Context:
India is increasingly prioritising Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) to address the dual challenge of climate change impacts and ensuring food security for a growing population. With rising climate variability, declining soil health, and environmental degradation, integrating biotechnology, AI, and sustainable farming practices has become critical.
Key Highlights:
• Climate Vulnerability of Indian Agriculture
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Around 51% of India’s net sown area is rainfed, contributing nearly 40% of total food production.
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Agriculture faces:
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Erratic monsoons and extreme weather events
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Heat stress and droughts
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Declining soil fertility
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Increasing air pollution impacts on crop productivity
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• Government Initiatives / Policy Framework
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National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) launched by ICAR in 2011.
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Demonstrated technologies in 448 villages.
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National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) under NAPCC.
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Focus: water-use efficiency, soil health, integrated farming.
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BioE3 Policy Framework promotes biotechnology-driven climate solutions.
• Technological Interventions in CRA
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Biofertilizers: Microbial inputs improving nutrient availability.
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Biopesticides: Eco-friendly pest control alternatives.
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Genome-edited crops: Enhanced drought tolerance, heat resistance, pest resilience.
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AI-driven analytics & digital agriculture tools for climate advisories.
• Challenges in Scaling CRA
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Low adoption among small and marginal farmers.
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Quality inconsistencies in bio-inputs.
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Digital divide limiting access to climate advisories.
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Slow rollout of climate-resilient seed varieties.
Relevant Prelims Points:
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Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA): Farming approach that enhances productivity, adaptation, and mitigation simultaneously.
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Rainfed agriculture: Highly vulnerable to monsoon variability; accounts for major coarse cereals, pulses, oilseeds production.
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NICRA (2011): ICAR initiative focusing on
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Strategic research
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Technology demonstration
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Capacity building
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National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA):
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Part of National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
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Promotes soil health cards, micro-irrigation, integrated farming.
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Biofertilizers: Contain living microorganisms like Rhizobium, Azotobacter.
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Biopesticides: Derived from bacteria, fungi, plants (e.g., Bt, neem-based products).
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Genome Editing: Techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 modify specific genes without introducing foreign DNA.
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Agriculture contributes ~18% to India’s GDP and employs nearly 45% of workforce.
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Climate change may reduce yields of major crops like wheat and rice due to temperature rise.
Relevant Mains Points:
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GS 3 (Environment & Ecology):
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CRA strengthens adaptation capacity and reduces agriculture’s carbon footprint.
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Promotes soil carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.
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GS 3 (Economy):
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Ensures food security and farmer income stability.
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Reduces dependency on costly chemical inputs, lowering import bills.
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Supports sustainable rural livelihoods.
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GS 3 (Science & Technology):
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Role of biotechnology and AI in precision farming.
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Genome editing as a tool for climate adaptation.
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GS 2 (Governance):
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Need for a national CRA roadmap integrating BioE3, NMSA, and digital agriculture missions.
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Importance of inclusive access to climate technologies.
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Critical Issues:
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Transition costs may burden smallholders.
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Regulatory clarity needed for genome-edited crops.
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Ensuring quality standards for bio-inputs.
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• Way Forward:
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Accelerate development and distribution of climate-tolerant crop varieties.
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Strengthen quality certification mechanisms for biofertilizers and biopesticides.
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Provide financial incentives, credit access, and climate insurance.
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Bridge the digital divide through extension services and rural connectivity.
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Promote public-private partnerships in biotechnology innovation.
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Develop a comprehensive national CRA roadmap aligned with India’s climate commitments (NDCs).
UPSC Relevance (GS-wise):
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GS 2: Governance, policy coordination
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GS 3: Agriculture, Environment, Biotechnology, Climate Change
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Prelims: NICRA, NMSA, Biofertilizers, Genome Editing, Rainfed Agriculture