Increasing pressure on farming systems due to rapid urbanization and population growth has severely affected soil health and fertility. The need to meet the growing food demands has also led to unsustainable farming practices with the intensive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions. Biochar, a multifunctional carbon material, is being actively explored globally for simultaneously addressing the concerns related to improving soil fertility and mitigating climate change. Reviews on biochar, however, mainly confined to lab-scale studies analyze biochar production and its characteristics, its effects on soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The present review addresses this gap by focusing on biochar field trials to enhance the current understanding of its actual impact on the field, w.r.t. agriculture and climate change. The review presents an overview of the effects of biochar application as observed in field studies on soil health (soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties), crop productivity, and its potential role in carbon sequestration. General trends from this review indicate that biochar application provides higher benefits in soil properties and crop yield in degraded tropical soils vis-a-vis the temperate regions. The results also reveal diverse observations in soil health properties and crop yields with biochar amendment as different studies consider different crops, biochar feedstocks, and local climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, it has been observed that the effects of biochar application in lab-scale studies with controlled environments are not always distinctly witnessed in corresponding field-based studies and the effects are not always synchronous across different regions. Hence, there is a need for more data, especially from well-designed long-term field trials, to converge and validate the results on the effectiveness of biochar on diverse soil types and agro-climatic zones to improve crop productivity and mitigate climate change.

Genetic diversity is integral to food security and sustainable agriculture. The erosion in genetic diversity across the globe raises serious threats to food security and our capacity to adapt to climate change. This article discusses the status of genetic diversities of rice varieties in Kerala, and the contributing factors for the genetic diversity. The rich genetic diversity of rice in Kerala offers scope to adapt to multiple agroecologies, provides resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, carries special culinary traits and has cultural significance. Thus, these rice landraces are important in creating an enabling environment for farming in the context of climate change. However, shift from landraces to modern varieties and large scale conversion of rice fields for alternate uses poses challenge to in situ conservation of rice landraces. The existing policy environment, research and development strategies and markets are skewed in favour of modern varieties. It is argued that the need for 'conservation incentive' is a key strategy for promoting in situ conservation of rice landraces of Kerala.

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Support for the adoption of climate change mitigation measures in low-income regions depends on how such activities contribute to generating household income and gaining confidence from the local community. The planning of mitigation measures or pro-environmental activities need to consider the cost of deployment, customization of activities according to local conditions, and socio-cultural background and perceptions of people. This paper analyses the incentive induced “agroforestry” or “planting trees in farmland” as part of the Carbon Neutral Programme supported by the Government of Kerala in Meenangadi Grama Panchayath, Wayanad district. An increase in tree cover is proposed as a strategy for increasing carbon sequestration. Planting more trees in farmland (except grain cultivated areas) along with crops, according to farmers, may reduce crop yield and discourage farmers’ participation. The Government of Kerala put forward the concept of a tree banking/tree incentive program to attract farmers to expand tree cover. A survey was conducted among 100 individuals from the Meenangadi Grama Panchayath to assess the perceptions and concerns of farmers about the proposed “Agroforestry”/Tree Banking program. The sample size was chosen from the population assuming a 9.98% error tolerance. Tree Banking Programme designed to encourage farmers to plant trees has gained public interest, and the study also documented the factors influencing the willingness of farmers for planting trees. The study revealed that the majority of the individuals (93% of the survey participants) residing in the region are interested in supporting the activities for climate change mitigation. Financial incentives announced under tree banking generated interest among farmers. 89% of the survey participants consider the incentive scheme to be an attractive option, as it can compensate for the short-term loss in crop productivity. However, farmers were very selective in choosing the tree species to be planted on their farms. Incentivization helps to make sure that a large proportion of the planted saplings will grow into mature trees. Overall, it can be concluded that afforestation in the form of agroforestry could be potentially attractive to the farmers and contribute towards achieving carbon neutrality for tropical agricultural areas.

The study was conducted in Meenangadi panchayat of Wayanad, Kerala. Agriculture was primary occupation for majority of the respondents (44 percent). 38 percentage of the respondents were utilising the facilities provided by the animal husbandry department of the state. According to the perception of 72 percent of the respondents, the most important constraint in dairy farming was the non-availability of fodder followed by responses that indicated the next deterrent to be the high cost of cattle feed (60 percent). A total of fourteen clean milking practices were analysed and adoption of milking practices were calculated by using adoption index. Majority of the respondents were found to be medium adopters.