India’s experience with the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices

NCAER hosted an online lecture titled “India’s Experience with the Adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices,” presented by Dr Chandra Sekhar1 Bahinipati¹ (Associate Professor at IIT Tirupati), and discussed by Dr Anamika Barua² (Professor at IIT Guwahati), as part of its Virtual Dialogue Room Seminar Series chaired by Dr Souryabrata Mohapatra on Friday, 14 Jun 2024, at 4:00 pm IST.

Abstract:
Previous empirical studies infer the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices by farmers in India, but we are still lacking in mapping the CSA measures as well as the determinants of adopting CSA options across the states. Such assessments have policy relevance in the context of designing national and/or state-specific agricultural policies to scale up the adoption of CSA mechanisms. Hence, the objective is to show the evidence of the adoption of CSA options and their determinants on the basis of systematic literature reviews, NSSO’s situation assessment survey of agricultural households in 2013 and 2019, and independent farm household level surveys conducted in various states in India. In doing so, this identifies the gaps in CSA adaptation research in India and will provide avenues for scholarly communities to expand the domains of future research.

Speaker Quotes:

• “It advocates the requirement of a nationally representative sample for farmers to understand the adoption of CSA practices in India; for instance, NSSO can include additional modules in the farmers’ situation assessment survey.”—says Assoc Prof Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati
• “CSA remains a technocratic approach that overlooks farmer diversity in caste, class, and gender. For CSA to be successful, it must become more inclusive, acknowledging the varied abilities of farmers to adopt these practices within different social contexts and power dynamics.”—says Prof Anamika Barua

Short bios:
¹ At present, I am working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Tirupati (India). Over the years, I have been working on research areas related to the economics of climate change, environmental economics, behavioural economics, natural resource management and development economics. I have published several research papers in peer-reviewed journals like Environmental Development, World Water Policy, Nature Climate Change, Climate Risk Management, Scientific Reports, Ecology, Economy and Society, Food Security, Land Use Policy, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, International Journal of the Commons, Climate and Development, etc. These studies received financial support from various national and international agencies such as ICSSR, SANDEE, OECD, APN-GCR, IGES, JSPS, etc. At present, I have been involved in two Indo-Dutch research projects related to water-related disasters supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Indian Government and the Dutch Research Council (NOW). I am also involved in the DST Center for Policy Research on Energy Transition and Tribal Education, NISER Bhubaneswar (India). I have already served as an EC member on INSEE during 2022-24 and also nominated again for 2024-26.

² Anamika Barua is a Full Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Guwahati (India) and a Visiting Faculty at AIT (Thailand). With a background in ecological economics, her research explores the complex interplay of political, social, and economic factors in environmental decision-making, focusing on water resources. Her academic interests span climate change and adaptation, the economics of water, ecological footprints, virtual water flows through trade and water governance, including transboundary water governance. Prof. Barua has made significant contributions to academia with numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Regional Environmental Change, the Journal of Cleaner Production, Water Resources Research, the Journal of Hydrology, the Water WIREs, etc. Additionally, she serves on several high-level committees for the Indian Government, including the Technical Advisory Committee for India’s climate communication to UNFCCC and the Department of Science and Technology’s Climate Change Program. In 2020, she played a key role in the drafting committee for India’s water policy under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.