Presented by Dr. Kirit Shelat – I.A.S. ( Retd .)

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MAINSTREAMING AGRICULTURE AS AN INTEGRATED MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TOOL AT QATAR NATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE IN DOHA

ON 6TH DECEMBER 2012

Presented by

Dr. Kirit Shelat – I.A.S. (Retd.) Executive Chairman - National Council for Climate Change,

Sustainable Development & Public LeadershipEmail ID: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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ADVANTAGE OF AGRICULTURE

The impact of climate change is being felt daily world over. I am not going into details as every concerned citizen has experienced it and knows what it means.

But it is most important challenge in new millennium, but more sever because it is unpredictable. It comes from anywhere, sky, heavy rainfall, sea- tsunami and even from bottom of earth – earthquake.

The main cause that now everyone seems to agree is indiscriminate use of natural resources and high emission of green house gases which contain maximum CO2.

The most vulnerable impact is ofcourse on farmers who loose crops or get low productivity. The consequence ofcourse is increasing in poverty level and challenge to food security and social turmoil.

National Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership

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ADVANTAGE AGRICULTURE

One solid way to meet all these challenge is to promote and mainstream agriculture – the vegetation cover

• This has been lost sight off in current policies and efforts are focused elsewhere -but not looking back at nature that provides solutions.

• In the sunlit tropical areas all our natural resources are through the process of photosynthesis which is natural process of each and every plant cum grass. That means the CO2 from the atmosphere forms the basis of all resources absorbed through this process and we get back oxygen which is released as its consequence. We have measured these conversions and seen the positive changes in the environment at local level.

The interesting aspects of carbon assimilation by plants are:

• The atmospheric CO2 stimulates the process of photosynthesis and consequently plant growth, as extensive experimental research has shown (IPCC, 2000)*

• The extent of this stimulation varies for forest (up to 60 percent), for pastures, and crops (about 14 percent).


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The International Experience

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CONSUMPTION OF CO2 PER HECTARE Says Tony Lovell, one hectare is 10,000 sq. meters. If a hectare of soil 33.5

cm deep, with a bulk density of 1.4 tonnes per cubic metre is considered, there is a soil mass per hectare of about 4,700 tonnes.

If appropriate management practices were adopted and these practices achieved and sustained a 1% increase in soil organic matter (SOM)6, then 47 tonnes of SOM per hectare will be added to organic matter stocks held below the soil surface.

This 47 tonnes of SOM will contain approximately 27 tonnes of Soil Carbon (I.e. 47 tonnes at 58% Carbon) per hectare.

In the absence of other inputs this Carbon may only be derived from the atmosphere via the natural function known as the photo-synthetic process. To place approximately 27 tonnes of Soil Carbon per hectare into the soil, approximately 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide must be consumed out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis.

A 1% change in soil organic matter across 5 billion hectares(estimated waste land in the world) will sequester 500 billion tonnes of Physical CO2.

(Tony Lovell – Soil Carbon P/L Australia )


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CARBON SEQUESTRATION

In order to win the challenge, agriculture must be prioritized at all levels; right from international negotiations and partnership on Climate Change to National and Provincial policies.

The most important focus should however be local level participation of farmers and Public Governance System, Community leaders. The objective is to promote Climate Resilient & Sustainable Agriculture.


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AGRICULTURE – ITS STATUS IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

At international level, emission of CO2 by Agriculture is treated on par with that of industry, but this is not fair/equitable as agriculture vegetation absorbs CO2 and release Oxygen. In fact it reduces CO2 from atmosphere naturally and only known technology which can do so. To arrive at such figures, first assessment needs to be made on what is absorption of CO2 against release of CO2 in atmosphere, but in reality this is not done so far.

Hence in International dialogues, this inequity must be removed and there should be all out effort to promote climate resilient and sustainable agriculture to meet food security and reduce CO2 level from atmosphere.


