I think it is clear that climate change will affect food crops on the sub-continent both in the short and long term - it is unavoidable. The question is how to change the food system so that we can improve food security overall while adapting to these changes. Many people on the Indian subcontinent are malnourished due to inadequate food consumption, while other communities are suffering from an expansion of obesity-related diseases. Thus the problem is economic, political, cultural, as well as climatic. Food production is an economic activity that will respond to appropriate policy drivers - encouraging or subsidizing drought-resistent crops, improving efficiency and coordination of water resource management, and implementation of other approaches will ensure that communities are more resilient in the face of increased floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures. In the longer-term, a much broader approach will be needed, adapting consumption, provision of food to urban areas, development and livelihood support for farmers in rural areas and wholesale transformation of the way agriculture is done.

Jayanta Dutta,

You are right in your assessment. According to INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL METEOROLOGY the norther river basins will go dry while southern ones will gain in rainfall. Naturally, northern basins being more productive, food security of the country will be jeopardised in future with climate change. Therefore, there is need to assess extent of change and an incremental change in cropping systems. Present cropping systems are determined by market forces, therefore, incremental change in cropping systems in the country should be towards producing more food than accruing more monetary profit. It is possible through governmental policies that may manipulate market in favour of crops which at present have low market value.

Hi, I find this topic very interesting, could you suggest a reference for the information provided?

My Dear Giorgia Lombardi;

Have you addressed above me or Jayanta Dutta?

I was asking Jayanta about the specific figures she provided ("..monsoon rains touched the main land 15 days to 1 month later"), but if you know any references on the topic I would also appreciate it.

thank you

Hi

Dr. Khan and Giorgia Lombardi

Thank you, very much for participating in this topic.

@ Dr. Khan

You have rightly pointed out the food security of the country will be jeopardised in future with climate change. I think, instead of bringing change in cropping systems, the importance is to be given on development of new varieties which could be sown late by adjusting the onset of rainfall. The new technologies are to be adopted in this region to curtail the duration of crop as well as to save the use of water like SRI, zero tillage, drum seeder…

@ Giorgia Lombardi

You can find lots of refreces in the net itself in support of my claim. You can also visit the site of Indian Metrological Department ( www.imd.gov.in). Personally I am engaged with a research project on climate change and its effects on agriculture in the Eastern Part of India. My studies also points out the same. The studies are yet to be presented or published. I will attach the studies in this after publication

Thank you

Dr, Jayanta Dutta

Dr, Jayanta Dutta,

You are right to secure food supply it is necessary that new varieties crop seeds with changing climatic conditions is necessary and part of an incremental strategy to adapt agriculture to changing climate. This should be carried out by public funded research not by agricultural multinational corporations which are there to make money. But think over a situation in Punjab and Haryana where frontiers of rice cultivation are pushed in semi-arid areas environmentally not fit for the crop but over exploitation of groundwater and wasteful use of irrigation water have made it possible. Don't you think in situations like this it is necessary that cropping system is gradually shifted with changing climatic conditions in favour of those crops which may yield high and suited those conditions as they will be less taxing on other inputs apart from water.. It is not to undermine your suggestion of developing new varieties of crops which may suit to the changing conditions.

Dr. Khan

Thank you for your comments. What I wanted to say is that erratic distribution of rainfall is affecting the question of food security. I already mentioned earlier that we have to adopt the modern technologies of cultivation which will use less water as well as can preserve our ground water resource. We can not substitute the cultivation of cereals and pulses with other crops as these two crops comprise the foodgrains. We have to maintain the surplus production of foodgrains in future also. We can’t depend on other nations for food. And yes, research on development of varieties must be carried out by the public fund. Awaiting your valuable comments and thank you again to participate in the topic. I invite more researchers those are working on climate change and agriculture to join in this discussion.

Who oppose this? Point is to meet the challenges for meeting the demand of food world wide. Indeed, India should be first to look into agroclimatic changes effecting growth & yield of all kind of crops domesticated. The problem is complex, hence solution. Therefore it needs integrated efforts, not only generating new resistant variety or zero tillage or sprinkling water for irrigation. Each one is looking separatly fro its individual angle for their survival only, really not the society at large. Further geographical conditions.should also be kept in mind .Let agriculture scientist ( all discipline)including meteorologist and policy makers / executors sit together to work for future, and co integrate the solutions otherwise we keep on facing devastating events

S N Mishra, Rohtak

Lets express our views..

