Title: Sustainable agriculture for food, nutritional and ecological security and for ameliorating climate change impacts in the Indian Himalayan Region

Background

Agriculture is the mainstay of people in the Indian Himalayan Region. However, with climate variability and the growing capriciousness in precipitation and rising temperatures, the traditional farming systems and cropping patterns are increasingly under threat. The resource-poor rural farming communities are most vulnerable to the risks of climate change due to poor adaptation capacity. Furthermore, the physiographic and environmental constraints associated with the wide variability in altitude, slope, and aspect limit the adoption of modern agricultural technologies in the IHR. This calls for urgent extensive investigation on the hill agriculture to develop resilience in this vulnerable sector. The focal geographical areas of this taskforce are eastern (NEH region), central (Uttarakhand) and western Himalayas (Leh, Ladakh, HP, and J&K).

Objectives

• Development of a database repository on soil (fertility and erosivity), water, genetic resources (arable crops, horticulture, agroforestry, livestock, and coldwater fisheries), socioeconomics and farmers’ practices.
• Identification and promotion/scaling up of suitable practices for conserving soil, water and vegetation focussing on carbon sequestration model to attract and flow green bonus towards the farming community.
• Validating the extant technologies and refinement of farming systems and practices to cope with climate variability and climate change.
• Capacity building of farmers for a low carbon future through climate resilient agricultural practices including popularization of suitable farm machinery.
• Assessment of the potential of agro forestry and conservation agriculture to mitigate climate change impacts.

Coordinating Institute

• NRM Division ICAR, New Delhi

Collaborating Institutes

• ICAR-Research Complex for North Eastern Hill, Umium, Barapani, Meghalaya (Lead Centre)

• • Regional Station for Tripura, Lambuchera
  • Regional Station for Mizoram, Kolasib
  • Regional Station for Nagaland, Medzipema
  • Regional Station for Manipur, Imphal
  • Regional Station for Arunachal Pradesh, Basar
  • Regional Station for Sikkim

• National Research Centre on Pig, Rani, Assam
• National Regional Centre on Mithun, Jharanapani, Medzipema
• National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh
• Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun
• Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar, Mukteshwar
• Directorate of Coldwater Fisheries, Bhimtal
• Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Regional Centre, Chandigarh
• Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora
• Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Research Station, Mukteshwar
• National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan
• National Research Centre on Agroforestry, Jhansi
• Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Research Centre, Leh, Ladakh

More Links

• Balanced Approach TO Sustainable Development in Biodersity-rich India:Forest Policy Perspective
• National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, Task Force on Agriculture -An Overview
• Launch Workshop of Task Force on Himalayan Agriculture under the NMSHE
• Jalkund: A Micro Rain Water Harvesting Structure Suitable For Eastern Himalayas
• Climate Change And Pest Control

Task Force Coordinators