Decarbonising Indian Agriculture

Decarbonising Indian Agriculture

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate Change

Context- Decarbonization of Indian Agriculture has to be carefully calibrated to avoid an adverse impact to over 120 million marginal farmers who are still in the ‘survival phase’ of their socio-economic development.

Concept-

Agricultural Emmissions:

• As per India’s third Biennial Update Report, in 2016, agriculture and livestock emitted 407,821 Gg of CO2e, around 14% of total emissions.
  • Out of this, 3% is linked to livestock.
  • Apart from livestock, the major constituents of agriculture GHG emissions are rice cultivation (17.5%), fertiliser application (19.1%), and field burning of agricultural residues (2.2%).
• India, with 75 million sq km arable land and a 300 million cattle population has 160 million rural households with agriculture being the main source of livelihood.
• Hence, decarbonisation has to be carefully calibrated to avoid an adverse impact to over 120 million marginal farmers who are still in the ‘survival phase’ of their socio-economic development.

Decarbonization:

• Deep decarbonising pathways would include:
  • reducing biogenic methane from cattle and rice cultivation;
  • inculcating resource efficiency by reducing consumption of irrigation water, chemical fertilisers, and energy for cultivation/ harvesting/transport as well as farm waste processing;
  • reducing waste in the food supply chain;
  • and building climate resilience through deploying automation and technology.
• The following factors are critical for both decarbonisation and sustainability:
  • Soil:
    • Fertile soil enhances farm yields and incomes apart from being a carbon sink.
    • Healthy soil holds more moisture and soil conservation methods reduce erosion.
    • The co-products of biogas/biofuels plants are compost/bio-char, which enrich soil, mitigate environment pollution, and displace chemical fertilisers.
  • Freshwater:
    • Agriculture consumes over 80% of freshwater in India, making conservation critical.
    • Micro-irrigation with automation and adoption of low water-intensive species and farming practices is essential.
    • Areas under water intensive crops must be reduced through crops diversification, examples being oil seeds, pulses, horticulture, and forage crops.
  • Alternate cropping:
    • This contributes to GHG mitigation and is an emerging area in climate-smart farming.
    • For example, seaweed cultivation as additive to cattle feed reduces biogenic methane emissions, improves feed quality, and enhances milk production.
  • Agro-forestry:
    • Trees act as windbreaks, reduce soil erosion, enrich soil, and filter water.
    • Studies suggest that 5% increase at 5 yearly intervals to the existing 16 mha area can help mitigate India’s projected emissions.
  • Bio-energy from farm waste:
    • Manure-based community biogas plants can support clean cooking and distributed power.
    • India’s National Policy for Biofuels/ SATAT scheme set a medium-term target of 15 million tonnes of bio-CNG.
    • IEA’s India Energy Outlook 2021 estimates the potential being of 30 million tonnes Bio-CNG.
    • BECCS (Bio Energy with Carbon Capture & Storage) involves capturing CO2 from bioenergy plants and permanent storage. This will lead to carbon removal as well as negative emissions.