Climate Resilient Agriculture Research Articles

Automated sensor-based quantification of soil water retention and microbial respiration across drying conditions

Understanding soil responses to climate-induced precipitation variability is important for improving global carbon models and the development of climate-resilient agriculture. However, our knowledge remains limited regarding factors that influence soil water dynamics and microbial respiration across drying conditions, partially hindered by the lack of easily accessible methodologies. We developed a low-cost, automated, and integrated system to simultaneously quantify microbial respiration and soil water retention in response to drought conditions. This system integrates a CO2 sensor and a digital scale, enabling continuous measurement of CO2 concentration and soil water loss by evaporation when soils are incubated with desiccants inside air-tight chambers. Here we show that the sensor platform provides accurate and repeatable CO2 measurements when compared to a spectroscopy gas analyzer and the alkali trap method. Using the sensor platform, we further demonstrated that averaged microbial respiration of rewetted soil over 4-day incubation declined as management intensity increased following the order of Till ≤ NoTill ≤ Till_fallow ≤ NoTill_fallow = Hay field < Forest. These soils were air-dried for two years before use in incubation experiments, and microbial respiration upon rewetting showed a unimodal response, which rapidly increased and peaked within 12 h except for in forest soils that exhibited a delayed response with respiration peaking at 30 h. Under drying conditions, rewetted soil from the Hay field showed lower water loss than other soils. Volumetric water content at the end of the drying period increased in the order of Till ≤ NoTill < Till_fallow ≤ NoTill_fallow = Hay field < Forest. We posit that this sensor platform provides a powerful tool for functional soil health assessments and fundamental understanding of soil water dynamics and microbial activities in responses to climate-induced water stress.

Determinants of climate change adaptation strategies in South India: Empirical evidence

The phenomena of climate change pose multifaceted challenges to crop and livestock farming, with severe implications on smallholder farmers' income and livelihoods. Climate change has profound implications (economic, environmental, and social) predominantly on rainfed regions in developing countries like India, where agriculture constitutes the backbone of the economy. In this context, the current study analyzes how farmers perceive climate change in the rainfed ecosystem in India, farmers' adaptation strategies, and their major determinants in addressing climate change. Data were collected from 400 sample farmers in South India. Discriminant and multinomial logit models were employed to identify the adaptation strategies of the farmers. It was evident that the factors such as off-farm income, farm income, and farming experience significantly influenced the adaptation strategies for tackling climate change. Furthermore, access to climate change information and literacy level are vital determinants in different climate change adaptation strategies, including crop diversification, integrated farming system, contingency plans for farm operations, and adoption of soil and water conservation techniques. However, the study highlights the increasing role of institutions (government and private) in future to safeguard the interests of farmers by offering a wide range of policy, research, and technology interventions. In a nutshell, R&amp;amp;D focus on climate-resilient agriculture, application of ICTs in agro-advisory services, and creation off-farm employment opportunities for the farmers is crucial to sustaining their livelihoods as these serve as potential mitigation strategies to impart resilience to climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture in rainfed ecosystems in India or any other countries.

Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies and Determinants of Farmers’ Adoption Decisions in the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Agriculture is a sector that is very vulnerable to the effects of climate change while contributing to anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. Therefore, applying Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices (referee hereafter as CSA technologies) that can sustainably boost productivity, improve resilience, and lower GHG emissions are crucial for a climate resilient agriculture. This study sought to identify the CSA technologies used by farmers and assess adoption levels and factors that influence them. A cross-sectional survey was carried out gather information from 384 smallholder farmers in the Great Rift Valley (GRV) of Ethiopia. Data were analyzed using percentage, chi-square test, t test, and the multivariate probit model. Results showed that crop diversification, agroforestry, and integrated soil fertility management were the most widely practiced technologies. The results of the chi-square and t tests showed that there are differences and significant and positive connections between adopters and non-adopters based on various attributes. The chi-square and t test results confirmed that households who were older and who had higher incomes, greater credit access, climate information access, better training, better education, larger farms, higher incomes, and more frequent interactions with extension specialists had positive and significant associations with CSA technology adopters. The model result showed that age, sex, and education of the head; farmland size; livestock ownership; income; access to credit; access to climate information; training; and extension contact influenced the adoption of CSA technologies. Therefore, considering barriers to the adoption of CSA technologies, in policy and action is anticipated to support smallholder farmers in adapting to climate change while lowering GHG emissions.

