Weather variability remains one of the biggest challenges facing Indian agriculture, with small and marginal farmers particularly vulnerable due to their limited ability to absorb production and income shocks. The prospect of El Niño conditions and below-normal rainfall, especially in rainfed regions, warrants close monitoring, says Simon Wiebusch, CEO of Bayer’s Crop Science Division for India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Indian agriculture, however, is better equipped to deal with climate-related risks than it was a decade ago, says Wiebusch in an interview with The Economic Times Digital . The farmers are increasingly acknowledging climate volatility as a long-term challenge, leading to greater adoption of climate-smart farming practices, efficient water management, and technologies designed to mitigate risk, he says.
