With impact of climate change beginning to reflect on agriculture, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has initiated a Rs 350-crore national programme to help farmers sustain agriculture, particularly in dryland.
An ICAR arm, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), is coordinating with 21 institutes under ICAR umbrella to implement the NICRA (National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture) project.
“The initiative is aimed at enhancing the resilience of Indian agriculture covering various crops, livestock and fisheries to climate variability by developing and applying better production technologies, Dr B Venkateswarlu, Director of CRIDA, said. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he said the programme would be implemented in the two remaining years in the 11{+t}{+h} Five-Year Plan and through the next plan. Studies would assess vulnerability of crops and zones to climatic changes and extreme events. It would also include rapid and largescale screening of crop germplasm including wild relatives for drought and heat tolerance.
The idea was to pick at least one village in 500 districts. In Andhra Pradesh, initial studies would cover some villages in five districts, including Nalgonda and Anantapur. Of the Rs 350-crore outlay, the Government had sanctioned Rs 200 crore for 201-11 and Rs 150 crore for 2011-12.