Understanding Changes in the Hydrometeorological Conditions towards Climate-Resilient Agricultural Interventions in Ethiopia

Climate resilient agriculture (CRA) is very important to achieve long-term improvement in productivity and farm incomes under climate uncertainty. The present study focuses on investigating the plausible changes in the hydrometeorological conditions using big-data analysis techniques in the study of Ethiopia. The original contribution of this work envisages the importance of the CRA system in water-scarce areas for sustainable agriculture planning and management under changing climatic conditions. In the present research, a TerraClimate model was the basis for weather (precipitation and temperature) and hydrological data (runoff, actual evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, vapor pressure deficit and climate water deficit); these data were used to determine the spatial distribution of the standardized anomaly index (SAI) and the slope of the linear regression for long-term (1958–2020) trend analysis. Future climate trend analysis (2021–2100) has been performed through the CMIP6 (EC-Earth3) shared socio-economic pathway (SSP 2) 4.5 dataset. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) with CSR and JPL data were utilized for the generation of water storage heat maps from 2002 to 2021. The results show that the average annual rainfall data for over 62 years was found to be 778.42 mm and the standard deviation is 81.53 mm. The results also show that the western part of the study area has the highest temperature trend, which diminishes as one moves eastward; the minimum temperature trend has been found in the western part of the study area. It was found that the equivalent water thickness (EWT) range of both CSR and JPL products was −15 to 40 cm. These results can help local climate-resilient development planning and enhance coordination with other institutions to access and manage climate finance.

Impact of Elevated Temperature and Carbon dioxide on Seed Physiology and Yield

Food security is of utmost priority to humankind. This is the implication of various interconnected factors that lead to climate change. Elevated temperature and carbon dioxide levels are just 2 of these. The nutrient is an inseparable aspect of food. The change in climate is posing threat not only to the amount of available food but also to the nutrients laden in the food items. Seeds are the miniature form of plants and are a reflection of their future health and nutritional status. The changes in environmental factors predominantly challenge the growth and development of a seed. This review is an attempt to understand the impact of elevated CO2 and temperature on seed germination, the nutritional status of the seed and the yield in form of total seed production. It gives a direction for analysis and future studies that may use the latest available tools like gene editing to tackle and counteract the retarding effect of climate change on these parameters of seed, thereby offering a climate resilient agriculture.

Climate Resilient Agriculture Practices - The Future of Farming

Climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) harnesses the intrinsic roots of agricultural and oxen production systems to generate increased long-term yields and farm income through sustainability. This review paper aims to draw attention to climate-resilient farming practices for medicinal plants and other cereal crops. There are several techniques and strategies that can be used to adapt to climate change, including yield-tolerant strains in poultry and cattle, Feed administration, irrigation, Agro-consulting and clay organic carbon. Governmental climate change adaptation programs such as the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) continue to be implemented. Agriculture in India offers a living for the bulk of the populace and should never be disregarded. Increased demand for quantity, healthful food and diversity, as well as globalization effects and rising median income, would be revealed by India's growing population, globalization effects and increasing median income. Nutrient deficiencies in Indian soils, Imbalanced fertilizer application and Lack of Nitrogen-fixing crops have all caused significant climatic stress in India and the rest of the world. Various programs and policies, such as the Soil Health (Vitality) Card Scheme, are in place to improve fertilizer use efficiency. This cultivation practice pays attention to maintaining the environmental balance and bio-dynamization of agricultural systems so that ethical yield can be obtained.

Assessing the Adoption of Climate Resilient Agricultural Technologies by the Farmers of Telangana State

In agriculture sector, the effect of climate change seems to have become inevitable during the last few decades. Hence, the technologies for climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) are probably the best adaptation solutions currently available to improve the resilience of agriculture. The study to access the extent of adoption of CRA technologies by the farmers in the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project implemented villages of Suryapet and Khammam districts in Telangana state was conducted during 2021-22. Total 200 farmers from these two districts were selected randomly to evaluate the adoption status of recommended CRA technologies and its association with the respondents’ profile characteristics. The respondents had adopted CRA technologies at medium to high levels with the majority of beneficiaries adopting technologies like deep ploughing, in-situ moisture conservation technologies in cotton and red gram, crop diversification from paddy to jowar and vegetables as a contingent crop, improved variety of paddy Siddhi WGL-44 and improved backyard poultry breeds. The profile characteristics viz., education, annual income, land holding, individual and mass media exposure, economic motivation, risk-taking ability, and innovative proneness had a positive and significant association with the extent of adoption of CRA technologies.

