Climate change adaptation, greenhouse gas mitigation and economic profitability of conservation agriculture: Some examples from cereal systems of Indo-Gangetic Plains

Abstract

Achieving sustainability of the cereal system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India under progressive climate change and variability necessitates adoption of practices and technologies that increase food production, adaptation and mitigation in a sustainable way. This paper examines CA from the perspective of: (i) increased yield and farm income, (ii) adaptation to heat and water stresses, and (iii) reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The analyses and conclusions are based on the literature and evidences from a large number of on-station as well as farmers' field trials on CA in the cereal systems of IGP, India. Our analyses show that CAbased system substantially reduces the production cost (up to 23%) but produce equal or even higher than conventional system; thereby increasing economic profitability of production system. CA-based production systems also moderated the effect of high temperature (reduced canopy temperature by 1-4 o C) and increased irrigation water productivity by 66-100% compared to traditional production systems thus well adapting to water and heat stress situations of IGP. Our continuous monitoring of soil flux of CO 2 , N 2 O and CH 4 revealed that CAbased rice-wheat systems emit 10-15% less GHGs than conventional systems. This is the first time that CA and its components are synthesized and analyzed from food security-climate change nexus. From this holistic analysis, we suggest that wide-scale promotion of suitable CA practices by integrating into national agriculture development strategy is way forward to address food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation challenges faced by present agriculture.

Factors affecting the adoption of multiple climate‐smart agricultural practices in the Indo‐Gangetic Plains of India

“…Similarly, CD can help adapt them to crop pest and disease that may increase due to high temperature (Lin, ). Minimum tillage (MT) can help them to escape the terminal heat in the case of wheat crop by facilitating early establishment (Sapkota et al ., ). Farmers who faced decreasing rainfall as a major climate risk are more likely to adopt STV and LLL.…”

“…This study focuses on five CSA practices that are among the key practices promoted by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CRP CCAFS) in south Asia. These CSA practices are found to have clear economic as well as climate change adaptation and/or mitigation benefits (for example, see Aryal et al ., , ; Erenstein et al ., ; Khatri‐Chhetri et al ., ; Sapkota et al ., ). According to CCAFS, CSA refers to those practices that help climate change adaptation, GHG mitigation and food security (for details see Aggarwal et al ., ; http://www.ccafs.cgiar.org).…”

“…However, in practice, farmers’ decisions to adopt CSA practices usually depend on the economic benefits associated with these practices (Khatri‐Chhetri et al ., ) and thus, this study gives more priority to the climate change adaptation and food security aspects of CSA rather than to GHG mitigation. But in practice, many adaptation measures with (private) economic benefits to farmers have GHG mitigation co‐benefits and vice versa (FAO, ; Sapkota et al ., ).…”

Crop Diversification Improves pH in Acidic Soils

“…Studies have shown that diversification and adoption of conservation practices have significantly improved soil quality and agricultural sustainability in the region (Ghimire et al 2016;Sapkota et al 2015;Schwab, Schickhoff, and Fischer 2015). However, more research will clarify how different soil quality and agricultural sustainability indicators respond to alternative agricultural systems.…”

Sustainable and technological strategies for basic cereal crops in the face of climate change: A literature review

“…Similarly, Sapkota et al (2015), among other authors, support conservation farming that is attentive to the soil, profitable and sustainable, protecting the environment, supporting sustainability. Conde (2014) proposed the eco-friendly farming that reduces ecological impact and intelligent farming that seeks sustainable increase of production and income, greater resilience, adaptation and mitigation.…”