Author(s):

K Shekar, Dr. P Laxminarayana, P Prashanth and Vijay Didal

Abstract: <div>One of the most important challenges faced by agriculture today is to conserve/sustain natural resources, including soil and water, for increasing food production while protecting the environment. Change in the composition of the atmosphere that began with the industrial revolution, are the result of human activities (IPCC 2007). Present day atmospheric CO2 level hovers around 400 ppm which is a significant increase over the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm. It is anticipated that the concentration level will double by the end of this century (IPCC, 2007). A consequence of increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the entrapment of heat within the earth's atmosphere leading to an alarming rate of global warming. Significant negative impacts have been projected with medium-term (2010-2039) climate change, eg. Yield reduction by 4.5 to 9%, depending on the magnitude and distribution of warming. Since agriculture makes up roughly 15% of India's GDP, a 4.5 to 9.0% negative impact on production implies cost of climate change to be roughly at 1.5% of GDP per year. Agriculture and climate experts have warned for some years now that rising temperatures and frequency of extreme climate events including heat waves experienced in many parts of the world will lead to drop in yields of major staple foods like maize and wheat. Most cereals like rice or maize cannot tolerate temperatures over 30 to a maximum of 35 degrees Celsius at grain filling state while, pearl millet will fill its grain in temperatures of up to 42 degrees Celsius (Mashingaidze et al, 2017). Climate resilience agriculture implies incorporation of the adaptation, mitigation and other practices in agriculture which increases the capacity of the system to respond to various climate related disturbances by resisting damage and recovering quickly (Ravindra chary et al, 2016). Broadly there are two approaches under agro techniques for adaptation and mitigation to climate change.</div>

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