Assessment of adaptation practices for risk minimization to drought in semi-arid environments

India is one of the most drought prone countries in the world and droughts are impacting agricultural production and livelihoods. Building resilience of agriculture has become important in view of the large-scale impacts of climate change and quantification of resilience is essential for objective assessment of technologies and systems for their performance. The focus of the study is to assess the impact of technologies in alleviating the impact of drought and to operationalize the concept of resilience to climatic stress. Two indices, resilience score, which indicates the performance of the technology during stress vis-à-vis the farmers’ practice during normal rainfall year and resilience gain, which indicates the performance of technology over that of the farmers’ practice during the stress year were used for assessing resilience. Location specific climate resilient technologies are adopted as a part of the ongoing project (National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA-since 2011)) and the extent of resilience achieved due to adoption of technologies is assessed with reference to drought occurred in 2016–2017 by collecting data from 113 households from two villages representing prevalent production systems of the villages vis-a-vis during the normal rainfall year (2015–16). Statistical significance of the impact of technologies adopted was ascertained using independent sample t-test and dummy variable regression technique. Drought has significant negative impact (p < 0.01) and decreased the production by 85% and income by 93%. Adoption of technologies resulted in yield and income gain (p < 0.01) during normal and drought years. Resilience score due to adoption of drought escaping cultivars ranged from 45 to 88% and 72 to 121% from livestock related technologies. Resilience gain due to climate smart technologies ranged from 15 to 118% over the farmers’ practice. Adoption of multiple farm enterprises enhanced income during drought and resilience. There is a need to encourage and support adoption of promising technologies for enhancing resilience and to minimize drought risk.

Climate Resilient Farming and Food Security of Farmers: A Study of Different Flood Hazard Zones of Assam

Climate Resilient Farming and Food Security of Farmers: A Study of Different Flood Hazard Zones of Assam

The Voluntary Involvement of Farmers and Scientists for a Climate-resilient Agriculture

The article focuses on the benefits and limits of volunteering of farmers and scientists for the transformation toward climate-resilient agriculture. Being one of the most affected countries by the consequences of climate change, the need for climate-resilient practices and technologies in the Philippines seems high. The risks and inefficiency of activism and legal means lead to the increased relevance of looking at the potential of volunteer involvement of civil society. Qualitative interviews with farmers, scientists, and employees of the MASIPAG network were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The main findings were that, despite mainly politically induced challenges, voluntary farmer-to-farmer training and farmer-scientist cooperation could be seen as essential means to foster innovations and practices relevant to climate change resilient agriculture.

Place for sociohydrology in sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture: Review and ways forward

Abstract Given the increasing demand for high-quality food and protein, global food security remains a challenge, particularly in the face of global change. However, since agriculture, food and water security are inextricably linked, they need to be examined via an interdisciplinary lens. Sociohydrology was introduced from a post-positivist perspective to explore and describe the bidirectional feedbacks and dynamics between human and water systems. This review situates sociohydrology in the agricultural domain, highlighting its contributions in explaining the unintended consequences of water management interventions, addressing climate change impacts due to/on agriculture and incorporating human behaviour into the description of agricultural water systems. Sociohydrology has combined social and psychological insights with novel data sources and diverse multi-method approaches to model human behaviour. However, as agriculture and agriculturalists face global change, sociohydrology can better use concepts from resilience thinking more explicitly to identify gaps in terms of desirable properties in resilient agricultural water systems, potentially informing more holistic climate adaptation policy.

Evaluation of Inter-Cropping System for Climate Resilient Agriculture of Yala Season in up Country Intermediate Zone of Sri Lanka

Evaluation of Inter-Cropping System for Climate Resilient Agriculture of Yala Season in up Country Intermediate Zone of Sri Lanka

Impact of Climate Resilient Technological Interventions in Jodhpur District of Rajasthan

The agriculture practices in Rajasthan are difficult due to high temperature and low rainfall. The Technology Demonstration Component of National Innovation on Climate resilient Agriculture Project was implemented through KVK, CAZRI, Jodhpur to address climate change issues and improving livelihood of farmers of the region. The study was conducted during 2021-22 and 120 respondents were selected randomly from two villages of Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, to access utility of the services, adoption status and outcome of technological interventions of NICRA. The utility of supply of seeds and critical inputs was perceived as most useful followed by animal health care, availability of farm machinery respectively. The adoption of short duration and drought tolerant varieties of kharif crops lead to 34.20 per cent average yield increase. The adoption of improved breeds and mmineral mixture supplements &amp; multi-nutrient feed block accorded second and third respectively on the basis of extent of adoption. The cropping intensity was increased by 18.52 per cent and employment (man days) increased by 16.80 per cent after NICRA interventions. Per family annual income increased by 65.17 per cent and average savings increased by 80 per cent after the NICRA project.

