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Not Available ; This document has been contributed by a group of social scientists and ARD stakeholders, committed to facilitate the GCARD consultation so that it is inclusive of the opinion of all ARD Stakeholders in contributing to increasing net incomes, purchasing power, livelihoods and sustainability of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities in the developing countries. Of the 3 billion people that live in rural areas (nearly half of the humanity), about 2.5 billion are involved in agriculture and 1.5 billion (half of the rural area population) are resource-poor small holders. These resource-poor smallholder farmers and producers concentrated in the rural areas and mountains make up the majority (85%) of farmers in the developing world. They are among the poorest group of farmers and thus become important in the context of eliminating poverty and hunger from the developing world. The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) 2010, to be held in Montpellier, France from 28-31 March 2010, should use this paper as the basis to develop an action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research globally in order to make maximum impact on development, especially for the poor small producers. This paper provides an opportunity to all the stakeholders of AR4D to discuss and decide the world agenda for AR4D. Considering the importance of poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing world, there is a need to utilize this opportunity to change the world agenda for AR4D so that livelihoods and wellbeing of the resource-poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing countries could be improved. This document, which has suggestions on how the Action Plan could be developed and approved at GCARD also briefly discusses how GFAR and CGIAR could help improve the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers in the developing world. The document discusses the importance, situation of the smallholder farmers in the developing world, and emphasizes the urgent need for action to meet the need based funding, AR4D, extension, etc., to ensure they are enabled to harvest crops of all seasons. It discusses the challenges that have been identified in different regions of the developing world through the GCARD consultation process, which include: (i) Food, nutrition and health security, (ii) Increasing the net incomes and purchasing power and improving livelihoods, (iii) Protecting the environment, (iv) Achieving structural reforms of the agricultural research (AR), education and extension systems, (v) Meeting the special challenges, and (vi) Making ARSs inclusive and follow a bottom up approach. In addition, it takes into consideration the exchanges of the E conference and the F2F, both an important part of the GCARD consultation process. 3 Among the suggestions for the Action Plan, the document lays emphasis that the AR4D should focus on the smallholder farmers' development needs. Actions for different priority areas of research identified during the GCARD process in different regions are suggested. These include suggestions for: (1) Action for Institutional Issues: Action research, education, extension and linkages and collaboration; (2) Action Research for Development Issues: Improved technology for sustainable production (livestock research including rangelands, horticulture, seed systems, water resources and irrigation management, forestry, fisheries mountain agriculture); (3) Effecting Necessary Policy Shifts: Agricultural development policies, and marketing of agricultural produce/ products; (4) Environment Protection Issues: Reduce agriculture's large environmental footprint and overcome the challenge of climate change, and protecting biodiversity degradation; (5) Socioeconomic Issues: Gender/women-related issues, and livelihoods and poverty analysis. The document also briefly discusses importance of development pathways and how the developing countries could use them for the priority areas of AR4D. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to fulfill the requirements for agricultural development. It should be emphasized that the five regions in the developing world have good potential for AR4D in the immediate future. Considering the present state of affairs, the regions could either become self-sufficient and meet their nutrition, health and food needs, or become a potential hot spot for poverty because of: (i) shortage of irrigated land, (ii) shortage of water, (iii) adverse effects of agro-chemicals used on their land and thus the proportionate increased need of water each year and contaminating subsoil water, (iv) increasing population, (v) shortage of safe nutritious and quality food, (vi) climate change and desertification, and (vii) isolation of the world community by the net producers (Australia, Canada, and the USA). Therefore, the issues that are of immediate and vital importance include: (i) Strengthening of the existing potential for knowledge creation, (ii) Strengthening knowledge transfer mechanisms, (iii) Developing collaboration, partnerships and linkages among different stakeholders of AR4D at the national, sub-region, regional and the global levels, and (iv) Focus on the development