Climate change impact on Agriculture                                          

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Context: A Climate crisis has cost India 5 million hectares of crop in 2021 due to cyclonic storm, flash floods, floods, landslides and cloudbursts.

• Around 36 mha agricultural area was affected due to hydro-meteorological calamities since 2016.
• Extreme weather events throughout the year have become the new normal.
• The decade spanning 2010–2019 was the most turbulent for disasters, Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) assessment showed.

In 2021, extreme weather events were

• Cyclone Tauktae and Cyclone Yaas
• floods in Maharashtra that damaged standing crops.
• 24 per cent nationwide rain deficit in August and 35 per cent excess rain in September.
• In October, heavy rains destroyed harvest-ready crops in Kerala.
• In November, unprecedented rainfall caused huge loss of life and property in Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
• huge swarms of locusts ate away standing crops in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

How Climate change impact Agriculture?

The need of the hour is focusing on developing and strengthening resilient capacities of especially smallholder farmers.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/climate-crisis-has-cost-india-5-million-hectares-of-crop-in-2021-80809