Funds crunch hits agriculture mission

NMSA dovetailed with five existing programmes

A funds crunch has led to some goals of the ambitious National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) being embedded into five existing programmes of the agriculture and cooperation department. The NMSA was one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan for Climate Change launched in 2008 which was aimed “at transforming Indian agriculture into a climate resilient production system through suitable adaptation and mitigation measures in the domain of crops and animal husbandry.”

According to the Mission document in 2010, implementation of the NMSA from 2011-2012 to the end of the 12 five year plan would require an additional budgetary support of Rs. 1,08,000 crore. However, official sources said there was a resource constraint and the Mission was dovetailed with five major existing programmes, including the National Mission on Food Security and the National Horticulture Mission, which have been restructured to meet with climate change requirements.

At least 60 per cent of funds was to be used for mitigating risks related to climate change, which is expected to impact crop yields and water resources. The major challenge is ensuring food security and livelihood. India and other countries urgently need to scale up adaptation and mitigation actions to deal with a warming planet and experts feel that much more needs to be done.

The restructured programmes have been operational since April 2014 and it will take at least two years to see some visible change, official sources said. There is more focus on organic farming, bio-fertilizers, soil-analysis-based nutrient application, micro irrigation — which has been extended to horticulture — and methods like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) which uses less water. The government is asking States to encourage all these programmes as pilot projects or demonstration plots which can be scaled up. Every year, official sources said an additional 6 lakh hectares will be added under water saving schemes. Another aspect is crop diversification, especially in Punjab and Haryana, so farmers switch to less water-intensive crops.

There are 16 deliverables in the ongoing programmes. Of this, funds under the 12 five-year plan to the tune of Rs. 13,054 crore are available for four — water efficiency, soil management, natural resources management in rain-fed areas and improving farming systems. This year the focus is on micro irrigation, for which the government has allotted Rs. 1,684 crore.

There is also a decision to revisit the mission document and Ministries will be asked to fine-tune some of the missions to aim for some visual impacts. A major aspect of adaptation is also tackling livestock, since a large amount of emissions are from that sector. Apart from breed improvement, diet of the animals and waste disposal are the other big challenges. Crop varieties are also a focus area, with Indian Council of Agricultural Research developing 813 climate resilient crop varieties last year.