National Initiative On Climate Resilient Agriculture

The project was formally launched by the Honorable Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Sri Sharad Pawar ji on 2nd Feb,2011 in the symposium hall of NASC Complex, New Delhi during the AGM meeting of ICAR. Before the launch, a preparative workshop of all the 100 KVKs was held on 10th July,2010 at CRIDA , Hyderabad to orient the KVKs on the project scope and objectives. Proceedings The prelaunch workshop was held on 1st-2nd Feb 2010 at NASC Complex, New Delhi to finalise the technical programme and have the inputs from different stakeholders.

 A pre launch technical workshop was conducted during the launch of the scheme. The workshop was chaired by Dr. S. Ayyappan, Director General, ICAR during the inaugural session on 1st February, 2011 and DDG (NRM) and DDG (Animal Sciences) in other technical sessions on 1st and 2nd.

The workshop started with welcome by Dr. A.K. Singh, DDG (NRM). He provided a brief background of the project and highlighted its significance in the current context of climate variability and increasing extreme events. Dr. B. Venkateswarlu, Director, CRIDA made a brief presentation on the project outline – its core components viz., strategic research, technology demonstration, capacity building and sponsored research.
Climate change is likely to threaten the food security and livelihoods of millions of people in India. Consistent warming trends and more frequent and intense extreme weather events have been observed across India in recent decades. Recent climatic  events like cold wave, heat wave, drought, and floods have demonstrated the significant potential of weather factors to influence the production of food crops like rice, wheat and pulses, eventually leading to shortages and increased prices. It is, therefore important that we enhance the resilience of Indian Agricultural Production System to climatic variability and climate change. In this context, ICAR has just initiated a new scheme entitled, National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) which will be implemented during 2010-12. This scheme has three components, i.e. (i) strategic research on adaptation and mitigation on important grain and horticulture crops critical for food security, livestock and fisheries, (ii) technology demonstration in 100 most vulnerable districts on best bet practices to cope with current climate variability and (iii)capacity building of different stakeholders (scientists, policy makers, extension staff and farmers) on climate change.
 
The distinctive features of the proposed scheme and the novelty in the approach are:

• Critical assessment of different crops/zones in the country for vulnerability to climatic stresses and extreme events, in particular, intra seasonal variability of rainfall.
• Installation of the state-of-the-art equipment like flux towers for measurement of green house gases in large field areas to understand the impact of management practices and contribute data on emissions as national responsibility.
• Rapid and large scale screening of crop germplasm including wild relatives for drought and heat tolerance through phenomics platforms for quick identification of promising lines and early development and release of heat/drought tolerant varieties.
• Comprehensive field evaluation of new and emerging approaches of paddy cultivation like aerobic rice and SRI for their contribution to reduce the GHG emissions and water saving.