of poor smallholder farmers and producers in rural and mountainous areas of the developing countries. Considering the above and the potential that all five regions of the developing countries have, it is important that the governments make the required investments in and provide the required support to agriculture and AR4D to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities, which in turn would meet the MDGs. Likewise, the international research and development organizations (CGIAR, FAO, etc.), the regional and international development organizations (IFAD, etc.) and banks (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, etc.) must come forward to help the regions to ensure the needed funds for agriculture and AR4D, with the specific undertaking that these be used to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers. The smallholder farmers/producers have been ignored for a long time, and let us at this stage commit ourselves to help them to overcome their difficulties and improve their livelihoods. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Governments worldwide and in the U.S. are enacting a variety of measures to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from various economic sectors. Tools to prioritize these measures are generally lacking in analytical rigor. On the other hand, the research literature continues to proliferate with assessments of energy efficiency and GHG mitigation options that can be adapted to the policy evaluation process. This dissertation formulates an analytical method to better prioritize future climate change policy actions. A framework is developed to integrate current research on climate change mitigation technology alternatives from all sectors of the U.S. economy on an equal footing. Applying consistent economic assumptions, a multi-benefit cost-effectiveness accounting tool is developed that simultaneously evaluates the technology costs, lifetime energy saving benefits, and GHG reductions in a single cost-per-tonne-reduced metric. The framework synthesizes the disparate studies' data to compare and prioritize options across sectors as well as determine the aggregate impacts from multiple sectors' GHG mitigation actions. A broad portfolio of cost-effective technologies is available from each major sector of the economy. The findings indicate that there are many net-beneficial "no regrets" climate change mitigation technologies – where the energy savings of the technologies outweigh the initial costs – and most of these technologies are not being widely adopted. Transportation technologies are found to represent approximately half of the "no regrets" mitigation opportunities and about one-fifth of the least-cost GHG mitigation measures to achieve the benchmark 1990 GHG level. With the adoption of known near-term technologies, GHG emissions by 2030 could be reduced by 14% with net-zero-cost technologies, and emissions could be reduced by about 30% with technologies that each have net costs less than $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Increasing evidence over the past few decades indicate that significant changes in climate are taking place worldwide as a result of enhanced human activities. The inventions that were discovered during last few centuries, more so in the last century has altered the concentration of atmospheric constituents that lead to global warming. The major cause to climate change has been ascribed to the increased levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (NO2), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) beyond their natural levels due to the uncontrolled activities such as burning of fossil fuels, increased use of refrigerants, and enhanced agricultural related practices. These activities accelerated the processes of climate change and increased the mean global temperatures by 0.6°C during the past 100 years, a phenomenon known as global warming. It has also induced increased climatic variability and occurrence of extreme weather events in many parts of the world. Studies indicate that the years viz., 1997, 1998 and 1999 during the past century, recorded more warmer conditions across the globe, and the process continued in this decade also. Summer 2002 and 2003 were declared as warmest years on record by NOAA especially in the Asian sub continent and in Europe where the temperatures remained extremely high for long periods resulting in death of 20,000 human populations in Europe alone. Scientists attribute this to a long-term warming trend over the globe. In large part of Asia, agricultural production is mainly dependent on the monsoonal rains. Evidences also indicate that large-scale climatic variations are prevalent at micro-regional level influencing the rainfall distribution in different parts of Asia. The causes of these regional climate changes vary from global to region level. It is evident that there was, there is and there will be climate variability at global, regional and local levels. Since climate is closely related to human activities and economic development including agricultural system, there is a serious concern about its stability (Sinha et al., 2000). The awareness of the magnitude of the impact of climate change on society by the various governments led to adoption