The Norwegian embassy in New Delhi is supporting a research project to undertake research activities with relevant partners) on climate change impacts on rice production system in the state of Tamil Nadu: ClimaRice. Bioforsk, (Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research), Norway, in partnership with Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and International Pacific Research Centre (IPRC), Hawai, are partners in the project. ClimaRice is an integrated project that aims to assess the climate variability and its impacts on the water availability and rice production systems in the Cauvery river basin of Tamil Nadu, India. The overall goal is to contribute to the regional and national adaptation strategies to sustain rice production and ensure food security in the face of the prospect of a changing climate.
A stakeholder workshop was organized at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore on the 12th of December, 2008. The highlight of the workshop was the stakeholder group discussions wherein farmers shared their experience and knowledge with other participants. The participating farmers expressed that they perceived climate change as a serious threat to rice farming systems in the Cauvery Basin.
The project will conduct several workshops of this nature and focus group meeting in the next two years at different levels, in order to jointly develop scenarios and adaptation measures for the benefit of farmers in the Cauvery River Basin.
The total Norwegian contribution to the project will be NOK 6.00 million over a period of three years.
The workshop was formally inaugurated by Dr. C. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU with a key note emphasizing on the importance of the climate change risks and the responsibility of the scientists to help farmers by developing proper adaptation measures. Dr.Natarajan, Director, CSCMS, TNAU, welcomed the participants. The setting for the day long stakeholder workshop was provided by Dr.Udaya Sekhar Nagothu, Project Co-ordinator at Bioforsk, Norway. Dr. Sekhar who chaired the morning session explained the purpose of the workshop, and the importance of stakeholder participation in projects such as CLIMARICE. According to him, meaningful adaptation measures cannot be produced without integrating experiences and interests of different stakeholders, especially the field managers and farmers.
Dr.V. Geethalakshmi, Professor, TNAU, presented the overall framework of the project and the attempts by the team to integrate environmental, socio-economic, institutional and policy issues. Dr. A. Lakshmanan, in his talk, emphasized on the mitigation measures and technologies being tested in the project to help in mitigation. He insisted on the importance of soil microbiology in nutrient re-cycling under increased soil temperatures. Mr.Vijayanathan, Senior Advisor, The Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi, briefed the Norwegian Government’s policy on Climate Change and the Indo-Norwegian collaboration on related issues. Managers and scientists from several organizations including, Dr.Balaji Narasimman, IITM, Chennai, Dr. Manavalan, RRSC (ISRO), Bangalore, Mr.Chidambaram, Member, Planning Commission, Government of Tamil Nadu, the Director, Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai, government officials including Joint Directors of Agriculture from the Agricultural Department and the Water Resources Organization, Government of Tamil Nadu and other experts on the subject participated in the workshop.
The highlight of the workshop was the stakeholder group discussions wherein farmers shared their experience and knowledge with other participants. To sustain rice production in the Cauvery Basin is highly important for the large number of farmers dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Rice is the staple food crop and has been cultivated in the basin for centuries. The stakeholders perceived climate change as a serious threat to rice farming systems in the Cauvery Basin.
Some of the farmers felt that they do not get adequate help from the concerned agencies and that more support is needed in the form of financial, technical, institutional and policy measures to adapt to climate change. Some of the measures suggested by the famers included, rotational irrigation to ensure equitable distribution of water, alternative cropping patterns to suit the extreme variability in climate, promoting green manure crops and eco-friendly microbial inoculants, training and awareness campaigns, crop insurance schemes for farmers and financial support to poor farmers.
Focus Group meeting of Scale Rice farmers in Thanjavur District, Cauvery Basin
The project will conduct several workshops of this nature and focus group meeting in the next two years at different levels, in order to jointly develop scenarios and adaptation measures for the benefit of farmers in the Cauvery River Basin. On this occasion, the first CLIMARICE project newsletter was released by the Vice Chancellor, TNAU. The ClIMARICE team later conducted field visits to the Cauvery Basin and meetings with farmers.