Is Indian agriculture becoming resilient to droughts? Evidence from rice production systems

Birthal, Pratap S.; Negi, Digvijay S.; Khan, Tajuddin; Agarwal, Shaily

doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.07.005

Cited by 78 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…While there is little evidence for such benefits from planting multiple crop species in polycultures (Thiessen Martens, Entz & Wonneck 2015), increased diversity of crop types in a rotation can enhance yield resilience (Gaudin et al 2015). Biotechnological approaches involve breeding crop and forage varieties that are less affected by perturbations, through being more resistant to a specific driver, such as drought (Birthal et al 2015;Kissoudis et al 2016) Fig. 2.…”

Section: Approaches To Enhancing Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This involves flexibility in crop, forage or livestock selection and husbandry and implementing new technologies in response to changing conditions. For example, Birthal et al (2015) suggested that rice yields in India are becoming resilient to increased drought frequency through farmers selecting appropriate varieties, expanding irrigation and utilising technologies such as micro-irrigation. Some aspects of traditional farming may confer resilience, such as the raised bed cultivation systems used in Latin American seasonally flooded savannas (Altieri et al 2015).…”

Section: Holistic Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience and food security: rethinking an ecological concept

et al. 2017

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Reading RG6 6AS, UK Summary 1. Focusing on food production, in this paper we define resilience in the food security context as maintaining production of sufficient and nutritious food in the face of chronic and acute environmental perturbations. In agri-food systems, resilience is manifest over multiple spatial scales: field, farm, regional and global. Metrics comprise production and nutritional diversity as well as socioeconomic stability of food supply. 2. Approaches to enhancing resilience show a progression from more ecologically based methods at small scales to more socially based interventions at larger scales. At the field scale, approaches include the use of mixtures of crop varieties, livestock breeds and forage species, polycultures and boosting ecosystem functions. Stress-tolerant crops, or with greater plasticity, provide technological solutions. 3. At the farm scale, resilience may be conferred by diversifying crops and livestock and by farmers implementing adaptive approaches in response to perturbations. Biodiverse landscapes may enhance resilience, but the evidence is weak. At regional to global scales, resilient food systems will be achieved by coordination and implementation of resilience approaches among farms, advice to farmers and targeted research. 4. Synthesis. Threats to food production are predicted to increase under climate change and land degradation. Holistic responses are needed that integrate across spatial scales. Ecological knowledge is critical, but should be implemented alongside agronomic solutions and socio-economic transformations.

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Section: Approaches To Enhancing Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Holistic Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience and food security: rethinking an ecological concept

et al. 2017

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“…Finally, flood not only increases agricultural productivity, but also increases rural agricultural wages and economic growth (Banerjee 2007;Loayza et al 2012;Parida 2017). However, drought not only has an adverse impact on rice yields in India, but also results in farmer suicides due to the resultant income loss from crop failures over the years (Sarma 2004;Sridhar 2006;Vaidyanathan 2006;Mishra 2006;Dongre and Deshmukh 2012;Khairnar et al 2015;Birthal et al 2015).…”

Section: Empirical Results; Effects Of Drought and Flood On Farmer Sumentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Drought and Flood on Farmer Suicides in Indian States: An Empirical Analysis

Parida

Dash

Bhardwaj³

et al. 2018

EconDisCliCha

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The study examines the effects of drought and flood on farmer suicides using statelevel panel data from 17 Indian states for the period 1995-2011. The empirical estimates based on unconditional fixed effect Negative Binomial model show that while drought significantly increases farmer suicides, flood has no direct impact on the same. The results also show that incidence of farmer suicides is higher in cotton producing states of India because these states experience frequent drought conditions. Furthermore, our findings reveal that states with high levels of rural poverty experience a higher number of farmer suicides as a result of frequent occurrence of droughts and moderate floods. To obtain robust results, fixed effect Poisson model has been used in the study. Overall, the findings are consistent with unconditional fixed effect Negative Binomial model. Hence, in light of the results obtained by this study, it is important for the government to devise suitable policies such as loan waiver for poor farmers, compulsory crop insurance scheme, improving farm income through revamping of agricultural marketing policies, creating public awareness among farmers and providing micro-irrigation Department of Economics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA facilities as well as introducing alternative cropping pattern in the drought prone areas in order to reduce the occurrence of farmer suicides.

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“…These https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art3/ mechanisms include damage to crops, livestock, and productive farm assets, (Carter et al 2007, Eriksen and Silva 2009, Thornton et al 2009, Lobell et al 2011, Barrett and Santos 2014, Silva and Matyas 2014, Birthal et al 2015 and also influencing behavior where farmers adopt low-risk but low-return agricultural technologies or alter investment in human capital (Dercon andChristiaensen 2011, Mottaleb et al 2013). In the Mahanadi Delta, climate hazards cause rice production losses which is problematic because rice is used for household consumption and there is an absence of insurance, reliable off-farm income, and formal credit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rice is the staple cereal crop in many deltas and is a major constituent of livelihoods. Rice cropping is sensitive to losses following climate hazards (Krishna Kumar et al 2004, Birthal et al 2015. Data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in the Mahanadi Delta, Odisha (a coastal state in Northeast India; Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience to hazards: rice farmers in the Mahanadi Delta, India

Duncan¹,

Tompkins²,

Dash³

et al. 2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Developing country deltas are important food producing areas and are home to large numbers of subsistence farmers. In particular, rice farmers dominate the populous deltas of South and Southeast Asia and face frequent climate hazards that have short-and long-term impacts on rice production and livelihoods. The aim of this study is to identify and explain proximal and ultimate factors (land access, cultural practices, and institutional support) that affect rice farmer resilience, that is, to explain why some farmers are more sensitive to climate shocks, why some farmers suffer long-term impacts from climate shocks, and what underlying "ultimate" factors reproduce this vulnerability over time. We undertake this analysis using qualitative interviews and household survey data from two districts in the Mahanadi Delta, Odisha, India. We show that climate hazards cause rice production shocks that are problematic for farmers because rice is predominantly used for household consumption in a context of unreliable off-farm income sources and a lack of insurance and credit. Our research emphasizes that "ultimate" drivers interact with the current mode of rice cultivation to reproduce a low resilience farming state. We argue that agricultural development interventions seeking to make rice farming more resilient to climate hazards should focus on boosting productivity and shock-resistance, but also be cognizant of the system within which rice farming is practiced and the contextual "ultimate" factors that reproduce vulnerability.

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Is Indian agriculture becoming resilient to droughts? Evidence from rice production systems

Cited by 78 publications

References 32 publications

Resilience and food security: rethinking an ecological concept

Resilience and food security: rethinking an ecological concept

Effects of Drought and Flood on Farmer Suicides in Indian States: An Empirical Analysis

Resilience to hazards: rice farmers in the Mahanadi Delta, India

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