India Unveils 2,996 Climate-Resilient Crop Varieties for Sustainable Farming

The release on the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) said, "Under the National Agricultural Research System led by ICAR, 2,996 Climate-resilient varieties of crops were released during 2014-2025."

"Complementary agronomic practices, such as direct-seeded rice, zero-till wheat, stress-tolerant crop adoption, and crop residue management, have also been developed and promoted to mitigate climate-related risks and enhance agricultural sustainability," it said.

According to the release, the ICAR launched the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) programme in 2011 to develop and disseminate climate-resilient agricultural technologies.

The release stated, "NICRA has significantly contributed to NMSA to develop the capacity of farmers & stakeholders in the domain of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures by conducting capacity building programs and demonstrations on location-specific promising climate resilient technologies."

It further said the programme supports research to improve the adaptive capacity of farming systems against extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and heat waves.

Highlighting the scale of climate vulnerability assessments, the release said, "Under NICRA, vulnerability assessments were conducted across 651 agricultural districts in accordance with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) protocols."

It added, "Of these, 310 districts were identified as highly or very highly vulnerable."

The release also noted that "Climate Resilient Villages have been established in 448 villages across 151 vulnerable districts spanning 28 States/UTs, where appropriate technologies are demonstrated for wider replication."

The release said the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture promotes climate-resilient farming through interventions focused on water-use efficiency, soil health management and sustainable agricultural systems.

- ANI