Global warming may ruin India's farm sector (affecting GDP drastically)

Global warming is expected to affect almost every land mass on the face of earth, more or less. Unfortunately for India, the consequeces are really drastic. It is assumed that India is on its way of becoming one of the worst hit nations by global warming. Though the effects of global warming on India vary from the submergence of low-lying islands and coastal lands to the melting of glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, it would threaten the volumetric flow rate of many of the most important rivers of India and South Asia. In India, such effects are projected to impact millions of lives. The climate of India has also become extremely volatile as a result of the ongoing climate change. This trend is expected to continue.

The scenario has already begun to appear rather dire. There are 2 aspects in which warming has or is expected to affect India:

(a) Environmental: Increased landslides and flooding are expected to impact states like Assam, etc. Ecological disasters, such as a coral bleaching event in 1998 that destroyed more than 70% of corals in the reef ecosystems of Lakshadweep and the Andamans, and was followed up by elevated ocean temperatures resulting to global warming, are also expected to become increasingly common.

(b) Economical: According to a report by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, if the predictions relating to global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change come to fruition, climate-related factors could decline India's GDP by up to 9%. Contributing to this would be shifting growing seasons for major crops such as rice, production of which could fall by 40%. Around seven million people are projected to be displaced due to, among other factors, submersion of parts of Mumbai and Chennai, if global temperatures were to rise by a mere 2 °C (3.6 °F). Villagers in India's North Eastern state of Meghalaya are also concerned that rising sea levels will submerge neighbouring low-lying Bangladesh, resulting in an influx of refugees into Meghalaya which has few resources to handle such a situation.

This was simply a general take on global warming that everyone is more or less aware of. A more recent news report said climate change may scorch India's farm sector which , jugding by the fact that India is a farm based economy, is rather scary. A global study of weather and crop yield has revealed that India could lose 7-17% of its income from farming because of climate change. Farming makes up 23% of India'a GDP, so the country as a whole may be hit by a modest loss in income from agriculture. Experts believe that switching to crops and livestock that can stand the heat is going to be crucial for the economy.

As a result, food security would be a great concern area for India despite record foodgrain production of 230.7 million tonnes in 2007-08. It is expected to increase to 250 million tonnes by 2011, as is mentioned in the report of the Third Steering Group on Agriculture and Allied Sector for the 11th Five Year Plan. The major challenges confronting the farm sector, particularly in foodgrains production, are the slowdown in fertilizer, irrigation and energy use at the farm level and technological stagnation.