Climate change and agriculture in South Asia: adaptation options in smallholder production systems

Abstract

Agriculture in South Asia is vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, adaptation measures are required to sustain agricultural productivity, to reduce vulnerability, and to enhance the resilience of the agricultural system to climate change. There are many adaptation practices in the production systems that have been proposed and tested for minimizing the effects of climate change. Some socioeconomic and political setup contributes to adaptation, while others may inhibit it. This paper presents a systematic review of the impacts of climate change on crop production and also the major options in the agricultural sector that are available for adaptation to climate change. One of the key conclusions is that agricultural practices that help climate change adaptation in agriculture are available, while the institutional setup to implement and disseminate those technical solutions is yet to be strengthened. Thus, it is important to examine how to bring the required institutional change, generate fund to invest on these changes, and design dynamic policies for long-term climate change adaptation in agriculture rather than a mere focus on agricultural technology. This is one of the areas where South Asian climate policies require reconsidering to avoid possible maladaptation in the long run.

Polyamines-A Positive Modulator against Biotic and Abiotic Stresses on Plants: Review of Current Knowledge

“…Diversities have been observed between and within species in PAs (Put, Spd, and Spm) reactions to salt stress. For example, in rice seedlings under NaCl-stress endogenous levels of PAs (Put, Spd, and Spm) decreased, while other studies show that salinity results in the accumulation of these compounds in the same substance(49).…”

Does women’s participation in agricultural technology adoption decisions affect the adoption of climate‐smart agriculture? Insights from Indo‐Gangetic Plains of India

“…Climate stress‐tolerant varieties are improved crops with particular tolerance to abiotic stresses such as drought, flood, heat, and temperature. These varieties have increased farmers' adaptation to such climate risks (Aryal, Sapkota, et al, 2019; Jagadish et al, 2012). For instance, drought‐tolerant maize varieties developed by CIMMYT yield 2–3 tons ha −1 under drought conditions, whereas other varieties of maize yield less than 1 ton ha −1 under similar conditions (Zaidi, Srinivasan, Cordova, Sanchez, 2004).…”

“…Agricultural production in South Asia is increasingly facing an adverse impact of climate change (Arshad et al, 2017; Aryal, Sapkota, et al, 2019; Asseng et al, 2014; Knox, Hess, Daccache, & Wheeler, 2012). Although cereal production in South Asia, including India, has increased significantly since the mid‐1960s, due to the Green Revolution, sustaining this is more challenging in the context of climate change (Bhatt, Kukal, Busari, Arora, & Yadav, 2016; Gupta, Somanathan, & Dey, 2017; INCCA, 2010; Mughal & Fontan Sers, 2020) and also due to the impacts of climate change on natural resources, primarily soil and water (Ortiz et al, 2008; Vinke et al, 2017).…”

Panel Method in Hedging: Evidence from The Indonesian Agricultural Sector

“…To maintain agricultural products' productivity, it is necessary to anticipate crop failures caused by natural disasters such as floods and drought by providing insurance programs to farmers covering 1 million hectares of land per year. Farmers who have insured their agricultural land, if affected by natural disasters, floods, and droughts, can be replaced (Prakash, Tek, & Ritika, 2020).…”