{"id":63260,"date":"2026-01-02T18:21:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=63260"},"modified":"2026-01-03T11:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:07:41","slug":"cra-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-01-2026\/cra-india","title":{"rendered":"India Need Climate-resilient Agriculture (CRA)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is fast-tracking the expansion of<strong> Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA)<\/strong> to counter growing climate-change risks to food security, rainfed agriculture, and farmers\u2019 incomes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Climate-resilient Agriculture (CRA)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Climate-resilient agriculture<\/strong> uses a <strong>range of biotechnology and complementary technologies<\/strong> to<strong> guide farming practices<\/strong> and reduce dependence on chemical inputs, while maintaining or improving productivity.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tools include:<\/strong> Biofertilizers and biopesticides, and soil-microbiome analyses.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Genome-edited crops can be developed to withstand drought, heat, salinity, or pest pressures.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AI-driven analytics can integrate multiple environmental and agronomic variables to generate locally tailored farming strategies.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why does India need CRA?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Agricultural Economy: <\/strong>India is an agricultural nation with a rapidly growing population, which places increasing pressure on the need for higher and more reliable farm productivity.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Around 51% of India\u2019s net sown area is rainfed, and this land produces nearly 40% of the country\u2019s food, making it especially vulnerable to climate variability.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Conventional Farming Methods are not enough: <\/strong>These methods alone may not withstand the rising stresses of climate change.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recent modelling suggests that by the end of the century, yields of staple crops like rice could fall by 3-22%, and in worst-case scenarios by more than 30%.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Enhanced Productivity: <\/strong>Climate-resilient agriculture offers a suite of technologies that can enhance productivity while protecting environmental health.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It can also reduce India\u2019s reliance on food imports and strengthen the country\u2019s strategic autonomy in the food sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Global Scenario<\/strong><br><br>&#8211; The U.S.<strong> <\/strong>integrates CRA into federal policy through the USDA Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF) initiative, investing billions in climate-smart practices.\u00a0<br>&#8211; CRA is embedded in the<strong> EU Green Deal <\/strong>and Farm to Fork Strategy, both aiming to reduce chemical inputs and enhance sustainability.\u00a0<br>&#8211; <strong>China\u2019s CRA strategy<\/strong> centres on climate-tolerant crop breeding, large-scale water-saving irrigation, and agricultural digitalisation.\u00a0<br>&#8211; <strong>Brazil<\/strong> leads in tropical climate-resilient crop development, driven by EMBRAPA\u2019s biotechnology research.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Low Adoption:<\/strong> CRA techniques adoption is low among small and marginal farmers due to limited access, awareness, and affordability, and quality inconsistencies in biofertilizers and biopesticides that undermine trust in biological alternatives.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Uneven Distribution: <\/strong>The rollout of climate-resilient seeds remains slow, with the adoption of new tools such as gene editing still emerging and uneven distribution across States.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The digital divide<\/strong> limits the reach of precision agriculture and AI-based decision tools.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These challenges are compounded by <strong>ongoing soil degradation, water scarcity, and accelerating climate volatility, <\/strong>which may outpace current adaptation efforts.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fragmented policy coordination<\/strong> further risks slowing progress.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture: <\/strong>In 2011, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched a flagship network project<strong> \u2018National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture\u2019<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture <\/strong>has been formulated to enhance agricultural productivity, especially in rainfed areas, focusing on integrated farming, water use efficiency, soil health management, and synergising resource conservation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The BioE3 policy<\/strong> also positioned CRA as a key thematic area for the development of biotechnology-led solutions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Leading companies <\/strong>such as Biostadt, IFFCO, GSFC, NFL, and IPL Biologicals supply bio-inputs that improve soil health and reduce chemical dependence.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India also has an <strong>expanding digital agriculture sector,<\/strong> with agritech startups offering AI-enabled advisories, precision irrigation, crop-health monitoring, and yield prediction tools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is a need to accelerate the development and deployment of climate-tolerant and genome-edited crops, strengthening quality standards and supply chains for biofertilizers and biopesticides, and provision of digital tools and climate advisories to support adoption by small landholders.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Financial incentives, climate insurance, and credit access are essential to support farmers during the transition.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India needs a coherent national CRA roadmap under the BioE3 framework, aligning biotechnology, climate adaptation, and policies to deliver resilience at scale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/why-does-india-need-climate-resilient-agriculture-explained\/article70460248.ece#:~:text=Climate%2Dresilient%20agriculture%20offers%20a,autonomy%20in%20the%20food%20sector.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India is fast-tracking the expansion of Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) to counter growing climate-change risks to food security, rainfed agriculture, and farmers\u2019 incomes.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> What is Climate-resilient Agriculture (CRA)? <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Climate-resilient agriculture uses a range of biotechnology and complementary technologies to guide farming practices and reduce dependence on chemical inputs, while maintaining or improving productivity.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Tools include: Biofertilizers and biopesticides, and soil-microbiome analyses.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Genome-edited crops can be developed to withstand drought, heat, salinity, or pest pressures.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-01-2026\/cra-india\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63292,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63260\/revisions\/63292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}