of an International Convention on Climate Change by United Nations in 1992. Article 2 of this convention called the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) makes two relevant stipulations relevant and important to agriculture, which is (a) prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climatic system, and (b) to ensure that food production is not threatened. The two are related and need in-depth analysis. The global climate system is a consequence of a link between the atmosphere, the oceans, the biosphere, the cryosphere, and the geosphere and any change to this system produced by forcing agents - results in climate change. Some of the atmospheric constituents such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are transparent to short wave solar radiation and opaque to 331 long wave radiation emitted by earths surface, thus, trapping the heat from sunlight near the Earth's surface known popularly as green house effect. This effect keeps the planet 33°C warmer than it would otherwise be, allowing the earth to support life. With the advent of the industrial revolution, there has been a tremendous growth in the fossil-fuel utilization leading to increased carbon dioxide emissions over the globe especially since 1950s. In addition to this, the emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other chlorine and bromine compounds used in refrigeration and other industrial uses not only have an impact on the radiative forcing, but also have led to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. Land-use change, due to urbanization and deforestation and agricultural practices, affect the physical and biological properties of the Earth's surface. Such effects also change the radiative forcing and have a potential impact on regional and global climate. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Water is an important for all forms of life and it is becoming scarce natural resource in the future owing to climate variability / change which aggravates the situation. Water resources are inextricably linked with climate. Climate change and variability would be the principal source of fluctuation in global food production, particularly in the semi-arid tropical countries of the developing world. In conjunction with other physical, social and political-economic factors, climate variability contributes to vulnerability to economic loss, hunger, famine and dislocation in the developing countries. Climate change impact studies reveal that annual average river runoff and water availability are projected to increase by 10-40% at high latitudes and in some wet tropical areas, and decrease by 10---30% over some dry regions at mid-latitudes and in the dry tropics. Crop water availability shortage and excess affects the growth and development of the plants, yields and quality of produces. Climate change, which affect the water availability resources, which in turn affect agriculture in many ways. For instance in soil plant processes with an increase in soil water deficit by changes in soil water balance. Long term climate change and its effect on crop water requirements of major cereal crops like wheat, maize, sorghum and millet in 1990,2020 and 2050 were estimated by FAO CROPW AT program and the adaptation strategies to be taken to combat climate change effect were also discussed in this paper. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Worldwide, more than 80 percent of the cropped area depends on rainfall alone. Rainfed agriculture is practiced in almost all hydroclimatic zones, and can be highly productive. However, in many dry subhumid regions, tropical semiarid and arid regions, as well as in some temperate regions yields tend to be relatively low. With highly variable rainfall, long dry seasons, recurrent droughts and dry spells as well as floods, water tends to be a key constraint for agricultural production systems in these regions. Especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 96 percent of the cropland is rainfed, erratic and sparse rainfall often combines with arid conditions, high temperatures, and shallow soils with poor nutrient status to provide extremely uncertain conditions for agriculture. Farmers, and especially the poor, are intrinsically risk-averse, and in these conditions they tend to adopt low-input strategies with limited yield potential even in good rainfall years. The need to improve water management in water-constrained rainfed areas is often emphasized. In particular by increasing timely water availability and the water uptake of crops, yields can be significantly enhanced and agricultural productivity improved. Research has shown that better water management, coupled with improved soil and crop management, can more than double agricultural productivity in rainfed areas with currently low yields. With climate change and increasing food prices, even more emphasis needs to be placed on addressing water management in rainfed agriculture as a key determinant for agricultural production and productivity. However, governments and donors have tended to pay relatively little attention to this area, and investments remain low. During the last decade, for example, commitments to improving water management in rainfed agriculture in World Bank-supported projects amounted to less than 15 percent of the commitments to the irrigation and drainage subsector. Improvements in agricultural water management can be categorized into four broad approaches (one physical and three non-physical), with each comprising a variety of measures. The most usual approach comprises soil and water management techniques, including structural measures (such as stone barriers, bunds or terraces) and in-field or agronomic practices (such as mulching, fertilizing, intercropping, crop rotation, agroforestry and reduced tillage). ; Not Available