Climate change seems to be a complex science as regards all the various aspects of food production. There are comments focused on economic needs of producers, seasonal needs of consumers, technical, moisture conserving, cultural methods. An encompassed approach needs to be developed. Maybe, climate-survival-driven agriculture with all the sub-topics. Recently I noticed books and articles about dry land farming without irrigation, probably an important sub-topic in this science.

There will not be any major change in total rainfallbut the variations will be higher with extreme rainfall events being more, dry spells getting longer. The solution for most part of country is to devise proper rain water management strategies to take care of excess rainfall whenever it occur.The water has to be storeds either in surface storage structures or subsurface structues i.e. aquifers. If the ground water recharge structures are in place any excess rainfall will be stored for future one year or so. These structures will also act as flood control measures. A second approach will be to look into virtual water transfer from water starved states of north western INDIA TO OTHER PARTS BY TRANSPORTING RICE AND WHEAT. Further we need to tweek our price system as well as processing systems so that low water consuming but nutritive cereals like ragi and sawan (Echanocloa) are grown in low rainfall areas like in Annantpur (A.P.) and not rice and groundnut because of better prices.

The Rainfall pattern 1915 to 1960 was similar more or less after that 1970 after thirty years was different with more wet spells. 2000- 2007 was dry after that delayed onset of monsoon due to weak start and 14-21 dry spells followed by high intensity rains seriously affected cotton yields Ref: Raju et all:2011 Ind J of Agronomy December issue. This year history repeated from drought to deficient .

Alternative for this change in climate is store water underground aquifers for proper crop establishment . As it was drought but when a down pour of 65 mm recieved farm ponds got filled, if it recharges underground aquifers can solve both drinking and seedling droughts problem as surface storage is useful for supplemental irrigation for long duration crops/ double cropping of short duration crops only.

I appreciate and respect all the views expressed above. My point of view is that climate change is set in motion and climate patterns are not stablised. Naturally, in areas where onset of monsoon is late food-grains crops should be developed to suit other conditions of those areas together with early onset of monsoon. Similar R&D where on-set is early. But, it should also be clear that there is observed somewhat a definite tendency of climate change over space of our country (because question is about Indian subcontinent) . It is why that a continuous process of agroclimatic/agroeclogical zoning should be in place so that old or new food crops are raised in suitable environments so that cropping becomes less taxing on natural resources and resources subsidised by farmers. It is also important to construct underground structures in floodplains or in suitable aquifers where excess water in the case of extreme raifall could be stored.

The critical question was started with "The Indian subcontinent". It would be nice if we think beyond our country boundary, while putting the thoughts.

Change the management system before going for breeding new varieties and livestock breeds. Start conserving available water and increase water efficincy by Mulching, Zero tilling and utilization of crop residue for livestock feeding.

First of all, I thank the Author who initiated the question which is very much relevant to present situation arises out of global climate change ,which affects scenario of Indian Agriculture . Researchers has to think seriously of sustainability of the Indian Agriculture as the situation will continue in the future. Supporting my predecessor's views, my idea is that ' all the disciplines under the aegis of Indian Agriculture should work together and formulate viable solution to combat the situation without compromising the socio-economic condition of the diverse India , and recommend it to the policymakers as they are the ultimate machinery who will execute the final implementation.Moreover, suggestions from the scientists from the inter-related disciplines should also be incorporated while formulating the viable solution.'

Wow..great. Getting nice ideas... Hope more from other researchers......

I think it is clear that climate change will affect food crops on the sub-continent both in the short and long term - it is unavoidable. The question is how to change the food system so that we can improve food security overall while adapting to these changes. Many people on the Indian subcontinent are malnourished due to inadequate food consumption, while other communities are suffering from an expansion of obesity-related diseases. Thus the problem is economic, political, cultural, as well as climatic. Food production is an economic activity that will respond to appropriate policy drivers - encouraging or subsidizing drought-resistent crops, improving efficiency and coordination of water resource management, and implementation of other approaches will ensure that communities are more resilient in the face of increased floods, droughts, and extreme temperatures. In the longer-term, a much broader approach will be needed, adapting consumption, provision of food to urban areas, development and livelihood support for farmers in rural areas and wholesale transformation of the way agriculture is done.

