Aizawl: Mizoram Governor Lt. Gen (Retd.) M.M. Lakhera, PVSM, AVSM, VSM attended as the Chief Guest and inaugurated the International Convention on "Impact of Global Climate on Agriculture" held on 28th July 2010 at Russian Centre of Science and Culture, New Delhi. This Convention was jointly sponsored by Bharatiya Krishak Samaj and the Russian Centre of Science and Culture and also attended by the Charge de Affair of Russian Federation, a number of Union Ministers, a large number of Parliamentarians and a few chosen farmers from across the country.Speaking at the function, the Mizoram Governor stated that the build up of greenhouse gases anticipated environmental changes which include enhanced carbon dioxide on crop growth, increase in global temperature, water availability, climate variability, soil fertility as well as its erosion, pests and diseases and sea-level rise. Tropical developing countries are the most vulnerable to these changes, and by 2030s, a 40 cm sea-level rise would affect 55 million people in South Asia, 21 million people in South East Asia, 14 million in Africa and 3 million in the rest of the world, he added.
The Governor emphasized that farm level adjustment is needed to minimise the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture. Introduction of very early or late maturing crop varieties, changing the crop cycles, adjusting the timing of field operations, conserving soil moisture through appropriate tillage methods and water harvesting are the steps to be taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, he said. He also highlighted that genetically modified crops have their own issues- high costs and long term impacts on human health, and that traditional seeds are more preferable and their production can be increased by better means of water harvesting, soil fertility and organic fertilizers.
His Excellency also mentioned that in Mizoram, the focus is on livelihood improvement of the people without destroying the rich biodiversity. The "New Land Use Policy' is an ambitious scheme with challenges which include improvement in the prevalent shifting cultivation and improvement in the existing forest cover, which stands at 88.63% of the geographical area of the State, the highest in India, he said.