NITI Aayog's Chand outlines 5 priority areas to lower carbon footprint

Ramesh Chand outlines a five-point agenda to cut agriculture's carbon footprint, urging policy reform in pricing, input efficiency and climate-suitable cropping

To reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint, NITI Aayog member and eminent economist Ramesh Chand has outlined five priority areas for policymakers. These include correcting distortions in input and output pricing in crops such as paddy, promoting crop cultivation in agro-climatically suitable regions, enhancing the efficiency of inputs like fertilisers, increasing crop yields, and mainstreaming sustainable agricultural practices.

 

Addressing a session on ‘Innovating for Climate Resilient Agriculture’ at the ongoing CII Annual Business Summit, Chand said that despite substantial research on the adverse impact of climate change on agriculture, there has so far been no major impact of bad weather on crop yields.

   

 

“This is because, till now, science, technology, and research and development have managed to shield agriculture from the adverse impacts of climate change,” Chand said.

 

Highlighting the role of science, Chand noted that while wheat yields were expected to fall by 4 per cent over 30 years due to climate change, new varieties led to a 20 per cent increase in yields—meaning the actual gain was around 14 per cent on the ground.

 

“But as we go ahead, there will come a tipping point when science won’t be able to withstand the impact of climate change on agriculture, and the tolerance level will fade,” he warned.

 

On policy reforms, Chand said that market-distorting price instruments—such as bonuses on paddy over the minimum support price (MSP)—encourage growers to opt for crops that are environmentally damaging, rather than those that are climate-friendly. Similarly, inputs such as free power contribute to increased emissions from paddy fields.

 

Chand stressed that improving input efficiency—such as applying the right amount of nitrogen to soil—would go a long way in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. He pointed out that agriculture is perhaps the only sector that is both a significant emitter of GHGs and a major victim of climate change.