But first, "Food" to the context of the sub continent should be defined first. And we have to acknowledge then that most of the climatic change is man made.

If we study the rainfall distribution pattern of India, we could observe that total rainfall received in a year is not varying too much (CV of total rainfall variability for 15 years is less than 15 per cent) whereas the inter-monthly variability ranges between 30 to 40 per cent during monsoon particularly from June to September. Late raining in some parts of northern and eastern India particularly in the months of late Aug and Sept. causes flood and hampers food production affecting foodgrains production adversely.

One solution is controlled irrigation in greenhouses. Quod vide:

Dannehl, D.; Huber, C.; Rocksch, T.; Huyskens-Keil, S. and Schmidt, U. (2012): Interactions between changing climate conditions in a semi-closed greenhouse and plant development, fruit yield, and health-promoting plant compounds of tomatoes. Scientia Horticulturae 138, pp. 235-243.

This year change in monsoon pattern in India clearly observed with quantitative difference with time and space.

Many parts have started implementation agricultural contingency plan , which already prepared by Government.

Most parts of the India has constructed large number of water harvesting structures already and have following aquifer recharging since years ago.

But question is as season progresses up to summer approaches stored water start drying and groundwater depleted up to depth which was once filled full so no water can be added more at the time monsoon. So, who are able to suggest me good water management and how ???????

The rain fall is erratic as Being observed all over the globe and this also reflects in the ground water level as well. Water management system is poor. Therefore, the yield of food crops shows a declining trend

Therefore, we are very much constrained to take to the age-old breeding program for right type of crops to with stand erratic and insufficient rain fall

Genetic engineers as well succeeded in inducting water stress tolerance in plants through dehydrins/stress tolerance genes or by foliage spray of agents such as triazole- derivatives of hormonal fungicides (Triadimefon) ( Fletcher). In future only such genetically modified plants will be able to with stand the vagaries of monsoon.

Hello

The answers/suggestions/analises show that we are sticked to the past.

Well, we know what happened then. Can anybody observet the future?

No, so, lets not think that the nature/environment will behave/act the same. We know that the CO2 and other materials, that men produce, change the environment substentialy. We also know that as the time is running-more and more cars are/will be in use and they produce more exhaust gases. These gases influence the rains rule. But on the other hand we know that there are some new ideas for car engines, like butan gas operated and/or electriciy. On the other hand we don't know how the new car engine fuels will influence the envinronment. I, for example, think that there will be a shortage of CO2 in the air, the plants will suffer due to lack of Photosynthesis, so the produce of the crop will be reduced and or changed..

On the other hand the discussion does not give solutions in case of a overcroping. How to store/preserve it. To dry/freeze/salting Etc? As the weather is (very) irretional and if one year there will be surplus of rains, shouldn't we preserve food?

Another question is how do we educate the people to use the quantity of food that they/we need? One of the serious problem is that we are overfeeded (in many places that I traveled and even in the "poor" countries) as nobody pay attention (schools) to this point. The question of deseas, due to overfeeding, is another serious question.

Also, a lot of food is left in the fields and /or is used not to feed people.

So, to change the climate is hopeless but to change the behaviour /maners of the people is possible. It will not give a complete solution, but it is a point to think about ant to start improoving the situation as the longest way starts with the 1st step.

In friendship

Amir.

@ Mr. Sigal

Thank you very much for your participation in the discussion. Yes, I do agree with you regarding the issue of educating people or make them aware about the above mentioned points.

But if we go back to the pre-industrialization age, there were no scope of CO2 emission industrially/mechanically but plants could do photosynthesis well. So the cry for shortage of supply of CO2 is impractical.

Some of the authors have suggested that the discussion is sticking mainly on past and nobody can predict about the future.But the foundation of the 'present' is laid on experience of the 'past'; and on the basis of 'present' we can speculate reasonable suggestions for the 'future'. Till now, as the discussion goes on some are giving emphasis on water harvesting and good water management practices, and some about genetically engineered crop plants;some about the population reduction etc. .In my view, only few participants are coming nearer to the possible solution to the problem.

Due to complexity of the matter of this discussion , till today(after25 days) we are unable to suggest a viable and sustainable solution for this problem. As I am from the discipline of Plant Breeding and Genetics, if I say that 'breeding abiotic stress tolerant varieties and genetically engineered plants suited to the situation arises out of climate change will be the most relevant solution to the problem; then oppositions will be raised up from other disciplines/angles.