Not Available ; Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development Year : 2011, Volume : 26, Issue : 1 First page : ( 41) Last page : ( 52) Print ISSN : 0971-2062. Online ISSN : 2231-6701. Farmers' Participation for Effective Utilization of Water Resources in Lift Irrigation Schemes in Rainfed Areas - Management Issues and Scope for Improvement Rao K.V., Rao I. Bhaskara, Prasad J.V.N.S., Rao C.A. Rama, Sahu R.K.1 Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad-500 009, Andhra Pradesh 1Indira Ghandi Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Raipur-492010, Chattisgarh Online published on 22 July, 2013. Abstract Participation of water users' association in the management of irrigation systems is considered essential, particularly in lift irrigation schemes which are crucial source of augmented water supply in rainfed areas. The present study was undertaken in Amarachinta and Kanuparthy lift irrigation schemes in the state of Andhra Pradesh with the aim of exploring the role of farmer's participation in effective utilization of water resources in lift irrigation command areas and management issues. The study was based on the field data collected from the concerned government departments and farmers of these lift irrigation schemes, located in two different districts of Andhra Pradesh, India. Chosen parameters for assessing the impact of participation of farmers in the management include improvement in water use efficiencies (WUE), irrigation efficiency, project water efficiency, TFV, fee collection performance, sustainability factor of command area, fund flow and utilization etc. The increase in irrigation efficiency was from 46 to 81per cent. It was mainly due to the transfer of management from government to the beneficiary society in Kanuparthy LIS. These two LISs were successfully operated and maintained by beneficiary societies. The beneficiary societies of LISs were financially sound and ready to meet any contingency. ; Not Available

Not Available ; YNDIA has 2.4o / o of rhe world's Ig.ogrrphical are,r and 4o / o of water resources but has to support L7 and l5o / o ol the s - orld's human and 15% of the lir - estock population. Agriculture contributes 14% to the nation's GDP. Productivity in agriculture depends greatly on availabilin' .and judicious use of farm power sources ald use of improved agricultural implements and machines. Aqricultural machines increase productir - in' of labour by meedng rimelinc \ \ \ \ ot' lr] - rm operations and enables efficient utilization of inputs such as seeds end fertilizers. During 1960 - 61. major contribution in farm po \ \ \ \ - er u'as from animate power (92.309o,. tt'her,''rs in 2009 - 10 )major share 86.8596 u'as tiom mechanical and electrical pou - er. during u hich mcrn t'rrm po \ \ \ \ 'cr availabil - in'has increased at a CAGR of 4.58o / o tiom 0.20 k \ \ \ \ - ha to 1.73 kW / ha. Fos'eler. the contribution from draft animal and agriculture labour source had gone dou'n drasticallv in this period. Thus. there is a need for mechanization of ferm. particulariv small ard marsiral t - arms in drvland areas for enhancing efficiency of resources. But many farmers still feel the implements are cosdy to procure on dreir own.Therefore, the government policies support for easy procurement process of agriculture machinery under subsidy scheme, better spare parts and serwice availabiliry in nrral areas and farmers centered approach in establishing and running custom hiring centers are some of the issues that need to be addressed to promote small farm mechanization at faster phase. Effective utilization of avaiiable farm power to enhance farm mech.mization acdvities in a country requires minimum scale or size of farms. At present in India, small and rnarginal farmers comprise about 84o / o of cultivators and their inadequate financial strength excludes them from the fold of farm mechanization. As a ct - rnsequence, in the last decade (200f - 2010) farm po \ \ \ \ 'er groudr rate recorded 2.0o / o of CAGR, u.hich is less than half of the lonq term mean grourdr rate. To deal u'id - r a huge chunk of such small land holders and to increase farm mechanization in the countr \ \ ,, a cautious approach is essential in selection of appropriate implernents and machinerv technologies needed and transter of technologies at lorv cost. In this paper some such technologies usetul to small farms and its transfer issues are briefly described. ; Not Available

