Cra: Climate Resilient Agriculture

Definition And Meaning:

“Climate resilient agriculture integrates genomic analysis, biotechnology, and AI with adaptive policy to navigate climate change dynamics. This framework secures food supply and elevates farmer incomes, balancing economic growth with environmental conservation through data-driven best practices.”

Contexts And Focus In News

NICRA 2.0 Roadmap: In October 2025, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and CRIDA (Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture) unveiled a new roadmap for the National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). The focus for 2025–2031 is to synergize NICRA’s village-level interventions with the Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, aiming to scale climate-smart practices from 151 vulnerable districts to a national level.

BioE3 Policy Implementation: Following the approval of the BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy, the government has designated climate-resilient crops as a strategic thematic area. This policy expedites regulatory pathways for non-GMO gene-edited crops (SDN-1 & SDN-2 categories) that are resistant to heat and salinity, moving them from labs to field trials.

The Technological Pillar Associated With Climate Resilient Agriculture:

The Genomic And Biotechnological Interventions

CRISPR-Cas9 & SDN Technologies: Moving beyond traditional GM crops, India is now utilizing Site-Directed Nuclease (SDN-1 & SDN-2) technology. This allows for the editing of specific genes within a plant’s own DNA without inserting foreign genetic material, bypassing strict “transgenic” regulations.

Applications and examples:
India’s gene-edited rice portfolio features DRR Dhan 100 (Kamla) by ICAR-IIRR and Pusa DST Rice 1 by ICAR-IARI. DRR Dhan 100 (Samba Mahsuri-derived) focuses on input efficiency with high Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and lodging resistance. Pusa DST Rice 1 (MTU 1010-derived) targets climate adaptation with specific Drought and Salt Tolerance (DST), essential for saline-prone coastal belts of Andhra and Odisha. Field trials are underway for Low-Pungency Mustard, gene-edited to reduce Glucosinolates, which lowers its pungency. The resulting mustard cake byproduct becomes palatable for cattle feed, benefiting the livestock sector.

Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS): A non-invasive genomic tool used to identify specific genes linked to stress tolerance (salinity, flood) in seedlings, drastically reducing the breeding cycle time from 10-12 years to 4-5 years. Scientists look for a DNA Marker (a molecular “flag” or tag) that is known to be located right next to the drought-tolerance gene. If the seedling has the Marker, it definitely has the Gene.

Applications And Examples: India’s MAS triumphs include Pusa Basmati 1979/1985 for water-saving DSR, CO 51 and CR Dhan 810 for flood-pest resilience, and HI 8840 wheat for heat-tolerant biofortification. Together, these varieties proof agriculture against climate volatility while ensuring nutritional security.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Predictive Analytics

AI and predictive analytics revolutionize agriculture, using data to select optimal crops, and deploy preemptive surveillance/automated irrigation to mitigate risks, while forecasting supports national food security and farmer economic foresight.

Applications And Examples:
SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT IN APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
“The next horizon involves democratizing access through vernacular Generative AI and hyper-local Edge computing. By deploying Digital Twins for predictive simulation and enforcing data sovereignty, India can ensure precision agriculture fosters equitable economic empowerment for marginal farmers.”

Precision Agriculture & Robotics

“Integrating Precision Agriculture’s data-driven, site-specific optimization with automated robotics minimizes ecological impact while maximizing yields, fundamentally transforming farming into a resilient, data-centric science essential for climate adaptation.

Illustrative Case Studies: Applications in India

Western & Southern India | Niqo Robotics: AI-Powered Precision Spraying.Niqo Robotics (formerly TartanSense) uses Green-on-Green Spot Spraying. Their AI cameras detect weeds, activating nozzles only when necessary, which reduces chemical use by up to 60%. This practice combats soil degradation and protects biodiversity, enhancing climate resilience.
Garuda Aerospace, operating from Chennai, provides Pan-India Kisan Drones (Drone-as-a-Service) primarily in North and Central Indiafor rapid, difficult-to-access tall crop treatment with Nano-Urea and pesticides. Drone spraying is 20x faster and uses 90% less water than traditional methods, enabling timely farmer action against severe weather.
Bengaluru-based Fasal uses its “Fasal Kranti” IoT sensor network to combat water scarcity in horticulture belts (MP/Gujarat/Maharashtra). Sensors measure soil moisture at the root level, ensuring precision irrigation. This approach has conserved over 52 billion liters of water, significantly aiding drought-vulnerable regions like Marathwada and Rayalaseema.
Sickle Innovations, an Ahmedabad-based company, automates fruit harvesting in belts like Himachal and Telangana using specialized robots for crops such as mangoes and apples. This technologyreduces post-harvest losses and secures farmer income by eliminating manual mishandling and mitigating delays due to labor shortages and extreme heat.

Nanotechnology in Resource Management

“Nanotechnology engineers materials at the atomic scale to create ‘smart’ delivery systems for nutrients and water. It maximizes Resource Use Efficiency (RUE) by ensuring inputs are released only when and where the plant needs them, minimizing wastage and environmental toxicity.”