That is why, we need holistic approach from various disciplines,as I have suggested before.

Best solution for all these problems is conserve forest, grassland, desert and use natural as well as artificial resources minimum to avoid fast depletion in these resources bcoz once depleted, it will be impossible to make available such resources for next generation.

Go for tree plantation, roof water harvesting in each and every house and it should be compulsory for new constructions first, water conservation by river joining, dam development.

We are misusing resources gifted by God's in the form of environment and ecosystem.

More comments are invited from other researchers those are working on rainfall pattern vis-a-vis climate change. Relevant views regarding the relationship between rainfall pattern and food security are requested. Thank you all for expressing their valuable views.

Dear Jayanta

In the pre industrialized era there were kinds of hugh animals that produced the CO2 for the trees. One breath of mamalian produced 225-2950 lit. of CO2. The avian produced 906-1700. This is a lot. At that time the CO2 reached the top of 380 PPM while the St. is 330. So, the trees had a lot of CO2 and therefor they reached extreme size. The outcome of this situation is that today, some lucky countries, have a lot of fossils and oil.

So, if we reduce the precentage of CO2 in the air, I don't see how this world can produce more food.

Don't worry, it will take such a long while, till the current emission is cleand up, that we will not suffer.

In friendship

Amir

Dear Sigal

The point raised by you is dealing with another aspect of CO2 reduction.. but this needs to be kept in mind also.

With Thanx

I have little experience of working in SSA and smallholder farmers employ different techniques as those suggested for India. I agree with most of the interesting points being raised and discussed here. However, my questions is how feasible can the proposed or suggested approaches be applied at scale? We have much information and technologies on drought tolerant varieties, water harvesting techniques etc but with limited use by farmers. Some people have suggested change in the way support in agricultural advisory services to farmers is done i.e. from linear models to innovation systems perspectives.

Climate Change is showing impacts by showing variability in rainfall, temperature and climate extreme events so we have to go for climate smart agriculture.

look for local and regional strategies including environmental, social and regional collaborations. First identify the causes and consequences of the climate change in the subcontinent. Effective assessment of impacts through integration of methods such as GCMs, Crop modelling, integrated models and quantify and predict the possible impacts of sectors and seek cross sectoral solutions through integration of measures and regional collaboration. Such strategies include:

1. Capacity building in all social aspects about climate change and its impacts

2. Investment and financing

3. Environmental and biodiversity conservation in the face of climate change

4. adaptation and mitigation measures such as shift in crop calender, type and change of crop and cropping calendar, environmental rehabilitation, effective Co2 sequestration, mainstreaming climate change agenda in policies and strategies and plans, transboundary basin based management, CDMs

5. Coastal land management

Let the farmers tell you. They know, and tell MONSANTO to keeps their noses out of Indian Agriculture.

Climate change is global issue and challenge to all of us. As you know well that plants change their adaptive behavior in nature while changing climatic conditions. To tackle food shortage, we have to identify a plant and trees which have wide adaptability and show least variation against to climatic variations. If we use those plants which have narrow genetic base and adaptability, these would more prone to even minimal variations in climate. In general, trees are respond slowly to the changing environment.

There is no doubt that climate is changing during several last years. I think time has come when we should think about the calender which are based on climate conditions. Apart from the human no other living organisms don't have the facilities like us. Its time to change calender according to new climatic condition as we seeing rain is postponed.

With an assumption that variations in Indian Summer Monsoon precipitation are common to the farming community and that farming community has, down the ages, has evolved the suitable measures to cope with uncertainties with monsoon rains, we are in the currently involved in a study that was funded by "Karnataka Knowledge Commission". We are focusing on the farming community of command area of irrigation tank in semi arid district of Karnataka, i.e. Kolar District. Preliminary results suggesting that wisdom with farming community is reasonably good to deal with reduced inflows to the irrigation tanks and it suitability of this wisdom to deal present day uncertainties under global climate change needs little more time.

Yes its fact that Climate Change is going to effect all crops by modifying in crop phenology, growth and ultimately yield. Therfore, its necessary to have a adaptation measures like use of field based models, forecsating and linking models outputs with policies. Similarly parameterization of models like APSIM and DSAAT will help to be as decision support tool.

