Farmers’ capacity strengthening and climate advisory services for combating climate change in India

Abstract

Agriculture is highly sensitive to variations in climate. The Indian climate is already changing and these changes have a measurable impact on Indian agricultural economy also. India is a land of small cultivators and 80 per cent of its farmers owning less than 2 ha of land. In other words, the land provides livelihood security for 65 per cent of the people, and the small farmers provide food security for 1 billion people. With large and growing population, emissions of greenhouse gases, India acts both as source of climate change and as a sink for its impacts. There is a national imperative to equip Indian agriculture to be prepared to adapt to climate change. New approaches like Climate Smart Agriculture are the need of the hour which warrants community participation. A recent study conducted in Tamil Nadu state warrants capacity building of clientele and multi stake holder approach to combat climate change.