Greenhouse gas emissions in Greek agriculture: Trends and projections

The objective of this research is to provide a comprehensive analysis of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from the agriculture sector in Greece, focusing on the assessment of historical trends and future projections. The study will put under scrutiny the principal contributors to these emissions, including enteric fermentation, manure management, rice cultivation, and agricultural soils. Additionally, it will identify the key drivers behind these emissions, such as livestock population and fertilizer use. Using methods of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the paper will project future emission levels. Finally, it will propose evidence-based mitigation strategies and policy recommendations to help Greece transition towards a more sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture sector.

Impact of NICRA project on farm income and farm productivity of participant farmers

National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) aiming to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration. Various climate smart technologies has been diffused amongst tribal farmers to mitigate climate changes in terms of very heavy rainfall, frequent and long dry spells, high humidity etc. The present study was thus, undertaken to assess the impact of the interventions of the climate resilient technologies introduced under the NICRA Project on farm productivity and income of the farmers. The total sample size consists of 160 farmers comprising of 80 participants farmers and 80 non-participants farmers from non-project area. The mean rice productivity of participant farmers (3315.56 kg/ha) was higher than that of the non-participant farmers (2395.32 kg/ha). The difference between the mean level of farm income of participant and non-participant farmers was Rs.37419.80. Findings, therefore, indicated that the project interventions had a significant positive impact on the farm income of the participant farmers.

Gender empowerment and parity in East Africa: evidence from climate-smart agriculture in Ethiopia and Kenya

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to understand the role of climate-smart villages (CSVs) in promoting gender empowerment and equality in East Africa. This paper uses data collected from 280 and 305 randomly selected farm household heads in Doyogena (Ethiopia) and Nyando (Kenya), respectively. To analyse the data, the gender empowerment index for climate resilient agriculture (GEI-CRA) and the gender parity index (GPI) were constructed based on guidelines from the literature. In both Doyogena and Nyando, households in CSVs scored higher GEI. Comparing men and women in the CSVs, women were found to be more empowered compared to men and comparing between the two sites, household heads in Doyogena were more empowered than those in Nyando. Regarding gender parity index (GPI), in both sites, majority of the women in the empowered households in CSVs were either at equal status with men or even at higher status than men. These findings shed light on the potential of CSVs in enhancing gender empowerment and promoting gender equality. The positive contribution of CSVs may guide policymakers to scale up these practices with a better-targeted approach that recognize and adequately address the implementation of CSA practices so that men and women can equally benefit.

Modelling the impacts of climate change on cereal crop production in East Africa: evidence from heterogeneous panel cointegration analysis.

Climate change has become an issue of concern for sustainable agriculture production. East African nations are heavily reliant on the agriculture sector, which accounts for a substantial amount of their gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Due to climatic fluctuations, the output of the sector became very unpredictable. Hence, this study investigates the effects of climate change on cereal crop production in nine East African nations between 1990 and 2018. The study implemented pooled mean group (PMG) approach to examine the long-run and short-run dynamic impacts of the varying climatic circumstances on the output of cereal crops. The results reveal that rainfall and carbon emissions have favourable and significant long-run effects on cereal crop output, even though their short-run impacts are negligible. Additionally, cultivated land area and rural population have a constructive role in enhancing agricultural output both in the long-run and short-run. However, average temperatures have negative repercussions on cereal crop production in the long-run and short-run, even though the magnitude of sensitivity is greater in the short-run. Dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) validated the robustness of the long-run findings of the PMG technique. Besides, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality outcomes indicate that cereal crop output has a bidirectional causality with temperature, carbon emissions, and cropped area. The study further demonstrated unidirectional causation from rural population to cereal crop yield. The study recommends that East African policymakers improve the quality of farm inputs, the adoption of climate-resilient farming practices, the development of water retention facilities and the establishment of crop diversification initiatives.