@Dr. Avnish Chauhan

Several contributors including yourself have pointed out changes in agricultural calender. True, it will be a must when climate change is stabilised which is not. What we are experiencing are extreme events, sometimes early onset of monsoon and sometimes it is delayed. Situation is fluid. The calender in agriculture depends on a certain degree of confidence or certainty which is presently does not hold.

@ Jagadeesh

Your observation,"Unfortunately in India, more effort is put on climate modelling than ecosystem modelling." is quite valid and I also suggested something like this. However, your observation, "Unless we have scientific crop growth models which are calibrated from Indian data it is difficult to predict regionally its impact." is correct to a great extent. But, one of my research scholar used CropSys with ClimGen in the case of Haryana. He devoted 2 full years to collect morphological, managerial and other input data from different places. The predicted and realised yields of rice, wheal and maize have been found in conformity with negligible differences.

Why food crops alone , I believe we should focus on climate effects on biogeocenosis first ... After all development and survival success of every organism depends on its interaction with biotic and abiotic factors.

I wrote a paper a couple of years back on this issue. One of the institutional responses, according to that paper, is setting up a water futures exchange. The paper is attached.

In this article published in Commodity Vision, I presented the concept of the establishment of a 'futures market in water availability' in the context of the risk of water availability that Indian agriculture has been facing in the recent years.

With South Asian agriculture being dependent on the timely occurrence of the monsoons, any deviation from the scheduled arrival of the monsoon causes problems not only for the farmers, but also produces a threat to the food security of the region. However, there is no market in South Asia where users and investors exposed to water availability risk can effectively hedge against such a risk.

Yet, a lot needs to be done for such an institution to be effective. The most crucial one is creating adequate infrastructure to bring about real-time flow data in the public forum. A knowledge base that is transdisciplinary as well as trans national for water resource economics, institutions, and hydrological engineering has to be created.

Dr.Jayant sir we discussed hard topics now day we such thing of climate conditions overwhelming scientific has demonstrated that the earth is moving towards a point of no return, where ecological catastrophe brought about by climate change will be unavoidable. More than 56 per cent of workers are engaged in agriculture and allied sector, while many others earn their living in coastal areas through tourism or fishing, indeed most of the poorest people other earn their living in coastal areas through tourism or fishing; indeed most of the poorest people live in rural areas and are almost completely reliant on natural resources for their food and shelter. Women in inespecially in rural areas are often responsible for providing daily essentials such as food and water. Research has further shown women have fewer means to adapt and prepare for extreme weather conditions. It requires consideration of the response of biophysical and socio-economic systems to changes in climatic and non-climatic conditions over time (e.g., changes in population, economy or technology), important non-climatic developments that affect adaptive capacity, the potential for effective adaptation across regions, sectors and social groupings, value judgements about the acceptability of potential risks, and potential adaptation and mitigation measures. wish you good luck further research

Since Aug.21-2012 many views have been commented by many researchers in connection with the effect of climate change on food security. But, till today ,Sheshu Giri's comment, though there are some grammatical mistakes, is a strong one which we all have to think over; and that comes from the socioeconomic system prevailing in the country ,and people are adapted to it. To abruptly change the year long social system to a new one, for just there is climate change and it is of great concern to all of us, will not be everlasting one. Because any change or implementation of a new technology needs the active participation of the people who are the ultimate end users.We cannot go for a new system of cropping pattern which is suited to climate change.On the other hand, we can't go for introduction of a new variety of crop, because it has to be planted by the people.Improving the water conservation technology will help only in reducing negative effect caused by climatic change.That is why I have pointed out that a holistic approach is necessary so that we can get a viable solution of this complicated problem. Thanks.

I am very much interested to do research on salinity tolerance. Please any one help me to make a research proposal on salinity tolerance of vegetables.

First select seemingly saline tolerant varieties of different vegetables and germinate the in different strength of NaCl in white' medium with inorganic nutrients. Based on the percentage of germination, you can select the saline tolerant strains and then screen them against saline soils and check for morphometric and yield parameters.

The other method is through gene transfer technology by using either bet or badh or pro or dehydrin genes, which takes lot of time. Still there is no guarantee that these transgenics will find the light of the day in view of growing huge concern by environmentalists and antagonists.

Let us go back to the wild types. We need to have an overview over our crops, mainly the genetic diversity at species, cultivars and genotypes (framers product). High level of genetic diversity enables a population to adapt and respond to natural selection, it allows a species to respond to changes in different environments.

