Climate Change: Scenario Analysis and Consequence in Indian Agriculture

Climate change, the outcome of the “Global Warming” has now started showing its impacts worldwide. Climate change poses a serious challenge to agriculture because of the critical dependence of the agricultural system on climate. It has the potential to both positively and negatively affect the location, timing, and productivity of crop, and livestock at local, national, and global scales. Agriculture plays a pivotal role in rural and national social and economic systems. As climate is the primary determinant of agricultural productivity which directly impact on food production in the country. Increase in the mean seasonal temperature can reduce the duration of many crops and hence reduce final yield. Food production systems are extremely sensitive to climate changes like changes in temperature and precipitation, which may lead to outbreaks of pests and diseases thereby reducing harvest ultimately affecting the food security of the country. Though agriculture has been able to adapt to recent changes in climate; innovations would be needed to accelerate the rate of adaptation of agriculture as well as the associated socioeconomic system in order to keep pace with climate change in the forth coming years.