Building climate resilience to coastal agro-ecosystems in East Godavari

Andhra Pradesh has a long coastline of 974 km. Land degradation has been continuous phenomenon affecting agriculture apart from high temperatures and variability of rainfall. The rise in sea level is a major threat to the in coastal areas. Due to global warming there will be increase in temperature of the earth and thermal expansion of water leads to a rise in sea water level. Sea rise results in ingress of sweet water resources with salt water. Embankments and bunds are to be erected for protecting sweet water from the ingress of sea water and other saline waters. A global sea level rise of 102 mm per year is anticipated as a result of human induced global warming. The sea water has reportedly crossed over 150-meter distance and disturbs the people near the coast. Very little work has so far been done on finding suitable practices to with stand the effects of climate change. The climate resilient practices required to withstand soil salinity, water scarcity, soil fertility, farming systems are examined for maximizing farm income. The farmers who are dependent on the ground water face a serious problem of soil salinity and loss of cultivating lands. East Godavari district has long coastline which is under threat requires restoration with existing patches of coastal vegetation. Coastal systems is requires improvement in biodiversity, wind breaks, pollution free industries, salt-tolerant rice varieties that are capable of growing in saline conditions to improve food security.