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Following questions can be asked? What is climate & resilient and sustainable agriculture? What initiatives already exists?


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CLIMATE RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE:Sustainable livelihood means.....

• Provide enough to leave or exist• It does not become less• There is gradual increase in income for better quality of life.• It provides safety- net in time of unforeseen climatic change with

adverse impact by way of re-capturing losses and providing employment

CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE MEANS……

• Despite change in climate and its adverse impact on crops/animals income to farmers should not decrease.


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IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON SOIL/LAND It is now realized that the impact of climate change is on Mother Earth the land or its content the soil.

• The increase in temperature is absorbed by soil• Lack of rainfall or less rainfall reduces its moisture content• Heavy rain or floods thrush has been out its upper crust

All these affects fertility of soil and its capacity sustain even existing crop- pattern. These in turn affect productivity with low yield or crop failure.

This is the cause of decline in food production in the world and danger to food security to hungry millions

Continued.............


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It is realized that analysis of soil chemical content – soil health revels its need of nutrition to be supplemented by organic or/ and inorganic manure – so that it can generate appropriate yields.

Further, Soil Health & Moisture Analysis can indicate what crops it can sustain. All crops cannot be grown everywhere. Every land has its distinct soil Health and that indicates fertility and capacity to sustain crops.

Hence, Soil health & Moisture analysis is the key to identify in area of climate change is

(a) alternative crops that can be grown (b) What is the gap in nutrients in soil to maintain fertility(c) The moisture content

Contd ….


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Therefore, the arena of climate change Soil & Moisture analysis, even if

done in past, needs to be taken up again to identify sustainable crops to

meet concurrent impact of climate change and produce more and reduce

crop failures. This can be initially at village/block based but in reality land

texture and structure varies from survey number to survey number in a

village – all lands are not plains – there are un-dulatry terrain and internal

variation. Hence it has to be individual survey number based for individual

farmer. In that way individual farmer can be guided – by written guidance


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The challenge to sustainable development is not about lack

of knowledge and research. We have all these. But we are not able to transfer this to all farmers, all villages

of our country. We are faced with the challenge of a growing gap in

productivity between average and optimum production between one farmer and another in the same location with similar condition. The challenge is to know reasons for such gaps and bring them. The example of Anand Block of Gujarat is illustrative.

GAP IN PRODUCTIVITY BETWEEN AVERAGE AND OPTIMUM PRODUCTION


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Statement on the Gap between Average and Optimum yield of Horticultural crops

ANAND BLOCK – GUJARAT - INDIA

Source: Gujarat Horticulture Statistics : 2011-12


Sr. No

CropAverage yield

(qt/ha)Optimum yield

(qt/ha)Yield gap

(qt/ha)1 Banana 525.00 625.00 -100.00

2 Mango 45.00 70.00 -25.00

3 Chiku 80.00 110.00 -30.00

4 Papaya 450.00 600.00 -150.00

5 Anola 100.00 140.00 -40.00

6 Citrus 80.00 110.00 -30.00

7 Watermelon 450.00 650.00 -200.00

8 Muskmelon 300.00 425.00 -125.00

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Statement on Crop wise average yield and the Gap between average and optimum yield of Flower crops


Source: Gujarat Horticulture Statistics : 2011-12


Sr. No

CropAverage yield

(qt/ha)Optimum yield

(qt/ha)Yield gap

(qt/ha)1 Rose (Local) 70.00 85.00 -15.00

2 Rose

(English)

80.00 105.00 -25.00

3 Lily 25.00 40.00 -15.00

4 Jerbera 60.00 80.00 -20.00

5 Merigold 100.00 135.00 -35.00

6 Sevanti 60.00 75.00 -15.00

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Statement on Crop wise average yield and Optimum yield


Continued.......


