Our farm income and nutrition challenge amid climate change

Synopsis: Need and ways to scale up sustainable agriculture’ practices (SAP’s).

Introduction

The global climate change negotiations at ‘CoP-26’ of ‘UNFCCC’ is scheduled for last October. It is in this context, the role of agriculture in environmental degradation and vulnerability of farmers needs to be seen.

What are the vulnerabilities of Indian farmers due to climate change?

India is one of the most vulnerable, with its farmers facing higher temperatures, less predictable rains, frequent droughts and cyclones. These are expected to get worsen over time.

What model of agriculture is prevalent in India?

The “Green Revolution” based agriculture practices followed till now, helped India overcome the food crisis, however it is reaching its limits.

What are the shortfalls seen in “Green Revolution”?

In rain-fed areas, its impact is marginal.

In irrigated areas, farmers now use 3.5 times more fertilizer than in 1970 to get the same output. Of this,78% of fertilizer is lost to the environment, causing soil, air and water pollution.

What are the consequences seen in the model?

Income growth in agriculture is the slowest among all sectors of India’s economy. Apart from that, input-intensive agriculture has made us calorie-secure, about 22% of adults are underweight and under the age of five 38% of children are stunted and 59% are Anaemic.

What model of agriculture is the need of the hour?

Council on Energy, Environment and Water(CEEW) identified 16 ‘sustainable agriculture‘ practices (SAP’s), such as organic farming, natural farming, integrated farming systems, agro-forestry and precision farming.

These could be economically remunerative, socially inclusive and environmentally benign.

What are the challenges in the success of ‘SAP’s’?

Farmers-No single SAP has been adopted by more than 4% of farmers.

Central government support is limited. India’s National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture receives only 0.8% of the agricultural budget.

The lack of state support limits the mainstreaming of sustainable agriculture.

What are the impacts of SAP’s seen?

The impact is seen on incomes, yields, nutrition and the environment.

Natural and organic farming has improved farmers’ net income by reducing inputs costs and increasing crop diversification, leading to improved nutrition security and incomes for small and landless farmers.

They have raised annual farm output by unlocking additional cropping seasons in rain-fed areas.

These are also helping improve farm resilience against climate change. In 2018, naturally-farmed paddy and banana fields withstood heavy cyclones in Andhra Pradesh, whereas adjoining fields with conventionally harvested crops were devastated.

How India can incentivize SAP’s?

Capacity building-Farmers need hand-holding initially. To accelerate this process, the government must leverage the presence of more than 1,000 civil society organizations promoting farmer-to-farmer capacity building for sustainable agriculture.

Technology adoption to mechanize labour-intensive activities associated with SAPs. Incentivize innovators and entrepreneurs through channels like the Atal Innovation Mission to encourage the development of farm implements for SAPs.

Support local micro-businesses through state livelihood missions to produce and sell ready-made inputs such as vermicompost and organic fertilizers.

National policy focus should be shifted from food to nutrition security, looking beyond yields. Government can support transition and bear short-term losses. Instead of input-based subsidies for fertilizer and power, the focus should be to incentivize outcomes like nutrition output, water conserved or desertification reversed.

Research and development-SAP’s impact studies comparing these with conventional farming across agro-climatic zones could inform further scale-ups of SAPs, even in irrigated areas.

In conclusion, India should start promoting sustainable agriculture, particularly in rain-fed areas—home to 60% of Indian farmers. Rain-fed farmers practise low-resource agriculture, have low productivity, and stand to be the chief gainers from this transition.

Source: This post is based on the article “Our farm income and nutrition challenge amid climate change” published in “Livemint” on 18th October 2021.