India needs 136.49 billion dollars annually to support farmers against climate change: Report

NEW DELHI: India needs $136.49 billion per year to support its smallholder farmers in mitigating the impacts of climate change, a new report by Climate Focus for the Family Farmers for Climate Action, an international agency, revealed. The analysis showed that smaller Indian farmers have been facing climate change impacts, such as reduced crop yields, increased pests and diseases, water shortages, and more frequent droughts or floods. The estimated funds can be invested in establishing early warning systems for crop safety, crop insurance, accessing climate-resilient seeds, and measures to prevent pest attacks, manage diseases, and address water shortages, all aimed at maintaining the quantity and quality of grains. The report underlined the importance of smallholders in maintaining global food supply, as they contribute 70% of global food production. For instance, small-holding Indian farmers produce the majority of rice, making the country the world's largest rice exporter. Similarly, smallholders in Vietnam produce Coffee, making Vietnam the second-largest coffee producer in the world. The report underlined that the consistent or severe impact of climate change in Asian countries, especially India, will affect the global food supply chain. One farmer dies by suicide every hour in India: Report The report further revealed that Asian farmers from Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, where the survey was conducted, spent an average of US$2,560 per hectare in 2024 on adaptation measures such as improved irrigation, soil conservation techniques and crop and livestock diversification. Meanwhile, the region-wise analysis showed that South Asias smallholder farmers require an annual investment of $150.3 bn a year to build climate resilience and adaptation. Interestingly, around 91% of the needed funds will go to India, which constitutes the worlds most significant number of small holders. However, the report accounts for small holders of land up to 10 hectares, which is in contrast with Indias standard. In India, around 88% of landholders are in the small and marginal category, with landholdings of up to 2 hectares. The investment in South Asia is needed to incentivise sustainable, resilient practices such as agroecology ($125bn), introduce early warning systems and adaptive safety nets, such as crop insurance ($23bn), and provide digital services, such as localised weather forecasts ($2bn). Contrary to the requirement, only US$0.21 billion in international public finance was targeted at small-scale family farmers in South Asia in 2021 - just 0.13% of the estimated need. Globally, Climate adaptation is severely underfunded. The UN estimates the global adaptation finance gap will be US$187 billion to US$359 billion a year by 2030. According to the report, globally, $ 443 billion a year is needed to cover the climate adaptation costs of smallholder farmers, who produce half of the worlds food calories. This is less than the US$470 billion a year in agriculture subsidies, which the UN estimates are spent on measures that fuel the climate crisis, degrade the environment and drive inequality by excluding smallholders. Climate Focus conducted the research for the Family Farmers for Climate Action a new global alliance representing 95 million small-scale producers across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific.