Context

• Climate change invariably affects everyone. However, having the largest workforce (45.6 percent in 2021-22) engaged in agriculture amongst G20 countries, the impact of climate change may be disproportionate for India.

Recent climate summit of G7

• • At the Hiroshima Summit 2023, the G7 nations stressed that the peak for global GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions should be reached by 2025. 
  • They also committed to an “Acceleration Agenda” for G7 countries to reach net-zero emissions by around 2040 and urged emerging economies to do so by around 2050. 

• China has committed to net zero by 2060 and India by 2070.

Adverse consequences of climate change

• The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has forecast that global near-surface temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1°C to 1.8°C annually from 2023 to 2027. 
• It also anticipates that temperatures will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year within this period. 
• According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), India experienced its fifth hottest year on record in 2022.

Challenges in Indian agriculture sector

• Against the backdrop of worsening climate change Indian agriculture faces challenges.
• Feeding the largest population (1.42 billion in 2023 and likely to be 1.67 billion by 2050), while contending with the increasing vagaries of nature remains a challenge.
• While India’s grain production gives some comfort, the nutritional challenge remains.

What can Indian policymakers do? 

• Focusing on agricultural research, development, education and extension (ARDE). 

Significance of ARDE

Gives greater returns: 

• A recent research indicates that investing in agri-R&D yields much greater returns (11.2) compared to every rupee spent on say the fertilizer subsidy (0.88), power subsidy (0.79), education (0.97), or roads (1.10). 

Increases production: 

• Increased emphasis on ARDE can help achieve higher agricultural production even in the face of climate change.

Improves resource use efficiency: 

• ARDE is critical for improving resource use efficiency, especially for natural resources such as soil, water, and air. 
• Precision agriculture, such as drip irrigation, can result in large water savings. 
• Implementing sensor-based irrigation systems for example, enables automated control, improving resource use efficiency. 

Reduces carbon emissions

• Fertigation and development of nano-fertilizers can not only save on the fertilizer subsidy but also reduce its carbon footprint. 
• Implementing such innovative farming practices and/or products will help more efficient use of water and other natural resources, resulting in higher output with fewer inputs, while lowering GHG emissions.

ARDE allocations

• The total ARDE expenditure has increased from Rs 39.6 billion in 2005-2006 to Rs 163 billion ($2.2 billion) in 2020.
• The research intensity (RI) (ARDE as a percentage of agri-GDP) has experienced an upswing from 0.55 per cent in 2005-06 to its peak of 0.70 per cent in 2010-11 and then declined to 0.48 per cent in 2019-20.
• The allocation of ARDE is a skewed distribution towards the crop husbandry sector. In contrast, the shares for soil, water conservation, and forestry have declined.
• The shares for animal husbandry, dairy development, and fisheries sectors have decreased despite the value of livestock having substantially increased in the overall value of agri-produce. 

Way Forward

• India needs to almost double its budgetary allocations for ARDE. 
• If the Union government can reduce its fertilizer subsidy, and state governments their power subsidy, and redirect those savings to agri-R&D, ensuring research intensity to be at least 1 per cent, the results would be much better in terms of food and nutritional security in the face of climate change. 
• With the substantial increase in the budgets for ARDE, policies (such as fertilizer subsidy, power subsidy, etc) should also be aligned towards meeting the climate change challenge.