Sr. No

CropArea(ha)

Average yield (qt/ha)

Optimum yield (qt/ha)

Yield gap (qt/ha)

1 Hy. Bajra (K) 2890 14.25 20.25 -6.002 Hy. Bajra (S) 8560 26.78 29.65 -2.873 Rice (K) 5455 32.00 38.50 -6.504 Rice (S) 35 40.80 49.84 -9.045 Tobacco (B) 7860 20.00 24.62 -4.626 Tobacco (C) 820 25.00 30.24 -5.247 Hy. Castor 390 20.00 23.38 -3.388 Pigeonpea 205 8.00 13.24 -5.249 Sesamum (K) 210 4.61 6.50 -1.89

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Source : District Agriculture Office, Anand (2010-11)


10 Sesamum (S) 360 7.50 10.69 -3.1911 Hy. Cotton 360 20.57 27.19 -6.6212 Moog bean/

Green gram (S)289 3.25 5.37

-2.1213 Chickpea (G) 72 8.10 11.44 -3.3414 Chickpea (V) 150 16.00 20.00 -4.0015 Groundnut (S) 100 23.00 17.45 -6.4516 Mustard 310 14.29 16.95 -2.6617 Cluster bean 80 6.50 9.65 -3.1518 Wheat 2610 35.20 42.53 -7.33

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THE CASE STUDYThe Gujarat- India Experience on

Sustainable Climate Resilient Agricultural Development

• Gujarat province of India is one of the progressive states of the Country.

• State has all possible handicaps faced by agriculture such as 70% of agriculture being rain-fed, advancement of desert, salinity ingress, under ground water table going down, recurrent droughts, untimely/irregular rainfall and some areas receiving rain only three to four days in a year. Gujarat’s agriculture suffered heavily due to droughts.

• The growth rate of agriculture used to be negative during such years.

In a normal year, the agricultural growth rate used to be 2 to 3%. Agriculture was not sustainable in many parts of the state due to recurrent crop failures. However, this is a story of the last millennium.


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The Gujarat Experience

• In the new millennium, Gujarat, with determination and persistent efforts, changed the agriculture scenario.

• From 2004 agriculture witnessed a major turnaround with a growth of 9% per annum.


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Gujarat introduced climate resilient & sustainable Agricultural Plan

• Provide direct advice to individual farmer based on soil & moisture content in a card - a new approach in extension

• Establish direct access of Agricultural Scientist at village through software

• Provide direct advise at individual and village level for climate resilient & sustainable agriculture

• Uplift living standard of farming community by increasing their income.

• This is based on experiences where above approach has brought out sustainable and climate resilient agriculture


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NEW EXTENSION APPROACH - 2

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The Gujarat Experience Sustainable and Climate Resilient Agricultural Development

• Scientific agriculture was introduced by distributing Soil Health Card to every farmer. From 2004 onwards, 50 farmers from each village were given such cards every year.

• The farmers were provided cards with not only soil health analysis, but also soil moisture analysis and past five year’s average market price of the crop grown in their area.

• This helped them in making an informed choice in the selection of crops. Farmers now sowed crops which gave them higher return and were sustainable in own farms.

Contd….


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The Gujarat Experience Sustainable and Climate Resilient Agricultural Development

• Analyze soil of every farmer’s field to promote optimum fertilizer use and fertilizer-use efficiency

• Recommendation for fertilizer usages including Micronutrient for each farm, based on soil analysis

• Recommendation for bio fertilizer, green menuring and FYM for each farm to promote sustainable agriculture

• Providing soil reclamation measures• Suggest Alternate crop planning and cultivation practices based on

MAI & soil test for Climate Resilient & Sustainable Agriculture• This entirely based on local – Taluka level Agro – Climatic conditions & part of

Taluka Level Action Plan.• This helped them in making an informed choice in the

selection of crops. Farmers now sowed crops which gave them higher return and were sustainable in own farms.

Contd….


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The Gujarat ExperienceSustainable Agricultural Development

• A direct door-to-door extension programme for guiding the farmers at village level was introduced under a pre-Kharif programme, known as :Kirishi Mahotsav’.

