Ooty: Tackling climate change in agri

OOTY: Dr S. Manivannan, principal scientist at the Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation Regional Centre here, who is the convener of the National conference on soil and water conservation being held here, said they would deliberate on 10 different technical aspects to arrive at formulating farmer-friendly soil and water conservation technologies to mitigate climate change impact.

Soil and water conservation technologies are the main propulsion for increasing agricultural productivity. Hydrological behavior of water domains are becoming modified due increasing temperatures that would critically impact in managing water resources.  Recent trends in rainfall pattern, its distribution and changes in hydrological regimes have conferred complication in economic designing and management of water resources, he noted.

In the context of temperature change situation, move to develop new era soil and water conservation technologies will play the major role for mitigating climate change impact on yield of various crops, he said.  

In recent times, the soil and water conservation technologies ought to be created farmers friendly and to take care of bio-health conjointly to mitigate the temperature change impact on soil and water resources in different agro ecosystems, he pointed out.

To address these issues, the conference will deliberate in 10 different technical aspects. They include: climate change impacts on soil and water resources, farmers-centric technologies towards controlling soil erosion, degradation, mass erosion and policy implications, water harvesting and its multiple use in climate change scenario, Impact assessment of soil and water conservation technologies and  application of advanced tools, bio-diversity conservation  and climate change,  soil bio-diversity and biological diversity Act-2002 focusing on declining population of earth worms, resource conservation measures for horticulture, plantation crops and forestry,  integrated watershed management and crop production systems, mechanized soil and water management, precision farming and utilization of renewable energy, disaster management, landslide mitigation measures and rehabilitation of heavy metal contaminated soil, he explained.  

The deliberations of the conference will be used to prepare the road map for developing farmers-friendly soil and water conservation technologies for mitigating climate change impact to enhance farm productivity and economy, Dr Manivannan added.