High genetic diversity is expected in natural populations, whereas exploitation and intense selection on exotic genotypes exhibiting desirable phenotypic characters will result in genetic erosion of plant populations

Climate change triggered by higher green house gases (GHG) emissions will increase in global temperature within next few decades thereby expect more coastal saline water innundations, abrupt rainfall patterns with floods and drought, flooding of the deltaic regions where much of the food crops are grown. Only two options are there firstly to mitigate or reduce the effects and secondly adaptation strategy to changing climatic conditions primarily through breeding varieties with multiple abiotic stress tolerance traits. At IRRI under the green super rice (GSR) breeding program, we have successfully developed several multiple abiotic stress tolerant rice cultivars that are ready to be tested for their adaptation across Asia and Africa. Most of these newly developed materials combine drought, salinity and submergence besides doing well under irrigated conditions. Some of these already shared with NARES partners to test verify such materials in the most vulnerable areas in Asia including India. Likewise crop researchers should develop multiple abiotic stress tolerant varieties for other major food crops.

We encourage researchers to study these climate change ready materials for adaptation trials in a collaborative manner.

Besides breeding materials, we need management options to reduce the GHG emissions. Several technologies are available in shelf but needs to be revamped before they can be effectively utilized for the mitigation efforts eg alternate wetting and drying (AWD) can reduce methane emissions from paddy fields.

Climate change needs to be tackled at several fronts with concrete steps in a coordinated manner involviing all stakeholders, players and policy makers.

I believe that long before even conducting studies on the impacts that will be caused in agricultural production, it must first conduct a study with the population of future consequences and the events that led to this question, because the cultural, religious and economic aspects of region variables are extremely important that you take action without having assessed these issues.

It is easy to see that the outside world will, there are uprisings against governments when it comes to actions that will affect the population so dramatically, conflicts can occur in any country, however this can be minimized if the people have to be aware of the dangers faced, and these actions are also medium to long term.

Crop growth models are a technique that investigators could use to study possible impacts of climate change on crops.several dynamic models have been developed in recent years. but they should base on eco-physiological model.

I completely agree with Sunil Gamage that we should be looking at management changes, not jumping to breed new crops. Scientists too often say "I've got this cool new tool that can fix everything", and loads of money is spent in the pursuit of something that may give value in 10 years time, when in reality even better improvements could often be made with existing genetics by strategically changing the system today (or after a shorter period of research).

Much as we like to claim it, we cannot predict the future. The climate always changes, but the adamant pronouncements by some here about specifically how rainfall will change in different parts of the subcontinent are naive, too many people speak on this issue from a position of faith rather than an appreciation of true scientific limitations. We must be prepared for a range of potential futures.

This is another reason why management changes are better to focus on. They can be developed and implemented more rapidly than genetic changes. If the prediction turns out to be incorrect, the strategy for dealing with the problem can be rapidly developed to suit. Fewer resources may have also been expended finding an inappropriate solution for something that either does not eventuate, or alternatively turns out to be more severe than predicted.

am talking in the context of sugarcane, this crop's yield is dependent on temperature both sunlight in the day and cold at night and also on varietal development, soil, water and other agronomic BMP's. The vagaries of climatic change have already been showing impact on this crop and India has a lot to do to cope with this scientifically. Australians and Brazilians are coping and changing with market dynamics. India will remain in the same position balancing its act of self sufficiency and swinging cyclically. Corporates are just feeling the brunt of non availability of feedstock and burden of operational costs due to less man days usage.

Industry and Academia should work hand in hand with policy support.

Decontrol of industry may give a chance for more focused approach but is there the policy will? Climate has impacted both in sucrose losses as well as yield loss(weight) and marginal farmer would be forced to look for more commercially viable alternates crops...

Efforts can be made to make the crops to become tolerant to climatic changes and changes in the soil due to excessive usage of Pesticides and Chemical Fertilizers.

Microbes can play predominantly. For Example

Silica mobilizing Bacteria can improve uptake of Silica which makes the plants tolerant to Drought.

Salt Tolerance can be imparted by introducing Osmo Regulators into the plant system.

