words per minute
3
anikkkk
00:00
Speed
The Government of India has operationalised CSA through the convergence of schemes and initiatives. In 2011, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched a flagship network project, the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). It is implementing Climate Smart Villages programmes across 448 villages to demonstrate climate-resilient technologies. To enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of farmers to climate variability, it has demonstrated location-specific climate-resilient technologies like the system of rice intensification, aerobic rice, direct seeding of rice, zero till wheat using happy seeders, in-situ incorporation of rice residues, etc., across the country. The National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated to enhance agricultural productivity through a focus on Integrated farming systems, water use efficiency, promotion of soil health management through the Soil Health Card scheme and synergising resource conservation.
Moreover, BioE3 policy climate-resilient agriculture as a key thematic area for the development of biotechnology-led solutions.
NABARD also plays a critical role in financing climate adaptation in agriculture. It is the National Implementing Entity for the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC). It funds projects for carbon reduction and degraded landscape restoration in various states. NABARD has also launched a dedicated strategy for Green Lending to accelerate finance for renewable energy in agriculture, like the PM-KUSUM scheme. Recently, NABARD signed an MoU with the CEEW to promote climate-resilient agriculture in rural areas.
Despite these initiatives, Indian agriculture faces structural bottlenecks in scaling Climate-Resilient Agriculture. Low adoption of technologies due to limited access, awareness and affordability. Since 86 per cent of the farmers are Small and Marginal, owning less than 2 hectares of land (Agri Census 2015-16), they lack the capital to adopt precision technologies like Drones and IoT devices. The rollout of climate-resilient seed varieties remains low, with a deficit of extension workers, making the lab-to-land transfer of technologies slow. Further, the digital divide limits precision agriculture and AI-based decision tools. These challenges are compounded by ongoing land degradation, water scarcity, and climate change volatility, which may outpace adaptation efforts. Fragmented policy coordination further risks slowing progress.
To realise the Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat@2047, Indian agriculture must transition from the Green Revolution to an Evergreen Revolution, as envisioned by Dr Swaminathan. We must accelerate the development and deployment of climate-resilient crop varieties and strengthen quality standards and the supply chain for biofertilizers and biopesticides, and provide digital tools and climate advisories to support adoption by small landholders. We must integrate Agri-stack to provide hyper-local weather advisories and democratise carbon markets for farmers. Implementing CSA is non-negotiable for achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), ensuring that India remains the “Granary of the World” without borrowing from the future.