Applications based case studies and illustrative examples:

IFFCO’s Nano Urea and Nano DAP achieve 90% nitrogen efficiency via direct stomatal penetration. Replacing large bags with 500ml bottles cut urea consumption and decoupled yield from chemical overuse.
BioPrime AgriSolutions uses SNIPR technology to activate plant defense. This “climate-ready” modulation, proven in drought-prone Solapur pomegranate belts, allows orchards to withstand severe water stress without extra irrigation.
IIT Ropar’s AWaDH Hub uses chemical-free hydro-dynamic nano-bubble technologyto decontaminate industrial wastewater, enabling its safe reuse for agriculture and addressing water scarcity.
ICAR-IARI’s Pusa Hydrogel, a superabsorbent nanocomposite, acts as a subterranean reservoirto combat moisture stress in rainfed agriculture. Absorbing 350 times its weight in water, it releases moisture during dry spells, reducing irrigation frequency by 30%. Widely used in Rajasthan’s mustard belts, it ensures crop survival in semi-arid conditions.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

“DPI in agriculture constructs a unified digital ecosystem—linking Farmer Identity (Registry), Land Records (Geo-location), and Climate Data (Risk)—to create an interoperable ‘super-highway’. This infrastructure enables real-time, data-driven targeting of subsidies, insurance, and advisories, shifting the system from generalized welfare to precision climate adaptation.”

Indian Case Studies regarding digital public infrastructure and its application in climate resilient agriculture:

AgriStack: Precision GovernanceAgriStack establishes a “Single Source of Truth” via unique Farmer IDs linked to land records. This digital backbone enables hyper-local harvest advisories and rapid Direct Benefit Transfers during climate crises, bypassing bureaucratic lag to deliver instant relief.
YES-TECH: Algorithmic Financial ShieldIntegrating satellite data with crop simulations, YES-TECH automates yield estimation under PMFBY. This “Claim Settlement by Algorithm” triggers instant parametric insurance payouts when geo-fenced data confirms climate damage, ensuring immediate financial liquidity for distressed farmers.
e-NAM: Market Shock Absorptione-NAM builds market resilience by digitally unifying national mandis. During local climate shocks like floods, it allows farmers to bypass disrupted local logistics and sell to unaffected regions, effectively buffering against distress selling and localized price crashes.
ONDC: Supply Chain DemocratizationONDC empowers FPOs to bypass intermediaries and access national markets This digital visibility specifically boosts the economic viability of climate-smart crops like Millets, creating a powerful market-driven incentive for farmers to switch to drought-resistant agriculture.

The "Policy & Economy" Pillar: Governance for Resilience

Policy aims and objectives: Shifting the focus from “production at any cost” to “sustainable profitability,” integrating recent frameworks like BioE3 and established missions like NMSA to drive climate adaptation.

Strategic Incentivization: Shifting the Behavior

The government is aggressively promoting “Shree Anna” (Millets)by significantly hiking their Minimum Support Price (MSP). Climate Logic: Millets (Jowar, Bajra, Ragi) require 70% less water than rice and are heat-tolerant.
Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA)ensures procurement of climate-smart pulses and oilseeds, reducing the market risk for farmers making the switch.

Carbon Credits & Green Finance:

Green Credit Program (GCP):Notified in late 2023, this creates a market-based mechanism. Farmers are awarded “Green Credits” for activities like tree plantation (agroforestry) and water conservation. These credits can be traded on a digital exchange, creating a new “Climate Income” stream.
BioE3 Policy (2024 Integration):The Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment (BioE3) policy incentivizes the production of biological inputs (bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides). It supports startups and FPOs manufacturing these inputs, reducing farmer dependency on fossil-fuel-based chemicals and lowering the carbon footprint of cultivation.

Institutional Missions: The Framework for Action:

The National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) aims for productive, sustainable, and climate-resilient farming.Rainfed Area Development (RAD) promotes Integrated Farming Systems (Crops + Livestock + Fishery + Horticulture) for rainfed areas, providing income diversity against crop failure.
Soil Health Card Scheme:A critical component of NMSA. By rationalizing fertilizer use based on soil tests, it prevents soil degradation (acidification/salinity), ensuring the land remains fertile despite climate stress.
NICRA, led by ICAR, is the R&D engine for climate adaptation in 151 vulnerable districts. It usesdecentralized Village Seed Banks with short-duration varieties to ensure continuous production despite climatic volatility.

Risk Mitigation: The Safety Net

When adaptation fails and climate disasters strike, financial instruments prevent economic collapse.

PMFBY & WINDS: Algorithmic LiquidityPMFBY enhances financial resilience by integrating the WINDS portal for weather-based settlement. Leveraging hyper-local telemetry as irrefutable evidence, it automates claims during climatic anomalies, ensuring rapid liquidity and minimizing administrative friction.
KCC Expansion: Economic DiversificationExtending Kisan Credit Cards to allied sectors institutionalizes economic diversification. By financing livestock as a resilient secondary engine, this policy buffers agrarian livelihoods against the volatility of climate-induced crop failures.