Frost can be tolerated by plants by keeping the plant tissues above their critical temperatures.Increasing the water vapor content of the air is generally beneficial.Growth of "ice nucleating" bacteria can be inhibited. Survival of freezing must include mechanisms to survive thawing, such as the production of special proteins or "cryoprotectants" (additives that protect against the cold) called "antifreeze" proteins. Certain microbes can significantly improve the life and growth of the crops in frost times.

Photosynthesis can be improved by providing photolytic agents, carbon dioxide liberators and hydrogenase producing bacteria to reduce the need of sunlight and water.

Long before the climate resilient agriculture became fashionable, breeders in India and the world over were breeding cultivars tolerant and resistant to drought, flood, frost and such other abiotic stresses. So, the fruits of those efforts need only be taken advantage of now.

Dr Dutta has initiated this discussion on ..."the possible measures to assess this change (due to climate change) so that food production isn't affected.......I shall confine my points on this.

To (daily) data on rainfall can be obtained from Meteorological Offices....but some information on the intensity of rainfall at one particular time of the day may be useful which may not be there...then we have to assess the change due to climate change ...and then assess the impact of this change on food crop production........obviously this is multidisciplinary and long term.....bur is available now for many instance.....

More important and urgently needed is the .....assessment of the impact felt / experienced by the farmers' of the area concerned....how their tradition of agriculture are affected....and how they feel they can adopt/adjust....

The 'climate change smart' agriculture..as it is known now...involves many short term strategies like modification in the crop and cropping system management so that climate instability-impacts are minimized..like changing crops and crop types, varieties, cropping pattern, adjust to market for higher profit enabling to maintain efficiency....these are important because these are comparatively easy, less expensive and immediately implemented.......

Other long term strategies are breeding for tolerance, using biotechnology for adoption to the changed environment, policy change at the top, and numerous mitigation type solutions.

What we need more for countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Ethiopia is to assess the impacts and address the problems of this issue for small and traditional farmers...who are the majority.....who produces the major share of food for us.......who are poor and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

We need scholars like you to publish and share with the world. Visit www.rennergroup.co.uk. Submit an article to the Journal "Select Creative Genius- a journal registered with the British Library. "- Dr C. F. Ifeta

First we have to predict the impact on land, water resources and climate. Based on the prediction we have to identify the challenges on food production. The impacts might be drought, water logging, high temperature, cold spell, storm and many others. Based on these challenges we have to choose suitable management systems and production technologies which will ensure sustainability in food production.

While there are some options like selection or breeding of crops suitable to withstand such climatic variation, in my opinion the primary thing is to assure moisture supply to the soil though it is not very easy to do so. The best and simple option is to construct simple check dams in as many areas are as possible so that the available rainfall can be put to good sustained use

It would be useful to start identifying the current systems of cultivation that are contributing to climate change itself. The popular belief is agriculture is the victim of climate change and not a cause. The reality is anything but. We need to undertake significant amount of extension work with the farmers and help them adapt to "greener" systems for agriculture. For instance, several studies have shown that the double zero-till cultivation of rice and wheat in the Indogangetic plains improve the yields of both crops, reduce water consumption, time delays etc. If scientists can work on ways by which these systems can be augmented, that would be a great step ahead.

Climate changes become a fact efffect in agriculture and food secure. That demond we must adapting patterns of crop and breeding new varities which suitable for climate conditions.

A one cup serving of cooked fava beans provides 187 calories, 33 g of carbohydrates, 13 g of protein, and 1 g of fat. Fava beans are an excellent source of fiber with 9 g per one cup serving. Additionally, fava beans offer the benefit of 177 mcg of folate, or 44 percent of the daily value. Copper, manganese, and phosphorus are also key nutrients present in fava beans

Instead of genetically engineering mutant varieties, we need to realize that these crops already exist. Fava beans that I have grown during the past ten years endure deep frost as well as 115 degree temps and still produce a hearty crop. It is possible that science understanding environment outside a lab can produce enduring results.

Fava also drought tolerant

Dave Sands Montana State

Climates change and each of us have our own take on the problems and what we think is being done or might be done to mitigate the associated problems. My own specialty is bioprecipitation and the selection of crops and associated ice nucleation active bacteria that may incite rainfall. I have know idea how important this might be in any particular region, or how efficient we might be able to make it work.

Anyway try http://bioice.wordpress.com/ and check out the site and our free e-book "From Grains to Rain" [email protected]

Indian agriculture is highly diverse. The climatic change will most affect the present monoculture system most. It needs to conserve water , irrigation pattern and crop management including the natural selection for the genotypes for their climate change adaptation.. Climate change has to be coincided with cooperative farming by small land holders and change in land use pattern.

