Assessing potential of indigenous crops for climate change adaptation: an analysis in context of food security and sustainable agriculture in Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, India
Student name: Ms Bhavya Tripathi
Guide: Mr Manish Kumar Shrivastava
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: SKMCCC (EPCO)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Lokendra Thakkar
Abstract: Since the start of green revolution, Indian villages have been under constant
stress to produce the crops that are more viable commercially over the various
unique indigenous crops that used to be grown. This shift in cropping pattern
can be attributed to some of the economic and agricultural problems India faced
in the early decades of its independence, to tackle which, some radical steps
were taken, the results of which are popularly known as the green revolution.
Driven by the motive of ensuring food security and aiding economy by turning
India into an agricultural supergiant, the green revolution seems to have run its
course and now we are faced with newer problems, many as direct results of
green revolution. The homogenisation brought about by “green revolutionâ€
caused many varieties of indigenously grown crops to go extinct which in turn
has caused the diversity in the nutritional intake go down. The villages have
become vulnerable to market fluctuations as they no longer are self-sufficient in
the diversity of crop production. Hence, homogenisation has increased crop
vulnerability to climate change and market forces and endangered food security.
The study tries to suggest plausible intervention to bring these indigenous crops
to the mainstream and combat issues of food and nutrition security as well as
making the agriculture more climate resilient. The study was conducted in
Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The objective of the study was to find
out whether indigenous crops (taking the case of Kodo and Kutki millets) can
play a role in achieving selected Sustainable Development Goals and fit under
the ambit of Sustainable Agriculture.
Key terms: Indigenous crops, Food and Nutrition Security, Sustainable
Development Goals, Climate Change, Climate resilient agriculture, Sustainable
Agriculture