• Every village was visited by a development team comprising agri-scientists and officers from the veterinary department, co-operative, irrigation department, rural development department and local banks etc. High-yield crops were identified.

• The farmers were guided about using certified seeds and looking at price of APMCs before selling their farm produce.

BISAG, a institute set up in collaboration with Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, by the Government of Gujarat, prepared a micro-level plan for land use by identifying sites for check dams and village ponds for every village.


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NEW EXTENSION APPROACH - 1FARMERS AS CENTRE POINT

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The Gujarat ExperienceSustainable Agricultural Development

• ICT material was made available to the farmers in their mother tongue for crop management, including use of fertilizers and pesticides.

• Free telephonic help lines were introduced to answer the queries of farmers.

• All these initiatives were backed by total involvement of public leadership, both elected and non-elected. From the Chief Minister to the village Sarpanch, from the Chief Secretary to the village level worker, from voluntary agencies, input dealers and co-operatives to bankers – every single individual was involved in the projects.


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NEW EXTENSION APPROACH - 3

FARMERS IN CENTRE

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THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

The Challenge to the world food security calls for rapid agriculture development

• Application of knowledge is the key to bring about rapid growth and to usher in sustainable development Says Prof. Mukul Asher, Professor of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

• The term knowledge Economy (KE) reflects importance of knowledge for development process. It involves countries, organizations and people to acquire, create, disseminate and use knowledge more effectively for greater economic and social development.

• It includes application of successful technology of one field to another field. contd…


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THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY • It requires transfer of Knowledge Economy from Advanced

Countries who are generating most of this knowledge to developing countries, which need it because of their limited awareness, poor economic condition and weak institutions.

• The knowledge revolution has a major role to play in the meeting challenge of global warming and development of agriculture and through that sustainable development.

• This can be done by developing an international knowledge Bank of successful technologies and empirical evidence - a guide which every farmer can access.


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URBAN AGRICULTURE There is need to promote Urban Agriculture• This exists almost with majority of urban households who have

some open land.

• Even in the multistory building, there is some kind of tree growing, grasses or ornamental plants.

• Even people staying in the flats like to keep plants in pots in lobby area.

• But there is a gap about knowledge of agricultural practices, what plants they should grow and how to treat them. There are no urban agriculture extension centers or even Agro Service centers where such guidance could be available along with basic inputs of seeds, fertilizers, farm equipments

Contd….


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URBAN AGRICULTURE • People end up buying high cost ornamental plants

with high mortality and go on replacing it every year.

• Kitchen garden could be promoted to meet the requirements of vegetables and wherever more open areas are available, promote horticulture and floriculture. However, at present to government department could be said to be responsible for promotion of urban agriculture.

• There is a need to take urgent initiative on urban front. This will go long way in reduction in CO2 level in urban centers and to contain extent help in food security.


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Sow and Reap, Grow and EatCreating green spaces

Presented by : Uday Acharya City: MumbaiTrustee, Vidya Vaaridhi Trust (Urban Leaves) 16th July 2011

Mumbai Port Trust Terrace garden at Victoria Dock

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Urban Agriculture – Soil + Compost (75 + 25 %), excellent results.Mumbai Port Trust

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THE PATH AHEAD

There are stories - India’s real life stories of success of very small people in remote villages of our country. Normally, when we talk about “success’, we look at people in high echelons of the society and their achievements - The President or Prime Minister of the country, the CEOs of multinationals or large industrial organizations so on and so forth. We identify their good qualities, the way they have grown and become successful and their efforts they made to reach at top. We suggest to future generations, to follow their examples. This is certainly a need of time to prepare the future generation. But we need to remember that the majority of our people are at the grass root level, in the rural areas. They have wide range of problems despite years of development. There is dissatisfaction among rural youth, their aspirations are not met with. Villages do not have infrastructure and people face all odds including added difficulties of the adverse climate conditions. Not withstanding this, we have many stories of success of people at the village level. Where the major challenge of sustainable livelihood met with successfully. Due to shortage of time, I am not narrating them, but they are replicated in our book on “Leadership and Greener Agriculture in the Arena of Climate Change” which is in the DVD we have distributed.

