According to India’s Third National Communication submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2023, around 156 districts are prone to high frequency of droughts, 91 districts prone to cyclones and 61 districts to floods, while 271 districts to rise in minimum temperatures. In this regard, recent studies suggest that without adoption of suitable climate change adaptation measures, productivity of major crops is projected to fall significantly in the coming decades. For instance, yields of rain-fed rice and wheat are projected to fall by about 20% and 19.3% respectively by 2050, as per the press release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on December 4, 2023.

In addition, India has become the most populous country in the world in 2023 with 1.43 billion people surpassing China and is expected to reach around 1.5 billion by 2030, as per the estimates of UN population Division. India needs to ensure food security of more than 17% of world’s population with about 2.4% and 4% of world’s land and water resources respectively. In this context, Adaptation Gap Report 2023 by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicates that about USD 16 billion adaptation investment in agriculture per year would prevent starvation and hunger of about 78 million people. Under such scenario, there is an urgent need to scale up finance for climate change adaptation of Indian agriculture with necessary policy measures for not only ensuring future food security but also for safeguarding the income and livelihoods of smallholder farmers.