India needs a carbon policy for agriculture

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

The UK is set to host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP26) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12 with a view to accelerating action towards the Paris Agreement’s goals. 

• India said that the focus should be on climate finance and the transfer of green technologies at a low cost.
• But the fact that 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are in India is a major cause of concern. Delhi is the world’s most polluted capital as per the World Air Quality Report, 2020.

Concerns for India

• According to the Global Carbon Atlas, India ranks third in total greenhouse gas emissions by emitting annually around 2.6 billion tonnes (Bt) CO2eq, preceded by China (10 Bt CO2eq) and the United States (5.4 Bt CO2eq), and followed by Russia (1.7Bt) and Japan (1.2 Bt). 
• Per capita emissions: Of these top five absolute emitters, the US has the highest per capita emissions (15.24 tonnes), followed by Russia (11.12 tonnes). 
  • India’s per capita emissions is just 1.8 tonnes, significantly lower than the world average of 4.4 tonnes per capita. 
• Emissions per unit of GDP: China ranks first with 0.486 kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP, which is very close to Russia at 0.411 kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP. 
  • India is slightly above the world average of 0.26 (kg per 2017 PPP $ of GDP) at 0.27 kg, while the USA is at 0.25, and Japan at 0.21. 
• India ranked seventh on the list of countries most affected due to extreme weather events, incurring losses of $69 billion (in PPP) in 2019 (Germanwatch, 2021). 
  • In our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted in 2016, India committed to “reduce emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level.”
• Sector-wise global emissions show that electricity and heat production and agriculture, forestry and other land use make up 50 per cent of the emissions. 
• Sector wise emissions in India: The largest chunk (44 per cent) belongs to the energy sector, followed by the manufacturing and construction sector (18 per cent), and agriculture, forestry and land use sectors (14 per cent), with the remaining being shared by the transport, industrial processes and waste sectors. 
  • The share of agriculture in total emissions has gradually declined from 28 per cent in 1994 to 14 per cent in 2016. 
  • However, in absolute terms, emissions from agriculture have increased to about 650 Mt CO2 in 2018, which is similar to China’s emissions from agriculture.
• Agricultural emissions in India are primarily from the livestock sector (54.6 per cent) in the form of methane emissions due to enteric fermentation and the use of nitrogenous fertilisers in agricultural soils (19 per cent) which emit nitrous oxides; 
  • Rice cultivation (17.5 per cent) in anaerobic conditions accounts for a major portion of agricultural emissions followed by livestock management (6.9 per cent) and burning of crop residues (2.1 per cent). 
  • The winter months in Delhi become a challenge as stubble burning in adjoining states and low wind speeds take the AQI beyond 300 on average, while the safe limit is below 50.
  • Agricultural soils are the largest single source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the national inventory. 
  • Almost 70 per cent of the granular fertilisers that are thrown over plants are polluting the environment and leaching into the groundwater while polluting the same. 

Way forward

• A carbon policy for agriculture must aim not only to reduce its emissions but also reward farmers through carbon credits which should be globally tradable. 
  • Develop global carbon markets: India needs to clearly spell out in its policy how it would adjust carbon credits when it sells to polluting industries abroad so that emission reductions are not double-counted in India and the country buying carbon credits.
• India needs better feeding practices for livestock with smaller numbers of cattle by raising their productivity. It has the world’s largest livestock population (537 million),
• Switching areas from rice to maize or other less water-guzzling crops. Devise a system for rewarding farmers for this switch by making corn more profitable than paddy, it can be a win-win situation. 
  • Direct seeded rice and alternative wet and dry practices can reduce the carbon footprint in rice fields.
• Opening up corn for ethanol can help not only reduce our huge dependence on crude oil imports but also reduce the carbon footprint. 
• An alternative for better and efficient fertiliser use would be to promote fertigation and subsidise soluble fertilisers. 
  • Fertigation is a method of fertilizer application in which fertilizer is incorporated within the irrigation water by the drip system. In this system, fertilizer solution is distributed evenly in irrigation. The availability of nutrients is very high therefore the efficiency is more.
• The government should incentivise and give subsidies on drips for fertigation, switching away from rice to corn or less water-intensive crops, and promoting soluble fertilisers at the same rate of subsidy as granular urea.

The Indian Express Link:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-needs-a-carbon-policy-for-agriculture-climate-change-7564364/

Question: There is an urgent need to address the rising carbon emissions from the agriculture sector in India. Elucidate.