Climate Change and Future Rice Production in India

This book explains in depth the issues and challenges faced by rice farmers in India in relation to production and productivity, and the possible adaptation strategies to climate change.

Based on five years of groundbreaking research on emerging trends in cultivation in major rice growing regions in India, it begins by describing production and yield trends across different rice growing regions. It then offers a comprehensive review of relevant literature and the quantification methodologies and approaches used to analyze the impact of climate change. The book also analyzes climate change impacts on rice productivity and production, applying field-tested quantification methods, such as the Just-Pope production function where time series and cross-section data are simultaneously used for all regions. The results are presented for five geographical regions of India – northern, eastern, western, central and southern – for better comparison and readability. The analysescover scenarios for both mid-century (2021–2050) and end-century (2071–2100), and in the context of climate change, they also incorporate both medium and high carbon emission scenarios. Thus the future rice production and productivity trends are clearly projected for making necessary interventions. Lastly, the book outlines the essentials of an enabling environment policy and discusses the institutional and policy options necessary to ensure sustainable rice production in India. It also makes the case for introducing appropriate and affordable adaptation strategies to support farmers in different rice-growing regions.

The cost–benefit analysis of strategies presented in this book provides an invaluable tool for officials at agriculture departments planning up-scaling of agricultural productivity. The projections are also useful for policy makers and planners developing future investment plans to support rice production in their country. Overall, this book is of interest to a wide audience, including professionals and business enterprises dealing with rice, as well as to academic researchers and students.

K. Palanisami is an agricultural economist and international water resources expert. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota, USA, Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), South Asia Office, Hyderabad and Director of the Water Technology centre, Tamilnadu Agricultural University. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India. He has led several national and international research projects on climate change, water and agriculture and published numerous papers and books. He is currently serving as an agricultural and water expert for the Interstate Water Resource Department of the Govt of Telangana, India.

Krishna Reddy Kakumanu is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Natural Resource Management at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad, India. He completed his PhD in Agricultural economics from Justus Liebig University, Germany and worked as a Regional Researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Hyderabad & New Delhi, India. He has broad expertise in the economics of conjunctive use of water, energy pricing and climate change impact assessment and adaptation in agricultural and water sectors in India. He has 10 years of research experience and has published several research papers in international journals and books.

Udaya Sekhar Nagothu is a Research Professor and Director (Centre for International Development) at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Norway. He holds an M.Sc. in Natural Resources Management and Ph.D. in Development Studies from the University of Biosciences, Norway. He has more than 25 years of research and development experience in natural resource management and environment related areas. He has coordinated several large interdisciplinary projects on climate change, water resources management and food security in various countries. Sekhar has published articles in several international journals, and edited and contributed to six books on climate change, sustainable agriculture and food security.

C. R. Ranganathan is an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Computing, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu. Prior to this, he was working at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore for 37 years. He has extensive experience in teaching mathematics, statistics and data science and has led several research projects at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. He has published a number of research articles in national and international journals, authored the book entitled ‘ A First Course in Mathematical Models of Population Growth ‘ and co-authored the book ‘ Climate Change and Agriculture in India’.