Economy-wide impact of climate smart agriculture in India: a SAM framework

In the context of climate change, the Indian agricultural sector treads in a certain duality between promoting food security in response to the increasing population, but at the same time in ensuring environmental sustainability, and sustained economic growth, especially in developing countries like India. The concept of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) emerged from the recognition of this duality. Using the Indian Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) 2017–18, the economy-wide effects arising out of agricultural interventions were estimated, keeping accord with the impacts on sectoral outputs and household incomes from the adoption of varying CSA interventions such as Conservation Agriculture, System of Rice and Wheat Intensification (SRI-SWI) and Natural Farming, fitting the three-pillared criterion of CSA—(1) Productivity (2) Adaptation and (3) Mitigation. Additionally, a shift in cropping patterns from Paddy and Wheat to less emission-intensive crops was also studied. Results show that SRI-SWI provides the highest economy-wide impacts while accounting for lower GHG and water footprint. Alternative crops such as Maize, Sorghum, and Millet have minimal increase in income and output effects while having lower water and carbon intensity compared to rice and wheat. The current study would sensitize policymakers to prioritize suitable policy and institutional measures for upscaling climate smart interventions in India.