Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change effects for future food security in South Asia: Is precision-conservation agriculture a way forward? ML Jat, TB Sapkota & C. Stirling Sr Cropping Systems Agronomist & CIMMYT-CCAFS South Asia Coordinator (M.Jat@cgiar.org; www.cimmyt.org) Global Conservation Agriculture Program (GCAP) International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)
South Asia: The Region Sitting on Volcano South Asia is most populous regions of the world Growing food demand (30-50% more by 2020) Plateauing crop yields Natural resources degradation Declining water tables, low water use efficiency Labour, energy shortages, high production cost, Climatic variability-biotic and abiotic stresses Input : output ratio/cost and diminishing farm profitability Land holding- getting smaller and fragmented Agricultural work force- ageing farmers and youth moving away from farming Large management yield gaps Climate Vulnerability Map
Crop Productivity and Input Use Efficiency: Where Will Gains Come From? Productivity and Efficiency of inputs (nutrient, water) Genetic Engg/Biotech Breeding/strains Improved Agronomic management Immediate, medium & longterm: Agronomic management Long term: Breeding & Biotechnology Business as usual/existing knowledge Policy support Timeline
Bridging Management Yield Gaps with Environmental Stewardship
Conservation Agriculture in Rice-Wheat Systems Resilience to climatic shocks: Example of heavy rains during 2012-13
Wheat physiological processes, water use efficiency and adaptation to climate variability under CA Input WP (kg m-3) 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 Residue No residue a b a b 2005-06 2006-07 Source: Jat et al (2009, 2012)
Direct Dry Seeding of Rice (DSR): A potential technology for optimizing cropping systems with resilience
CA Reduces Soil Variability: an example from long-term trial in RW system of EIGP T1: conv rice-wheat T2: conv rice-zt wheat T3: Direct drilling of both rice and wheat on permanent beds T4: Zero-till DSR-conventional wheat T5: zero till DSR-Zero till wheat without residue T6: zero till DSR-Zero till wheat with residue T7: unpuddled transplanted rice followed by ZTW T8: wet DSR-zero till wheat Jat et al (2013)
Seven years of CA in RW rotation of EIGP: Trends in yield and income of a Source: Jat et al (2014)-FCR
Yield, income and GHG emissions in contrasting tillage based RW system 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0-1 -2 Rice Wheat RW system Conventional tillage CA CA: 430 kg/ha higher RW system yield, USD 300/ha more income with 4.85 t CO2-e/ha less emission Rice Wheat RW system Rice Wheat RW system Grain yield (t/ha) Net Return (000' USD/ha) Total GWP (t/ha) Source: Jat et al (2014)
Variability of Nutrient Response Across IGP: Example of Wheat kg/ha kg/ha kg/ha 5000 4000 N Response = 2566 kg/ha 3000 2000 1000 0 3000 2500 P Response = 969 kg/ha 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2500 2000 K Response = 716 kg/ha 1500 1000 500 0 Sites (n =141)
Precision-Conservation Agriculture in maize-wheat Systems of South Asia 120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 FP SRF SSNM (NE) 0 Maize Wheat MW System Maize Wheat MW System Maize Wheat MW System Maize Wheat CT (FP) CT (Imp FP) Partial CA Full CA MW System Net income increased by USD 286 and 258/ha/year with full and partial CA, over conventional tillage with farmer s management With NE (SSNM), net income increased by USD 386 and 225/ha/year respectively compared to FFP and SRF
Precision Nutrient Management under CA- Example of wheat CIMMYT-CCAFS Case Study: Precision nutrient management: a dream become reality 6000 5500 5000 4500 4000 GY (Kg/ha), n=30 SSNM-NE FFP Nutrient Expert and GreenSeeker Average yield gains in wheat- 0.5 t/ha Average net income gains- USD 104/ha Reduction in foot prints Large number of farmers have adopted in Haryana Buy-in by the Govts
Precision-Conservation Agriculture: GHG mitigation in wheat in North-West India Replace area general nutrient recommendations with farmer specific targeted crop yields using precision nutrient management tools (nutrient experts, NE, GreenSeeker)
Precision Land Leveling- A Precursor to CA 25.0 Conventional Double no-till 20.0 15.0 10.0 5.0 Season-1 Season-2 Season-3 Season-4 Complement no-till based crop establishment Estimated amount of irrigation water saving- 1 billion m 3 yr -1 Yield gains in rice is 175000 t, wheat 155000 t, RW system-0.33 mt yr -1 GHG mitigation 163,600 MT of CO 2 e/yr Sources: Jat et al (2012), CIMMYT-CCAFS Impact Study (2014)
Precision water management under CA Permanent raised beds Residue retention Sub-surface drip irrigation Fertigation-direct injection of water and nutrients in root zone
N application method under CA 45 cm
Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Adaptive Capacity Climate Smart Agriculture Mitigation Food Security
Portfolios of CSAPs: Some Evidences from Field Scale Technology Zero tillage in wheat (without residue) Yield gain/loss (kg/ha) Economic gains/loss (USD NR/ha) Water saving (M 3 ha -1 ) Energy Saving (MJ ha -1 ) Increase in NUE (kg kg -1 ) Reduction in GHG (CO 2 -e kg ha -1 ) 342 131 414 3040 1.44 1507 (from LCA) Zero tillage with residue in wheat Permanent beds in maize/wheat Direct seeded rice Improved/ precision water management Nutrient Expert (Precision) in wheat Laser leveling (RW system) 468 190 550 2650 1.61? 195 289 1650? 1.33? + 150 136 3000? - 420 (based on soil flux only) 375 97.51 405? 1.40-500 104 -? 10 200 600 130 2500?? 330
Climate Smart Villages (CSVs)-An integrated approach for resource use efficiency and resilience Weather Smart Weather forecast, Index based insurance, seeds for needs, crop diversification, Agro-forestry Water Smart Direct seeded rice, maize based system, raised beds, precision land levelling, AWD Carbon Smart No-tillage, Residue Management Legumes Nutrient Smart SSNM, Nutrient Expert Decision Support tool Green Seeker, Legume integration Energy Smart No-tillage, Residue Management, DSR Precision water management Knowledge Smart ICTs, Gender Empowerment Capacity development Women and youth focus Approaches: Multi-stakeholder participatory and local adaptation Focus on youth, women and socially disadvantaged groups Innovation systems: farmer cooperatives & service windows
Piloting Climate Smart Villages in South Asia Exiting CSVs: ~ 60 in Haryana, Punjab (NW India), Bihar (eastern India), Nepal Terai New sites: Maharashtra, AP, Karnataka (Southern India), Khulna (Bangladesh)
Scaling CSAPs for Sustainable Food and Livelihood Security: The 3 Essential I s Prioritize Cost cutting practices Produce more with same cost Empower & engage youth New technologies Timely delivery Real time access to knowledge Local adaptation Farmer s innovation and feedback Bottom-up approach for investment Prioritize investments Convergence of schemes Future food security- Resource Conservation Implementers Innovators Investors The Foundation of CSA
State Agriculture Policy with Emphasis on CA and Climate Smart Agriculture Practices- Haryana
Key messages CA helps in adaptation to climatic variability and to some extent in reducing environmental foot prints Precision input management is complementary to CA Precision nutrient (particularly N) and water management with CA can contribute significantly to GHG mitigation With increased efficiency of the production system, precision-conservation agriculture (PCA) could be one of the important strategies for future food security in the face of climate change
Thanks Stewardship