Indian Government Must Strive for Sustainability While Ensuring Food Security

With a clear “Code Red” for countries including India, the recently released Climate Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts frequent dry spells, heat waves, and irregular monsoonal rains over the next 30-40 years, reports BloombergQuint.

What does that really mean? Effectively, climate change puts at risk India’s food security while also compounding the issues related to import substitution, agricultural production as well as farmers’ livelihoods and incomes. The IPCC also posits that mean precipitation and monsoon extremes are projected to intensify by 20 percent in summer over India and South Asia, which would result in erratic water supply to largely rainfed agricultural areas.

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On the other hand, given the global population surge, developing countries are now looking to double food production by 2050. India itself is expected to increase its agricultural production by 70 percent by the year 2050 to cater to the demands of its population. Hence, the need for science-based policymaking is perhaps stronger at this stage of human development than ever before. In this, countries are constantly being confronted with a delicate balance in policy priorities – the task of fulfilling rising food demand while also reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Climate change affects agriculture both as a sufferer and as a contributor. Agricultural operations account for around 10-12 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2019 data, owing to the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and animal manure. As a result of rising food demand from a growing global population, this pace is only expected to increase. These greenhouse gases include nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4), all of which contribute to climate change and global warming and hence have a significant influence on the agricultural production systems’ sustainability.

Read more at BloombergQuint.

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