Author: R Dwarakinath
‘Miles to go before I sleep’ Indian agriculture, after green revolution, has fallen on to a lower trajectory of growth. But, this requires a different set of technologies and different kind of development strategy. This is necessary to lift sector production, alleviate poverty, regenerate ecology, and also to cope with climate change. A formidable but inevitable task.
Climate change has become a fact of life. The concern is assuming threatening proportions by the day. There are several efforts at the global, national and institutional levels to understand the phenomenon and to deal with its impact. At the moment, two dimensions of the problem are engaging the attention – how to mitigate, if possible reverse, the building up processes; and, how to cope with, if possible counter, the effects of climate change on human life, including farming. The answers are vague. So far, South Asia is regarded as one of the most vulnerable areas in the world. Naturally, it has become a matter of great concern, as it pertains to the well-being of the dry land farmers on the upland areas in Karnataka.
Whatever its impact on the other spheres of human life, two features of climate change, in the case of farming, are a matter of grave concern – one, incremental increases in ambient temperatures; and, two, serious aberrations in rainfall. Torrential downpours and prolonged dry spells, in particular, can cause extensive crop damages, while higher temperatures may cause yield reductions. It is considered that survival of farmers, especially the resource poor farmers stuck in fragile eco systems of dry farming, critically hinges on their ability to effectively cope with these two trends. Here, is the real challenge. Is it possible to evolve a working model of a coping mechanism, based on the available knowledge, which can then be progressively improved with growing experience and information? Perhaps, it is possible.
How to handle rising temperatures at the farm level?
Incremental rise in temperatures is not a new phenomenon. It has been happening for quite some time. In the living memory, several crops and varieties have disappeared from a given region. The prevailing crop varieties, perhaps, will last for some more time. In the meanwhile, the hope is that new resilient crops and varieties will become available in the near future. Also, it is possible to restore, to an extent, the ecological adequacy in the terrain (which has been extensively damaged in recent decades), to provide a better micro climate to farm lands. This means devoting efforts both to on-farm operations and off-farm improvements.