Climatic Variability Impact on Wheat-Based Cropping Systems of South Asia: Adaptation and Mitigation

Abstract

Climate change is now a reality, many people prefer to call it as climate variability instead of climate change, which in fact, is much more complex phenomenon from agricultural point of view. The seasons are no longer identifiable as these used to be previously. Sometimes, these prolong or get shortened replacing the other seasons. The increase in climate-extremes in precipitation, temperature, etc. has already started taking a tool on the agricultural production as is evident from one of the most productive region of India i.e. Punjab, where the wheat productivity is affected considerably due to elevated temperature conditions over the last few years. Industry and domestic sectors can easily adapt to the changing climatic conditions but for agriculture sector it is not so easy. A lot still needs to be done especially in formulating strategies to mitigate such effects. The plant breeders have to play a big role in redefining the characters of crop plants through genetic engineering so as to develop cultivars to grow efficiently in newer climatic condition. The cultivars for biofuel crops need to be developed as an alternate to fossil fuel energy sources. It is thus a collective effort on the part of plant breeder, soil scientist, agronomist, plant protection scientist and food technologist to work together to develop strategies for mitigating the ill effects of climate change in agricultural sector.

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