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| Climate Change: Mitigation through agriculture | | |
Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
Agriculture is crucial for ensuring food and nutritional and for livelihood security of the peoples. It contributes about 14 per cent to the country’s GDP and about 50 percent of the population living in the country depends on this sector for livelihood. The agriculture sector in the country is predominated by the presence of marginal and small holdings. More than sixty percent of the cultivable area in the country is under rainfed conditions and more than 85 per cent of the farmers in the country have marginal and small holdings of up to 2 hectares. These land holdings are fragmented and poor in productivity more so in the rainfed regions with less soil fertility. The small and fragmented land holdings do not allow for farm mechanization operations and are not economical. Sustaining production and productivity is a major challenge today. The challenge gets further complicated due to the rising temperatures and the consequent climate change. The increasing concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere has led to a major shift in the rainfall pattern in the country, increased incidence of floods and drought, emergence of new insect pests and diseases, affected the livestock, fisheries and water resources all across the globe.
Agriculture is a sector which contributes to the climate change as well as is affected by the climate change. The sector contributes to the climate change mainly through emission of green house gases like methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide. Methane gets produced during the microbial decomposition of organic matter under anaerobic conditions. Rice fields when kept submerged in water become potential source of methane production. Livestock is another potential source of methane emission. The process of enteric fermentation in the ruminants also liberates methane in the atmosphere. Burning of crop residues as is seen in states of Punjab and Haryana is also a source of methane emission besides a source of pollution of the atmosphere. Similarly carbon dioxide, another potent green house gas results from burning of fuel in machinery during various agricultural operations, burning of crop residues and biological decomposition of soil organic matter. The Nitrous Oxide gets released in the atmosphere by the use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The country’s contribution is only 5 per cent of the total global emission of 55 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Of this 55 billion, agriculture contributes 11-12 per cent of which share of Indian agriculture is just 1 per cent. The highest contributor to green house gas emission in the country is the energy sector (65%), followed by agriculture (18%) and Industry (16%). Indian agriculture sector including crop and animal husbandry emits about 420 Mt of CO2 equivalents. Since 1970, the GHG emission from agriculture in India has increased by about 80 per cent and this is attributed to the increased use of chemical fertilizers and other inputs in agriculture.
It is expected that by the year 2030, the green house gas emissions from agriculture will be almost 60 per cent higher than in 1990. The largest increase will be in the form of N2O (75%) emissions from soil as use of fertilizers increases. Emission of CH4 from other agricultural sources will also grow greatly. Give the increase in population in the coming decades and subsequent increase in requirement of food grain production, apprehension is that the green house gas emissions will increase due to increased use of chemical fertilizers. The projected trends of Green House Gas emission from the agriculture sector in India indicate that under the business as usual scenario, the emission will increase by 17% by 2030 compared to that in 2010.
Agriculture provides us the various mitigation strategies. The adoption of various climate resilient technologies can help us to mitigate the adverse effects of rising temperature.
AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE:
We have to adopt agronomic practices for conservation farming that can go a long way in minimizing the negative effects of the green house gases in the atmosphere. Conservation farming which is a system of minimum or no till agriculture with crop rotations reduces water requirements by up to 30 per cent. Sowing across the slope reduces the erosion of soil and subsequent removal of nutrients from the soil thereby maintaining the fertility of the soil. Sowing in lines using seed cum ferti-drill or maize planter reduces the seed rate per hectare, maintains optimum plant to plant distance and reduces the chance of lodging during maturity. Farmer due to their ignorance often do not use recommended dose of fertilizers. They often indulge in overdose of chemical fertilizers which result in the increased emission of greenhouse gases. They should be made aware of the right combination and appropriate dose of fertilizers. Bunding is done for control of soil erosion and maintaining soil moisture. Bunding is of various types like block bunding, compartmental bunding and contour bunding. The sloping sides can be planted with grass and trees. Mulching is another simple and one beneficial practice for conserving soil moisture. It is protective layer of the material spread on the top of soil. Soil can be covered by straw, peat, dust, plastic sheets or by maintaining a vegetative cover. Mulching offers several advantages such as conservation of soil moisture, prevention of growth of unwanted plants, maintains an even soil temperature and reduces compaction after heavy rains. The use of local resources like the cow dung, the litter and the urine and other waste materials can be used successfully for preparing compost which can be used as substitute for chemical fertilizers thereby reducing the farmers cost of cultivation besides providing fertility of the soil and maintaining the soil health. Technologies like Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) that makes the least use of water should be promoted and adopted.
Keeping in mind the scarcity of water in the rainfed area and which are to be hit hard by rising temperatures, it is very important to have suitable water harvesting structures. For this purpose, water can be harvested in pond like structures. The water from these ponds can be used for life saving irrigation to rainfed crops like maize wheat and other fodder crops. Roof top harvesting can also be practiced. Rain water can be collected in the roof tops. Drip Irrigation is a water saving technology that enables slow and regular application of water directly to the roots of the plants through a network of economically designed plastic pipes and low discharge emitters. It maximizes crop productivity through increase in crop yields and also the area for cultivation and protects the environment through conserving soil water and fertilizer resources thus increasing the farmer’s income. Protected cultivation in poly house can be used successfully in high altitude areas for vegetable cultivation throughout the year especially for small holders in which multitier cultivation is possible. |
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