Climate Change and Indian agriculture: Implications & way forward

Agriculture has been the basis of all historical and world civilizations. Our own Indian civilization has through the ages, flourished and evolved on the base of a highly complex, diverse and developed system of agriculture.

India agriculture ails today. As against a 7-8% growth rate of economy in the last few years, agriculture and ailed sectors in the last decade and half have registered a much lower growth trajectory and face stagnation. With per capita food availability at a low   point and land alienation at a high point, the magnitude of food insecurity manifests itself in varied ways to multiple distress for our poor and excluded people.

Agrarian distress is further aggravated due to extreme climate conditions, the worst sufferers once again being the marginal and small farmers who constitute 84% of the farming household of India. They are not able to economically cope up the with poor crop yields and livestock production. Increased food insecurity is further magnified by lack of access to agricultural subsidies, access to law cost inputs and a lack of remunerative prices for their produce and limited purchasing power.

The current study is a small beginning for Action Aid India to understand the climate and agriculture from the perspective of small and marginal farmers. The study was conducted in three drought-prone regions of India-Anantapur of Andhra Pradesh, Balangir of Odisha and Bundelkhand regions of Uttar Pradesh.

The study has attempted a possible adaptation framework for climate change vis-à-vis agriculture. I would urge peasant leaders, academics, civil society organizations and policy makers to deliberate on the issues obtaining out of this study and suggest a way forward for collective action.