National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture:Agrilearner

National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)

Launch Year: 2011

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Implemented By: Natural Resource Management Division (ICAR), New Delhi

Coordinated By: Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad

Aim: Enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change.

Objectives:

• To enhance the resilience of Indian agriculture covering crops, livestock and fisheries to climatic variability and climate change through development and application of improved production and risk management technologies.

• To demonstrate site specific technology packages on farmers’ fields for adapting to current climate risks.

(Climate Resilient Agriculture)

• To enhance the capacity of scientists and other stakeholders in climate resilient agricultural research and its application.

Coverage:

The research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries and natural resource management.

Components:

• Strategic research on adaptation and mitigation.

• Technology demonstration on farmers’ fields to cope with current climate variability in 100 vulnerability districts.

• Sponsored and competitive research grants to fill critical research gaps. • Capacity building of different stake holders.

(Climate Resilient Agriculture)

Key Features:

• 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.

• 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 enhance water saving.

• Special attention to livestock and fishery sectors including aquaculture which have not received enough attention in climate change research in the past. In particular, the documentation of adaptive traits in indigenous breeds will be the most useful step.

(Climate Resilient Agriculture)

• Thorough understanding of crop-pest/pathogen relationship and emergence of new biotypes due to climate change.

• Simultaneous up-scaling of the outputs both through KVKs and the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture for wider adoption by the farmers.