As the climate changes so must our needs and ways of achieving the needs.

Climate change is already happening. Alternatives that can be done is to select plants that are resistant to climate change is happening or make planting calendar to adjust to a rainy and dry seasons. For example in one year of crop rotation: rice, corn, corn.

Crops can be made to tolerate abiotic stresses by braking the silicates by microbes and make the Silica available to the plants

The only solution that strikes me is to plant drought tolerant, drought resistant and drought evading species of crop plants. Therefore, already lot of work has been done through breeding works, raising triploids or polyploids in vegetative and fruit yielding crops. In genetic engineering studies, genes such as MDH, BDH, PRO , Dehydrins etc are being used. These are all in the infant stage of development. Therefore, at the present only conventional tools such as breeding, tissue culture technology, Somaclonal variations and screening etc alone can come to the rescue against the vagaries of monsoon

Breeding verities for drought tolerance is not as simplest as we think. During last 30 years we all were trying to develop clones (various crops) for drought tolerance. Very small advancement has been achieved. Sadly, these achievements were made by big companies not by the public sector so that the technology is expensive for poor farmers. I think we have to move with holistic approach including physiological understanding of traits, traits–by-target environment interactions, genetics of those traits (conventional or molecular), using advance tools for environment prediction and selecting appropriate phenology and crop growth process accordingly, advanced management practices such as minimizing water use and efficient use of water and finally utilisation of land more environmentally friendly in order to minimize soil water and air pollution.

Pace of Climate change is now enhanced due to human activities. It require cooperation of developed and developing countries to reduce carbon dioxide emission. The steps taken are slow than required. Therefore use of alternative including use of certain cyanobacteria and plantation along with abiotic stress tolerant crops are need to be strategy soil crop management system.

Yes it is clear from all over world that climate change bringing and also altering the weather and hydrological cycle throughout the world. This is one aspect but what is the solution. I think first step we should control the world population, government should come ahead for plantation in waste land, barren land, afforestation and prevent deforestation. We should aware the people about the environment management. We should not forget our ancestor as they were perfect about the environment management but about us we are greedy and no vision for future and also for our coming generation.

a holistic approach as suggested is the most direct approach, and might be quicker providing that all government bodies work together with the public to conserve water, alternative agriculture and distribution, selection of crops. The drought toleant and abiotic stress plant is the bioetch way, but with many years of research and little accomplishment , this would also be a long shot.

We need to select abiotic resistant crops specially legumes eg lenticil. We should develop organics in soil so that it can provide better moisture for longer duration like a sponge. Some consortium of microbes including thermophilic and plant growth promoting bacteria can also be added to such soil which have been known for their adaptibility.

Go green is the way to reduce or nullify the impact of climate change

Decision-makers and responsible authorities, in particular FAO, WFP and the Ministries of Agriculture, should build strategies taking into account the lessons learned in success stories of reducing irrigation of food crops. Moreover, the universal movements of individuals and groups to produce food at the non-industrial level (container gardening, guerilla gardening, vertical gardening, sack gardening in slums and refugere campos, etc. ...) show that modern methods and technologies have been developed to minimalize the effects of climate change. Small-scale farmers are often our front-men in adaptation to environmental problems. It suffices to help them to apply "their strategies".

The impact of climate change with reference to rainfall distribution is very much experienced in recent years particularly in India. However, serious attempts should be made to know whether it has made any decline in the quantum of rainfall!!. There is erratic distribution of monsoon rains, I mean decrease in number of rainy days while there is increase in its intensity...this resulted in drought and flood like situations in different parts of the country. Therefore, the urgent need to mitigate the impact of climate change on crop production is to take up large number of soil and moisture conservation measures at micro level. This practice definitely recharge the ground water bodies which significantly benefits small and marginal farmers. They can withstand extreme drought conditions in subsequent years. Next best approach is to introduce Integrated Farming System comprising of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, animal, poultry, fishery etc. to sustain the livelihood of farmers with assured economy even in a small piece of land. After ensuring this to the farmers, they will be in a position to experiment with the different adoption strategies. Scientist will get ample time to develop drought tolerant varieties etc.

Making green houses and collect all the rain water for food & water security

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.3483/full