Not Available ; This document has been contributed by a group of social scientists and ARD stakeholders, committed to facilitate the GCARD consultation so that it is inclusive of the opinion of all ARD Stakeholders in contributing to increasing net incomes, purchasing power, livelihoods and sustainability of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities in the developing countries. Of the 3 billion people that live in rural areas (nearly half of the humanity), about 2.5 billion are involved in agriculture and 1.5 billion (half of the rural area population) are resource-poor small holders. These resource-poor smallholder farmers and producers concentrated in the rural areas and mountains make up the majority (85%) of farmers in the developing world. They are among the poorest group of farmers and thus become important in the context of eliminating poverty and hunger from the developing world. The Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) 2010, to be held in Montpellier, France from 28-31 March 2010, should use this paper as the basis to develop an action plan and strategy for improving agricultural research globally in order to make maximum impact on development, especially for the poor small producers. This paper provides an opportunity to all the stakeholders of AR4D to discuss and decide the world agenda for AR4D. Considering the importance of poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing world, there is a need to utilize this opportunity to change the world agenda for AR4D so that livelihoods and wellbeing of the resource-poor smallholder farmers/producers in the developing countries could be improved. This document, which has suggestions on how the Action Plan could be developed and approved at GCARD also briefly discusses how GFAR and CGIAR could help improve the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers in the developing world. The document discusses the importance, situation of the smallholder farmers in the developing world, and emphasizes the urgent need for action to meet the need based funding, AR4D, extension, etc., to ensure they are enabled to harvest crops of all seasons. It discusses the challenges that have been identified in different regions of the developing world through the GCARD consultation process, which include: (i) Food, nutrition and health security, (ii) Increasing the net incomes and purchasing power and improving livelihoods, (iii) Protecting the environment, (iv) Achieving structural reforms of the agricultural research (AR), education and extension systems, (v) Meeting the special challenges, and (vi) Making ARSs inclusive and follow a bottom up approach. In addition, it takes into consideration the exchanges of the E conference and the F2F, both an important part of the GCARD consultation process. 3 Among the suggestions for the Action Plan, the document lays emphasis that the AR4D should focus on the smallholder farmers' development needs. Actions for different priority areas of research identified during the GCARD process in different regions are suggested. These include suggestions for: (1) Action for Institutional Issues: Action research, education, extension and linkages and collaboration; (2) Action Research for Development Issues: Improved technology for sustainable production (livestock research including rangelands, horticulture, seed systems, water resources and irrigation management, forestry, fisheries mountain agriculture); (3) Effecting Necessary Policy Shifts: Agricultural development policies, and marketing of agricultural produce/ products; (4) Environment Protection Issues: Reduce agriculture's large environmental footprint and overcome the challenge of climate change, and protecting biodiversity degradation; (5) Socioeconomic Issues: Gender/women-related issues, and livelihoods and poverty analysis. The document also briefly discusses importance of development pathways and how the developing countries could use them for the priority areas of AR4D. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to fulfill the requirements for agricultural development. It should be emphasized that the five regions in the developing world have good potential for AR4D in the immediate future. Considering the present state of affairs, the regions could either become self-sufficient and meet their nutrition, health and food needs, or become a potential hot spot for poverty because of: (i) shortage of irrigated land, (ii) shortage of water, (iii) adverse effects of agro-chemicals used on their land and thus the proportionate increased need of water each year and contaminating subsoil water, (iv) increasing population, (v) shortage of safe nutritious and quality food, (vi) climate change and desertification, and (vii) isolation of the world community by the net producers (Australia, Canada, and the USA). Therefore, the issues that are of immediate and vital importance include: (i) Strengthening of the existing potential for knowledge creation, (ii) Strengthening knowledge transfer mechanisms, (iii) Developing collaboration, partnerships and linkages among different stakeholders of AR4D at the national, sub-region, regional and the global levels, and (iv) Focus on the development of poor smallholder farmers and producers in rural and mountainous areas of the developing countries. Considering the above and the potential that all five regions of the developing countries have, it is important that the governments make the required investments in and provide the required support to agriculture and AR4D to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers and their communities, which in turn would meet the MDGs. Likewise, the international research and development organizations (CGIAR, FAO, etc.), the regional and international development organizations (IFAD, etc.) and banks (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, etc.) must come forward to help the regions to ensure the needed funds for agriculture and AR4D, with the specific undertaking that these be used to meet the needs of the poor smallholder farmers and producers. The smallholder farmers/producers have been ignored for a long time, and let us at this stage commit ourselves to help them to overcome their difficulties and improve their livelihoods. ; Not Available

