to enable farmers to invest in and adopt related stresses.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The agricultural sector may face risk due to extreme climatic events. Priority areas are as follows:

Strengthening of current agricultural and weather insurance mechanisms.

Development and validation of weather derivative models(by insurance providers ensuring their access to archival and current weather data).

Creation of web-enabled, regional language based services for facilitation of weather-based insurance.

Development of GIS and remote-sensing methodologies for detailed soil resource mapping and land use planning at the level at the work shed or a river basin.

Mapping vulnerable eco-regions and pest and disease hotspots. Developing and implementing region-specific contingency

plans based on vulnerability and risk scenarios.

ACCESS TO INFORMATIONAlthough many information channels are

available to farmers, none of them offers need –based information in an interactive mode. Supplying customized information can boost farm productivity and farm incomes, and the following areas deserve priority:

Development of regional databases of soil, weather, genotypes, land use patterns and water resources.

Monitoring of glacier and ice mass , impacts on water resources, soil erosion, and associated impacts on agricultural production in mountainous regions .

Contd…. Providing information on off season

crops, aromatic and medicinal plants, greenhouse crops, pasture development, agro-forestry, livestock and agro-processing.

Collation and dissemination of block level data on agro-climate variables, land use, and socio-economic features and preparation of state level agro-climatic atlases.

USE OF BIOTECHNOLOGYBiotechnology applications in agriculture relate to

several themes, including drought proofing, taking advantage of elevated CO2 concentrations, increased yields and increased resistance to disease and pest. Priority areas include.

Use of genetic engineering to convert C-3 crops to the more carbon responsive C-4 crops to achieve grater photosynthetic efficiency for obtaining increased productivity at higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or to sustain thermal stresses.

Contd…. Development of crops with better water

and nitrogen use efficiency which may result in reduced emissions of greenhouse gases or grater tolerance to drought or submergence or salinity.

Development of nutritional strategies for managing heat stress in dairy animals to prevent nutrient deficiencies leadi ng to low milk yield and productivity.

THANK YOU.