Bhubaneswar: Agriculture, on which almost 70% of our population is dependent, is the worst affected sector due to the Climate Change. With Regular events like erratic rain, drought and Cyclones States like Odisha are the most vulnerable regions in the country, said Mr M. Muthukumar, IAS, Director of Horticulture, Odisha.
Inaugurating a farmer training Programme on climate smart Agriculture, jointly organized by Ctran Consulting and Action on Climate Change (ACT) he said that Odisha has been facing the effects of Climate Change for the last 4-5 decades and the problem has become more serious in the recent years. This year only 15 districts of the state have faced Drought in the initial phases of the Monsoon season, subsequently farmers of another 10-12 districts face the menace of Brown Hooper Pest. In the recent past erratic and untimely rain has damaged Crops in the coastal districts of the State. In the coming years the challenges will be more serious unless urgent mitigating and adapting measure are not taken.
In this backdrop, we have to take a holistic approach for climate resilient Agriculture. For this we have to prepare and train the farmers on climate resilient Agricultural practices. The Government of Odisha has taken up a multi-departmental approach involving several stake holders to prepare a Climate Change Action Plan will be ready in the next couple of months.
Speaking on the occasion Mr Ashok Singha, Head, Ctran Consulting said that the climate change is the result of our rapid but uncontrolled economic and industrial development. So we have to take mitigative and adaptive measures on a urgest basis to cope with the challenge. He also highlighted the balance of modern and traditional adaptive practices and balanced lifestyle to fight climate change.
Speaking on the occasion Mr. Soumik Biswas, Team Leader-Odisha, Action on Climate Today under the Climate Change Innovation Programme (CCIP)-India, said that we have to train more and more farmers on the climate smart techniques of Agriculture.
Farmers and farmer organizations from several districts like Cuttack, Sambalpur, Angul, Bargarh, Bhadrak etc. have attended the 3 day session, said coordinator of the session Dr. Hemant Satpathy.
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