CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN PUNJAB
November 12, 20190214
Sustainability
of Punjab agriculture is critical for India’s food security. Although
the production and productivity of paddy and wheat have gone up in this
region over the last four decades, this has created an environmental
crisis in Punjab.
The
state had to intervene to arrest the declining soil health and conserve
water. The government of Punjab initially chose to adopt the
legislative route as other means of discouraging early sowing and
transplanting (such as advocacy) failed. Since 2010, the government of
Punjab has been actively engaged in promoting new farm machinery that
conserves soil and water (laser leveler, happy seeder, zero-till
seed-cum-fertilizer drill, rotavator) through training, demonstrations,
and financial incentives for its purchase. These regulatory and
technological initiatives to address these challenges do not yet show
results, mainly because of the lack of comprehensive measures to address
the wide range of institutional and policy changes required among
different organizations. However, the research clearly illustrates the
continuing role of the state as an enabler, regulator, funder, and
promoter in bringing more sustainable management practices in commercial
agriculture.
See
Chapter 7 “Many Policies, Few Results: Why Sustainable Agriculture
Remains Elusive In Punjab” in Shades of Green: Multi-Stakeholder
Initiatives to Reduce The Environmental Footprint of Commercial
Agriculture.
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