Contd ….


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THE PATH AHEAD

• In Gujarat, the public leadership, elected and non-elected members of Public Governance System worked together with all the stakeholders for making its agriculture sustainable in last few years. The key to its success is the policy of its leaders who learn from success stories from its own villages like that of Shroff experience and govt’s own programmes and research by its Agricultural University’s Scientist, to covert it into an Implementable programme with participation of all and got implemented well at all level. This is a remarkable example where the leaders decided and joined to make sure things happen, everybody joined together and made it happen. If this can take place in Gujarat, why not in all the states?.

• A similar approach is needed today by countries, to meeting the challenge of providing sustainable livelihood or for that matter, meeting the challenges of adverse impact of Global Warming. It is the national leadership, which has to go down at grass root level to villages and efforts should happen in all the villages of a nation, with full involvement of State level leadership, district leadership, taluka leadership with people and their leaders at the village level.

Contd ….


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CONCLUSIONPOTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT

Number of countries in the world are experiencing decline

in growth of agriculture especially food crops. It is increasing migration to urban areas leaving agriculture behind. Heavy corporatisation of farming in some developed economies is another such reason.

Greater prosperity in developing countries will see an expanding middle class with growing appetite for meat and dairy products apart from vegetables and food grains.

There is national and international demand for bio-fuel, which has diverted growing of food crops.


CONCLUSIONENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY

For example

India’s Share of arable land in the world is 11.5% (only second to USA)

There is scope for improving yield in major crops .

India’s yield per Ha of world average estimates in some major crops are Paddy- 75%, Wheat- 63%, Cereals- 73%, Pulses - 79%, Soya- 48%, Maize- 38%

In cotton, India has reached world highest yield with BT Cotton seeds. Same must happen in all other crops.

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CONCLUSION LEADERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – WIN –WIN

SITUATION

Global warming is a threat – can be converted into an opportunity

Win-win situation for all if efforts are channelized with focus on sustainable

development with agriculture at its centre.

There is over all awareness at all levels from school children to senior citizen with public and private players.

The key to all these is LEADERSHIP: motivated & committed to promote sustainable

development with a clear vision, detailed plan and implementation strategy based on

use of knowledge economy.

Leadership at all levels - village, block, district, province and centre at need to focus on farmers need and can be and made statutorily responsible for development of small farmers who are left out of development process. Along with agriculture for providing sustainable and climate resilient agriculture.


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CONCLUSIONLEADERSHIP FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The Elected leaders: Sarpanches, Taluka Pramukhs, District Pramukhs, MLAs, MPs, Cooperatives, trade and industry association and like.

The Non Elected leaders: Owner/Entrepreneurs, Managing Director of companies, NGOs, Civil Servants, Educational Leaders (teachers and students), Spiritual leaders, International Organizations.

Such transformation will help meet challenges of poverty and global warming which seems to be un-surmountable.

It requires determined and persistent effort to reach out goals to overcome all these.

If all act together with a goal in view - there will be all round prosperity.

These are very important public policy considerations for India to strengthen her economic. Food, nutrition and livelihood security by using agriculture as a tool for integrated growth.

India can also provide leadership at the regional and global levels through this perspective.


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Atharvaveda Hymn LXVIINational Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership

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Dr. Kirit ShelatNational Council for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Public Leadership (NCCSD)Post Box No. 4146, Navrangpura Post Office, Ahmedabad – 380 009.Gujarat, INDIA.Phone: 079-26421580 (Off) 098250 37406 (M)Email: [email protected] Website: www.nccsdindia.org

Presented by Dr. Kirit Shelat – I.A.S. ( Retd .)

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