India urged to document indigenous knowledge on climate-resilient farming

The Hindu (India): M.S Swaminathan, agriculture scientist and M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation chairperson, on Wednesday called for the documentation of the nation’s indigenous knowledge on climate resilient farming.

In earlier days when there was no irrigation, farmers were prepared for floods and droughts. The climate resilient farming was a way of way in those days and the people went in for mixed cropping. The publication could cover topics including procedures adopted by the farmers and coping capacity. Dr. Swaminathan was addressing a symposium on climate change at the 98th Indian Science Congress in Kattankulathur near here.

Pointing out that 127 agro-climatic zones had been identified in the country taking into cropping and weather factors, Dr. Swaminathan called for setting up a climate risk management research and training centres in each zone. Alternative cropping strategies and methods of checking potential adverse conditions should be developed through the proposed centres….

Drying cow dung in Tiruparankundam in India, shot by Claude Renault, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license