Not Available ; The challenges of technology upscaling Returns from agricultural research are realized only when improved technologies are adopted by the farmers. There are numerous examples of excellent technologies that work well at the research farms, on farmers' fields, or in a whole village but fail to move beyond. For successful upscaling, besides technology it self, large number of other factors like farmers' resources, land holding, market prices, institutional support and Government policies come into play. Technologies related to improved seed, agro-chemicals, machinery and irrigation are adopted more quickly, but natural resource management practices like soil and water management, cropping systems and any integrated crop management practicies are more difficult to be upscaled. As we move into the 21st century, the sustainability of agriculture depends on how we manage our natural resources efficiently. Though it is challenging, we need to devise ways and means of upscaling the system based technologies. Innovations in technology transfer through working with communities is one of the approaches to overcome this problem. Under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), CRIDA has attempted technology upscaling in 8 village clusters of Andhra Pradesh in the livelihood security project. Our experience so far indicates that for successful upscaling of system based technologies, it is important to pay attention to village level institutions and support systems in addition to the technology itself. For example, CRIDA has successfully implemented ground water sharing innovation in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh where by building necessary institutional mechanism, the cropping intensity was increased, water productivity enhanced and fallow lands brought under cultivation. Like-wise, several other innovations were introduced for upscaling technologies related to varietal adoption, farm machinery and livestock production. We need to mainstream such approaches into our formal research system. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture CRIDA - News Letter 2 NEW RESEARCH INITIATIVES RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Trend of solar radiation during southwest monsoon season Solar Radiation over Indo-Gangetic Plains Solar radiation is one of the most important factors affecting crop environment. It provides energy for photosynthesis. There are reports that global dimming, which refers to the reduction in solar radiation is also taking place along with global warming. A study was carried out on the solar radiation trends in IndoGangetic plains during 1970-2009. It showed significant declining trend during summer, northeast monsoon and winter seasons. It may be due to increasing aerosol content in the atmosphere. The presence of high concentration of aerosols may trim down incoming solar radiation (Solar dimming) which in turn reduces photosynthesis and thus crop production. Further, studies are required to clearly understand its impact on crop yields and initiate efforts to reduce atmospheric aerosol concentration by reducing pollution. VUM Rao & AVM Subba Rao National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture ICAR has initiated a new scheme, National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) which is approved by the Cabinet on 15 December, 2010 with an outlay Rs.200 crores for 2010-11 and 150 crores for 2011-12. This scheme has three components, i.e. (i) strategic research on adaptation and mitigation on important grain and horticulture crops critical for food security, livestock and fisheries, (ii) technology demonstration in 100 most vulnerable districts on best bet practices to cope with current climate variability and (iii) capacity building of different stakeholders (scientists, policy makers, extension staff and farmers) on climate change. The distinctive features of the scheme are: • Critical assessment of different crops/zones in the country for vulnerability to climatic stresses and extreme events, in particular, intra seasonal variability of rainfall. • Installation of the state-of-the-art equipment like flux towers for measurement of green house gases in large field areas to understand the impact of management practices on emissions. • Rapid and large scale screening of crop germplasm including wild relatives for drought and heat tolerance through phenomics platforms for quick identification of promising lines and early development and release of heat/drought tolerant varieties. • Comprehensive