A national conference has favoured meticulous micro-management of agricultural systems and agrometeorology services to tackle climate change.
The three-day conference on ‘Crop improvement and adaptive strategies to meet challenges of climate change’ that concluded here on Sunday, recommended that agrometeorology services be delivered at the village-level by setting up weather monitoring centres to facilitate micro management to effectively tackle climate change.
Incidentally, weather gauges have still not been set up in all hobli centres.
The conference, organised by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, to develop protocols for conducting research to mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture, stressed the need to provide agrometeorology data at the village-level to meticulously plan agriculture operations.
‘Redefine agroclimatic zones’
As weather patterns are changing, the conference also recommended redefining of agroclimatic zones and developing revised criteria to demarcate these zones. It may be noted that Karnataka has 10 agroclimatic zones.
The conference also stressed the need for evolving local-specific strategies to effectively mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on agriculture. It also suggested the need for evolving a comprehensive land use policy, and an action plan that provided for involvement of all stakeholders, including scientists. The need for effective utilisation of germplasm in crop improvement was also stressed.
Delivering the presidential address at the valedictory, UAS-B Vice-Chancellor K. Narayana Gowda mooted the idea of forming a committee of experts to take forward the recommendations of the conference. He stressed the need for adopting an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the impact of climate change by involving scientists working in different areas of agriculture.
Chairman of Karnataka Agriculture Mission and agricultural scientist S.A. Patil called for an attitudinal change among agricultural scientists. “It is normal for all of us to have our own style of functioning. But, it is essential for agricultural scientists to have an attitude where the farmer is the focus of their research and approach,” he said.
Over 200 agricultural scientists from across the country took part in the conference.
