Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security

Abstract

Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Securitycomprehensively deals with important aspects of climate resilient agriculture for food security using adaptation and mitigation measures. Climatic changes and increasing climatic variability are likely to aggravate the problem of future food security by exerting pressure on agriculture. For the past few decades, the gaseous composition of the earth's atmosphere has been undergoing significant changes, largely through increased emissions from the energy, industry and agriculture sectors; widespread deforestation as well as fast changes in land use and land management practices. Agriculture and food systems must improve and ensure food security, and to do so they need to adapt to climate change and natural resource pressures, and contribute to mitigating climate change. Climate-resilient agriculture contributes to sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, adapting and building resilience to climate change and reducing and/or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions where possible. The information on climate resilient agriculture for ensuring food security is widely scattered. There is currently no other book that comprehensively and exclusively deals with the above aspects of agriculture and focuses on ensuring food security. This volume is divided into fourteen chapters, which include the Introduction, Causes of Climate Change, Agriculture as a Source of Greenhouse Gases, Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture, Regional Impacts on Climate Change, Impacts on Crop Protection, Impacts on Insect and Mite Pests, Impacts on Plant Pathogens, Impacts on Nematode Pests, Impacts on Weeds, Impacts on Integrated Pest Management, Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Change Mitigation, and A Road Map Ahead. The book is extensively illustrated with excellent photographs, which enhance the quality of publication. It is clearly written, using easy-to-understand language. It also provides adoptable recommendations involving eco-friendly adaptation and mitigation measures. This book will be of immense value to the scientific community involved in teaching, research and extension activities. The material can also be used for teaching post-graduate courses. It will also serve as a very useful reference source for policy makers. Dr. P. Parvatha Reddy obtained his Ph.D. degree jointly from the University of Florida, USA and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Dr. Reddy served as the Director of the prestigious Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) at Bangalore from 1999 to 2002 during which period the Institute was honored with 'ICAR Best Institution Award'. He also served as the Head, Division of Entomology and Nematology at IIHR and gave tremendous impetus and direction to research, extension and education in developing bio-intensive integrated pest management strategies in horticultural crops. These technologies are being practiced widely by the farmers across the country since they are effective, economical, eco-friendly and residue-free. Dr. Reddy has about 34 years of experience working with horticultural crops and involved in developing an F1 tomato hybrid 'Arka Varadan' resistant to root-knot nematodes. Dr. Reddy has over 250 scientific publications to his credit, which also include 30 books. He has also guided two Ph.D. students at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Dr. Reddy served as Chairman, Research Advisory Committee of Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi; National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi; National Research Centre for Citrus, Nagpur and the Project Directorate of Biological Control, Bangalore. He served as a Member, QRT to review the progress of AICRP on Nematodes; AINRP on Betelvine; Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Trivandrum and AICRP on Tuber Crops. He also served as a Member of the Expert Panel for monitoring the research program of National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in the theme of Horticulture including Pest Dynamics and Pollinators. He is the Honorary Fellow of the Society for Plant Protection Sciences, New Delhi, Fellow of the Indian Phytopathological Society, New Delhi and Founder President of the Association for Advancement of Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems (AAPMHE), Bangalore. Dr. Reddy has been awarded with the prestigious 'Association for Advancement Pest Management in Horticultural Ecosystems Award', 'Dr. G.I. D'souza Memorial Lecture Award', 'Prof. H.M. Shah Memorial Award' and ' Hexamar Agricultural Research and Development Foundation Award' for his unstinted efforts in developing sustainable, bio-intensive and eco-friendly integrated pest management strategies in horticultural crops. Dr. Reddy has organized 'Fourth International Workshop on Biological Control and Management of Chromolaena odorata', 'National Seminar on Hitech Horticulture', 'First National Symposium on Pest Management in Horticultural Crops: Environmental Implications and Thrusts' and 'Second National Symposium on Pest Management in Horticultural Crops: New Molecules and Biopesticides'.