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CSE’s new report lays out a roadmap to make Indian agriculture more climate-resilient and sustainable
Released at a national conclave in Nimli, Rajasthan, the report urges policy focus on soil health, carbon markets, and diversified cropping
Experts call for low-input, nutrition-rich and locally suited farming models
Highlights growing climate risks, with 90% of India’s rural districts facing weather-linked threats
Stresses the link between food, climate, and nutrition choices
Agriculture is both a victim and a contributor to climate change. In 2018, around 11 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions came from food production systems — from agriculture, livestock and pesticide use. Yet, the farmers and livestock rearers who produce this food remain among the most severely impacted by climate change.
“While we discuss a lot about the contribution of fossil fuels to emissions and climate change, we do not talk enough about the other elephant in the room: Agriculture and the food we eat,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), speaking at the national conclave on sustainable food systems in Nimli, Rajasthan.
The three-day conclave, organised by CSE from October 27-29, 2005 at the Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute (AAETI), brought together key experts and stakeholders to deliberate on issues ranging from soil health, carbon markets, and crop insurance to emissions from livestock and poultry management systems.
CSE released two reports on the occasion. The first, Sustainable Food Systems: An Agenda for Climate-Risked Times, presents a comprehensive assessment of how India can make its food systems more sustainable and climate-resilient. The second, Missing from the Plate: Edible Plants in Wetlands Lose Favour, documents edible plants from India’s wetlands and examines their potential role in food security, health and climate adaptation.
Among the key speakers were Ajay Vir Jakhar, chairperson of Bharat Krishak Samaj; Ramanjaneyulu G V, executive director of the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture; Sudhir Kumar Goel, former additional chief secretary (agriculture), Government of Maharashtra; Apoorva Oza of the Aga Khan Foundation; and Sultan Ismail of the Ecoscience Research Foundation.
“Farmers today are beset by multiple crises that threaten their very survival — high and increasing input costs, lack of public infrastructure, galloping food costs, and the severe impacts of extreme weather,” said Amit Khurana, director of CSE’s food systems programme. The report cites government data indicating that, without adaptation measures, rain-fed rice yields may fall by 20 per cent by 2050 and by 47 per cent by 2080, while 90 per cent of rural districts already face climate-related risks.
Narain highlighted the need to distinguish between two agricultural worlds — industrial and subsistence farming — and to strengthen the latter through four key interventions: making agriculture low-input but productive; diversifying crops and livestock to reduce risk; promoting nutrition-rich, locally suited crops; and encouraging climate-conscious dietary choices among consumers.
“The food-climate-nutrition connection,” Narain said, “is not about being vegan, vegetarian or even organic. It is about how food is grown, what we eat for nutrition, and how much we eat.”