field evaluation of new and emerging approaches of paddy cultivation like aerobic rice and SRI for their contribution to reduce the GHG emissions and water saving. • Special attention to livestock and fishery sectors including aquaculture which have not received enough attention in climate change research in the past. • Thorough understanding of crop-pest/pathogen relationship and emergence of new biotypes due to climate change. • Simultaneous up scaling of the outputs both through KVKs and the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture for wider adoption by the farmers. The Scheme will be implemented for the remaining two years of XI Plan involving seven key Institutes as major partners and collaborating with 14 other Institutes of ICAR for strategic research on climate resilience. Simultaneously, demonstration of the existing technologies to cope with current climate variability will be undertaken in 100 districts through KVKs. This programme will be coordinated by CRIDA, Hyderabad ; Not Available

Not Available ; Droughts are manifestations of significant shortages in all domains of the water cycle. They have adverse impacts on the environment, water availability and water quality, water supply system, hydropower generation, navigation, groundwater balances, vegetation cover, agricultural production, etc. of the affected region. Drought is a regular part of natural cycles and single-most weather related natural disaster affecting livelihoods, developmental activities, natural resources (water, soil, and biodiversity) and economy of a country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought). Although droughts may persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and severely affect local economy. This global phenomenon has a widespread impact on agriculture. Indeed drought is one of the most serious problems arising from climate variability for human societies and ecosystems (Yurekli and Kurune, 2006). The occurrence of droughts is not limited to a particular region. It has been observed that their impact has been completely different in developed and developing nations because of several socio-economic and political factors influencing both behavioral and management patterns. Even within the developing countries, the effects of droughts can vary significantly, but the fact remains that the economically weaker countries or groups in a country are most severely affected by the droughts. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Covering 58% of the net sown area, rainfed farming forms an important component of Indian agriculture. It has been receiving high priority by the Government of India both for research and development over the years. However, considering the large areas with high yield gaps, there is significant scope to enhance the contribution of rainfed agriculture to the Indian food basket. Feed and fodder production to support livestock is yet another important contribution of rainfed agriculture. ; Not Available

Not Available ; Covering 58% of the net sown area, rainfed farming forms an important component of Indian agriculture. It has been receiving high priority by the Government of India both for research and development over the years. However, considering the large areas with high yield gaps, there is significant scope to enhance the contribution of rainfed agriculture to the Indian food basket. Feed and fodder production to support livestock is yet another important contribution of rainfed agriculture ; Not Available

Not Available ; In Peninsular India community tank systems are integral part of rural livelihoods for centuries. The interactions between human, land and water are highest in tanks and provides highest productivity both in agriculture and ecosystem uses. Tanks have multiple functions and several outputs like food (fish), fodder (tank bed) and fuel (bushes), ecosystem services like biodiversity (flora, fauna, avian), groundwater recharge and supporting services like washing, bathing, retting, etc. Tanks serve as a common pool resource and have various stakeholders ranging from government agencies, local panchayat, farmers, rural rich and poor. The breakdown of traditional system has resulted in encroachment, siltation, weed growth and poor inflows. Over exploitation of groundwater through bore wells have made these water bodies as a neglected entity, truly as "tragedy of commons". Poor management practices of catchment have resulted in silting of most of these water bodies and significant reduction of storage capacity. Silt deposit has not only reduced the storage capacity but also groundwater recharge, eutrophication of tanks and most importantly higher release of carbon to atmosphere through silt mediated anaerobic decomposition of organic carbon. Good practices such as desilting and application of silt to agricultural fields have been abandoned. Continued mining by crops and reduced application of organic manures has resulted in deficiency of several nutrients particularly that of micronutrients. Recycling of tank silt provides a win-win situation to both, improvement in soil health and renovation of the tank. ; Not Available