The “Ecological & Traditional” Pillar: Regenerative Resilience

“Ecological agriculture synergizes indigenous wisdom with regenerative hydrology. It focuses on closing the nutrient loop and optimizing on-farm moisture to construct self-sustaining micro-ecosystems resilient to climatic extremes, prioritizing soil health over mere input intensity.”

Approaches:

Water Management: The Hydrological ShieldMicro-irrigation under PMKSY targets root-zone precision to maximize Water Use Efficiency, while decentralized “Khet Talabs” capture runoff. This dual approach secures protective irrigation during dry spells, insulating crops from aquifer depletion.
Sustainable Practices: The Soil-Biotic ShieldZBNF and conservation tillage create a “sponge-like” soil structure by restoring organic carbon. Combined with mulching, which acts as a thermal thermostat, these practices buffer crops against heatwaves while eliminating chemical dependency.

International Approaches And Best Practices In Climate Resilient Agriculture:

GACSA (Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture):A voluntary, multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the FAO. It works on three pillars: sustainably increasing productivity, enhancing adaptation/resilience, and reducing GHG emissions (mitigation), without creating binding obligations for its members.
4 per 1000 Initiative:Launched at COP21 (Paris), it demonstrates that increasing global soil organic carbon stocks by just 4% (4‰) annually in the top 30-40 cm of soil could theoretically offset the annual increase in atmospheric CO2, aiding both climate and food security
Israel recycles over 85% of its wastewaterfor agriculture.They use Fertigation (mixing nutrients with drip irrigation) to ensure 90%+ nutrient use efficiency (compared to India’s ~40%). India can adopt wastewater treatment plants near peri-urban areas (like Delhi/Bengaluru) to irrigate surrounding farmlands, reducing freshwater stress.
Despite being tiny, the Netherlands is the world’s 2nd largest food exporter. They use Climate Control Glasshouses(vertical farming) that use 90% less water and almost zero chemical pesticides (using biological pest control instead). This can be adopted in urban areas of india.
Rice-Shrimp Farming (Living with Salinity)in vietnam’s mekong delta Instead of building dykes to keep saltwater out (which failed), farmers adapted. Wet Season (Freshwater): Grow Rice. Dry Season (Saline Water Intrusion): Grow Shrimp. Result: Income tripled, and the system is naturally climate-resilient.
Brazil’s practice of Zero Tillage (Conservation Agriculture)on a massive scale. Brazil leads the world in “No-Till” farming (planting crops without ploughing the soil). This retains crop residue, locks carbon in the soil, and prevents erosion during heavy tropical rains.

Practices And Technical Adaptations In The Recent Times, Across Different States Regarding Climate Resilient Agriculture

System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

Explanation:A methodology focused on maximizing root potential rather than input intensity. It involves transplanting very young seedlings (8-12 days old) singly with wider spacing and using “alternate wetting and drying” instead of continuous flooding. This aerates the soil, boosting root growth and saving 30-40% water.
Where Practiced:Widely adopted in the Cauvery Delta Zone (Tamil Nadu) and Tripura (which has the highest percentage of SRI adoption). It is also scaling in Bihar (Gaya/Nalanda) under the Jeevika livelihood mission.

Direct Seeded Rice (DSR)

Explanation:A resource-conserving method where seeds are sown directly into the main field using a seed drill, bypassing the nursery raising and transplanting stage. It significantly reduces labor costs and methane emissions while saving 25-30% irrigation water.
Where Practiced:Dominant in Punjab and Haryana. The state governments actively incentivize DSR (offering ₹1,500/acre) to mitigate groundwater depletion and labor shortages during the Kharif season.

Aerobic Rice

Explanation:A production system where specially bred rice varieties are grown in non-puddled, non-flooded, and unsaturated soils, similar to crops like wheat or maize. The roots grow deep to access moisture, making it ideal for water-scarce environments.
Where Practiced:Gaining traction in the rainfed uplands of Odisha and Jharkhand, and water-stressed semi-arid zones of Karnataka (Bengaluru Rural/Kolar) where tank irrigation is declining.

Zero Till Wheat

Explanation:A conservation agriculture practice where wheat is sown directly into the previous crop’s (usually rice) standing stubble without ploughing or burning. It utilizes the “Happy Seeder” machine, retaining soil moisture, reducing carbon emissions, and preventing the “terminal heat” effect by allowing early sowing.
Where Practiced:Extensively adopted in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh) as a primary solution to combat air pollution caused by paddy stubble burning.

Conclusion:

The future of agriculture lies in an autonomous, circular ecosystem where genomic precision and AI-driven robotics converge with regenerative ecological practices. Guided by BioE3 and AgriStack policies, this transition will institutionalize environmental sustainability, transforming farms into carbon-sequestering hubs that guarantee global food security and economic prosperity amidst climate volatility.

Dr. Rajkumar IAS / KAS Academy STORE