Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
Horticulture
The Horticultural Statistics at a Glance 2015, released by the Agriculture Ministry
showed that most horticultural crops are grown with assured irrigation and,
therefore, are more resilient to monsoon deficits. Two consecutive droughts and
freak weather in 2014 and 2015 dented India’s foodgrain production and worsened
rural distress, but the horticulture sector escaped these weather shocks and
registered record production in 2014-15. 41
Annual growth in horticulture has seen fruit production grow faster than
vegetables though the latter constitute the largest segment of this sector of
agriculture. The estimates released by the Agriculture Ministry shows that during
2016-2017, production of fruits rose to 92 million tonnes (about 2% higher than
the previous year), while vegetable production fell marginally. India is the second
largest fruit producer in the world, after China. Hence, preferment for fruit
cultivation makes better socio-economic sense in the given scenario.
The book Climate-Resilient Horticulture: Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, 2013
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recognizes the impact of climate change (occurrence of drought and floods,
change in rainfall pattern and sudden change in temperatures), that is likely
to alter the growth pattern of plant flowering, fruiting and yield and quality of
produce, besides increasing vulnerabilities to pest and diseases. Development of
high-temperature tolerant cultivars, change in production systems and use of
new tools and technology would help in adaption to climate change. The potential
of perennial fruit and plantation crops for higher carbon sequestration provides
an opportunity to be a sink for increased carbon dioxide and, additionally,
opportunity for soil carbon sequestration. 43
In India, increase in mean annual maximum temperature was 0.76°C and mean
minimum temperature was 0.22°C during the period, commencing from 1901 to
2003.. Increase in annual mean temperature was 0.49°C in the same period. In
terms of increase in temperature, the west coast of India is warmer, followed by
the Northeast India and the Western Himalayas when compared to other regions
of the country. The years 2009 and 2010 were recorded as the warmest in the
country since 1901. Increase in temperature and rainfall was noticed in the country
in tune with the global warming and climate change though spatial and seasonal
386 Annexures