Hybrid knowledge and climate-resilient agriculture practices of the Tharu in the western Tarai, Nepal

Indigenous knowledge can function as a basis of innovation in agriculture because it is not only culturally accepted, but often also environmentally adaptive. The debates and misunderstandings regarding the relations between Indigenous and scientific knowledge are transforming into a trend to integrate all knowledge to deal with complex issues, such as climate change. In this study we explore the understandings of the Tharu people of their farming system in relation to adaptation and mitigation of climate change, based on mixed methods design using both ethnographic analysis of their specific agriculture practices from participant observation and a survey of 229 households in the western Tarai of Nepal. Among our findings is the fit of the traditional agricultural calendar of the Tharu with the labor regimen of agricultural seasons. We found that conservation tillage-oriented agricultural practices, such as relay cropping, including zero-tillage, remain important in the farming system. Although this practice is decreasing, particularly due to the low yield as compared to the conventional tillage system, relay sowing and zero-tillage in the lowlands and uplands remain important for timely crop sowing. Similarly, mixed cropping is prevalent, particularly among small holders, for subsistence-based farming, in part due to higher yield than sole cropping. We conclude that Indigenous knowledge regarding climate and agriculture practices assists making informed decisions for climate-resilient and low emission agriculture. Although some traditional climate-resilient agriculture practices may yield lower profit than those derived from scientific knowledge/methods, the Tharu have therefore embraced “hybrid knowledge”—a combination of Indigenous and scientific knowledge, technology and practice—to balance increased yield and profit maximization with concurrent decreased vulnerability to extreme weather events. We argue that it is not useful to make firm distinctions among traditional, Indigenous and local knowledge in the age of hybridity. This hybridity is evident in the complementarity of the use of improved varieties and scientific agricultural practices for the major grains and the continuing use of landraces for minor crops such as lentils, peas and mustard. However, further research on the sustainable productivity of such practices is required before their widespread dissemination.

Policy Planning for Scaling Up of System of Crop Intensification by Adaptation of Climate Resilient Practices Towards Food Security and Improving Agricultural Production

Climate change is one of the most extreme challenges Indian agriculture is facing today and will have to deal with in future. There have been overwhelming and growing scientific evidences to establish that the world is getting warmer due to climate change and such increasing weather variability and worsening extremes will impact the agriculture sector more and more adversely. The sheer scale of involvement of the poor in agriculture calls for an effort to meet the challenge of climate change head-on through resilience building measures that work through a system of adaptive and mitigation strategies. Considering that new approaches are needed, development and deployment of new technologies, advocacy and capacity building have an extremely important role to play not only to build farmer’s capability but to help in changing the mind-set as well. Both short term and long terms outputs are expected from the project in terms of new and improved varieties of crops, management practices that help in adaptation and mitigation and inputs for policy making to mainstream climate resilient agriculture in the developmental planning. The overall expected outcome is enhanced resilience of agricultural production to climate variability in vulnerable regions.

A Study on Adoption of Climate Resilient Technologies in Adopted Villages of Bandipora District under National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project

The need to study the extent of adoption of climate resilient technologies (CRTs) under the changing climatic conditions have been at the centre of focus of many extension programmes, aimed at improving livelihood security under the current scenario. The current study was conducted in Bandipora District of Jammu and Kashmir with the objective to investigate the adoption rate of climate resilient technologies of National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project and to study the adoption behaviour of the beneficiaries of the Project implemented by Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Bandipora. Eighty beneficiaries were selected from 4 strata by proportionate allocation method (PAM). In addition to this, 40 non-beneficiaries were also selected from same villages by simple random sampling technique (RST). The present study investigates the extent to which climate resilient technologies are being adopted by the farmers under the Project National Innovations on Climate Smart Agriculture (NICRA) in the adopted villages of Bandipora District. It further studied the association of personal profile of respondents with the extent of adoption of Climate resilient technologies. A structured interview was employed to obtain data from 120 respondents. Results revealed during the study medium to high levels of adoption by the respondents of climate resilient technologies. The profile characteristics viz. Age, gender, marital status, education, family size, land holding, occupation, annual income, farming experience, trainings attended, extension contacts, information source, scientific orientation, economic motivation and innovativeness had positive and significant association with the extent of adoption of climate resilient technologies by the farmers.