Not Available ; The newly formed State of Andhra Pradesh with reduced area and population is the result of bifurcation of comprehensive and combined State of Andhra Pradesh which continued its existence for more than 60 years since 1st November 1956 based on the recommendation of the States' Reorganisation Commission, Government of India. The first linguistic State of Andhra was formed in April 1953, separating from former Madras State and the present Tamil Nadu. Andhra State and Hyderabad State were united, as both are Telugu speaking States, on 1st November 1956, and named as Andhra Pradesh. The combined state grew on sound lines but bifurcated, irrationally, hurriedly, by passing A.P. Reorganisation Act, 2014, following unsound, whimsical policies without providing for basic capital city, institutions and infrastructure. The new State of Andhra Pradesh came into being from 2 nd June 2014, with governing facility for ten years from Hyderabad city. However, the dynamic and visionary Chief Minister shifted the government to the newly constructed temporary buildings in Amaravathi on 2nd November 2016 with moving all the departments into Secretariat at Amaravathi, leaving skeleton staff at Hyderabad to meet the requirements of legal and Governance activities. Daringly meeting all the difficulties, with minimum support from Central Government, the State Government of Andhra Pradesh made sincere and genuine efforts to overcome the difficulties, converting the crisis into an opportunity to grow and develop on sound lines. With this braveness the government laid solid foundation for "Sunrise Andhra Pradesh". The reconstruction is planned to promote inclusive growth and balanced development, taking into confidence of and cooperation with all the stakeholders in the development process, of high magnitu ; Not Available

Not Available ; The recent increase in the number of publications, debates and public discourse about the displacement of people caused by environmental changes can be reasonably attributed to the alarming intensity of the situation. In the near future, the proliferation of environmentally forced migrants (EM) is expected to create tremendous socio-economic and political problems. In spite of the immensity of the problem, no official definition of this class of migrants has been established and no policy measures are adopted at the national and international level1 . The absence of any real effort to define the status of environmental migrants is often linked to the deliberate effort not to include them in the class of (political) refugees and consequently grant them the protection provided by the Geneva Convention (Kibreab, 1997). Thus, the effort of the advocates of an ad hoc policy for the EM amounts to persuading the political community that those migrants should also be considered as persecuted (Myers, 1997, Conisbee and Simms,, 2003).This reasoning has found support in the prevailing political tendency to limit immigration flows. Another explanation given to this 'agenda denial' (Cobb and Ross, 1997) is related to the uncertainty of the phenomenon. All figures advanced on the displacement of millions of people cover periods as distant as 2025 or 2050 (Myers 2002). Many scholars remain sceptical and contest those numbers (Castles 2002, Black 2001). They emphasise the absence of certainty about these apocalyptic scenarios and ask for more analysis of the complex factors behind them. Governments hesitate to engage in policy action in a context of uncertain long-term impacts. In response to this situation, more case studies are requested in order to prove the necessity for further consideration. However, the advocates of the asylum regime and the uncertainty of the future are not the only reasons for the difficulties in this agenda-setting process. A further explanation of failure appears to be much more complex and largely related to the specificity of the issue which involves different policy sectors. Each one 1 In order not to create confusion with traditional refugees, I use the terms environmental (forced) migrant and environmentally displaced persons. ENVIRONMENT, FORCED MIGRATION AND SOCIAL VULNERABILITY Chapter 2 2 of these sectors has its own rationality and its policy goals and priorities. Therefore, a compromise on problem definition and policy content becomes particularly difficult2 . The first part of this contribution seeks to present the complex process of public problem definition. The second part proposes an analysis of the constraints imposed by the multi-sectoral aspect of the issue. The third part discusses the recent evolution of the international debate that restrictively defines the environmental migrant as a climate migrant. We suggest that this effort to define the identity of those who need protection paradoxically leads to postponement of any attempt to officially recognise environmentally displaced persons as an autonomous public problem and to propose specific policy measures. The final section breaks with the globalising and the restrictive definitional strategies outlined in the previous parts. It suggests a more pragmatic approach consisting of the use of present policy instruments in order to give different policy sectors the possibility to help environmentally vulnerable populations. This could be a first stage for further negotiations for a more integrated approach in the future. ; Not Available