PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry has stressed the need to control Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions as India has emerged as the third largest emitter in the world of which 14 per cent comes from Agriculture and allied activities.
It has become imperative for the country to rein in its GHGs drastically in this decade or else India faces imminent danger of facing frequent major calamities, PHDCCI said in a release here and suggested a few pertinent steps that need to be taken at the grassroots level.
The PHDCCI said that Innovative techniques like “The Zero Budget Natural Farming” (ZBNF), which was conceptualized in Andhra Pradesh in 2015, can be a potential solution in making Indian agriculture less GHG emitting because it is a low-input, climate-resilient farming that empowers farmers to use low-cost locally sourced inputs, ultimately reducing the usage of chemical, fertilizers and pesticides.
An increased use of machines and technology, improved farm storage and processing infrastructure to reduce waste, and use of IT and AI for weather forecasting, pest infestation, among others, can help reduce use of chemicals and water, said the Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The other suggestion of PHDCCI was to give incentives to farmers to practice crop rotation and encourage them to shift towards less water-intensive crops, like the millets, maize besides pushing subsidies to the farmers for the same.
On the policy front, subsidies on electricity and fertilizers should be reviewed periodically to discourage farmers from indiscriminate use of chemicals and drawing of ground water.Another way to encourage farmers was to give them incentives for undertaking diversification towards cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants and fruit tree crops on field boundaries, the PHDCCI release further said.
The PHDCCI also suggested formation of robust partnerships with various stakeholders, including agriculture department, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Agriculture Universities and Research Institutions to scale up and adopt sustainable agri production in the country.
The Chambers of Commerce and Industry further said that Research was urgently needed towards enhancing yield per animal to increase productivity without much emphasis on increasing the number of livestock.
The PHDCCI release also said that it was equally important to educate and organize awareness campaigns for farmers to enhance their skills and knowledge about sustainable agri practices.
This includes intensifying the workers engagement with the farming community to spread awareness about the commercial benefits from farm waste and connecting them with such agencies. There was also a need for the development of water and salinity resilient crops, it added.
