Climate-smart agronomic practices for enhancing crop productivity and resilience in Indian agriculture: A review

Introduction

Climatic variability is a significant challenge for agriculture, as crop growth and yield is climatedependent. Climate change has become a serious concern around the world, not only for agricultural systems and food security, but also for livelihoods. The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2021) [10] indicates that extreme events like droughts, floods and heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense, affecting production and sustainability, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. The Indian agriculture is very vulnerable because it is monsoonal and smallholder dominated with large rain fed agriculture areas. A significant number of districts are classified as being in moderate to very high vulnerability, meaning that they are at high risk of climatic impacts and have low adaptive capacity (ICAR 2024). This vulnerability is compounded by socio-economic factors and access to climate resilient technologies. The effects of climate change are already affecting crop productivity in India. Increased temperatures, changed precipitation and extreme events have a negative impact on key crops, including rice, wheat and oilseeds. Rice yields are affected by temperature and rainfall variability, and wheat yield potential is lowered by terminal heat stress affected especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (Galle et al., 2025) [8] . Climate change also puts greater strain on the natural resources, due to increased soil erosion, depletion of groundwater, and decreased input-use efficiency (Lal, 2020) [12] . Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach to mitigate the impacts of climate change and food security, such as improving productivity, resilience and emission reduction (FAO 2013) [7] . Climate-smart agronomic practices such as diversification, conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient management, efficient water management, climate-resilient varieties, agroforestry, and precision agriculture improve productivity, stabilize yields, and reduce production risks (Samuel et al., 2024) [18] . Despite growing research, a comprehensive synthesis of climate-smart agronomic practices and their effectiveness in Indian agriculture remains limited. This review aims to examine climate-smart agronomic practices and their role in enhancing productivity, resource-use efficiency, and resilience under climate variability.

Climate Change and Indian Agriculture

Indian agriculture is highly sensitive to climatic variability due to its dependence on monsoon rainfall, temperature, and natural resources. The dominance of small and marginal farmers further heightens. Climate change is already affecting productivity through rising temperatures, altered precipitation, and increased extreme events (Birthal et al., 2023) [4] . Rising temperature adversely affects crop productivity by disrupting key physiological processes such as flowering and grain filling. Climate warming, causes yield losses in the major cereal systems, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plains where crop production is already constrained by thermal limits (Aryal et al., 2022) [2] . Variability of rainfall makes people more vulnerable, the onset, distribution and intensity of the monsoon has become unpredictable. This interferes with sowing, crop establishment in rainfed systems (Chand et al., 2022) [5] . Heatwaves, unseasonal rainfall, floods, cyclones and other such extreme events damage crops in an instant, resulting in loss of crop output and economic instability. The events increase production risk and uncertainty (Malhi et al., 2023) [14] . Climate change aggravates resource constraints by accelerating soil degradation, groundwater depletion, and inefficient input use. These factors reduce the resilience of farming systems, particularly in intensively cultivated regions (Mukherjee et al., 2023) [16] . Climate impacts vary across agro-ecological and socio-economic contexts. Rainfed, semi-arid, and resource-poor regions are more vulnerable due to limited access to irrigation and climate-resilient technologies. Spatial variability in vulnerability highlights the need for region-specific adaptation strategies (Kumar et al., 2024). Climate change poses a multidimensional challenge to Indian agriculture, affecting productivity, resource sustainability, and livelihoods. Increasing climatic uncertainty necessitates resilient and resource-efficient systems. In this context, climate-smart agriculture offers a scientifically grounded approach integrating productivity, adaptation, and mitigation, as discussed in the next section.

Climate -Smart Agriculture: Concept and Principles

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an integrated approach that addresses food security and climate change simultaneously.

Promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization, is based on three core objectives: -• sustainable enhancement of agricultural productivity and farm income, • strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climatic stresses, • reducing greenhouse gas emissions and where possible (FAO 2013) [7] .

CSA emphasizes resource-use efficiency, diversification, and risk management, unlike input intensive conventional approaches. It is a flexible framework integrating agronomic practices, improved crop varieties, and institutional support suited to agro-ecological conditions. CSA interventions can improve productivity and system stability by 15-30% under climate variability, particularly in smallholder systems (Zougmore et al., 2023) [25] . The productivity pillar focuses on efficient use of water, nutrients, and energy while maintaining soil health. The adaptation pillar enhances resilience to drought, heat stress, and rainfall variability. The mitigation pillar aims to reduce emissions and enhance carbon sequestration through practices such as conservation agriculture and agroforestry. CSA is highly relevant in India due to monsoon dependence, diverse agro-ecologies, and smallholder dominance. Its contribution to yield stability, resource-use efficiency and resilience is exemplified in the initiatives like National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). CSA is knowledgeintensive and location-specific and demands the integration of traditional knowledge, scientific innovations and policies.

Effective implementation depends on strong extension systems, climate information, and institutional support. Overall, CSA provides an integrated framework linking productivity, adaptation, and mitigation, forming the basis for climate smart agronomic practices discussed in the next section.

Climate -Smart Agronomic Practices

Agronomic management and strategic decision-making are central to improving crop productivity and resilience under climatic variability. These practices improve resource-use efficiency, maintain soil health, and reduce production risks through integrated, location specific approaches. Evidence from South Asia indicates that such interventions can increase farm productivity by 15-30% while reducing yield variability under climate stress (Aryal et al., 2022) [2] . [4] . Diversification towards pulses and oilseeds further improves income stability and reduces climate risk in rainfed systems.

Conservation Agriculture

Conservation agriculture (CA), based on minimum soil disturbance, residue retention, and crop diversification, enhances soil moisture retention and carbon sequestration. In the Indo-Gangetic Plains, zero tillage increases yields by 4-10% and reduces irrigation demand by 15-20% (Jat et al., 2023) [11] .

Residue retention enhances soil organic carbon by 0.2-0.4 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, improving water-use efficiency and drought tolerance (Powlson et al., 2022) [17] . INM integrates inorganic fertilizers, organic manures, and biofertilizers to enhance soil fertility and nutrient-use efficiency.

Studies across Indian agro-ecologies show yield increases of up to 20% along with increases in soil organic carbon and microbial activity compared to sole chemical fertilization (Mahajan et al., 2023) [13] . In mustard systems, Sulphur and organic inputs improve yield, oil content, nutrient uptake, and soil moisture retention under stress.

Water-Smart Management Practices

Efficient water management is critical under climate variability.

Methods of water management like drip irrigation, mulching and rainwater harvesting bring better water-use efficiency and stability of production. Micro-irrigation contributes to 35-50% higher water productivity and 20-35% higher yield (Kumar et al., 2023) and mulching helps in retaining moisture during dry conditions, which is 20-30% less evaporation loss.

Climate-Resilient Crop Varieties

Development of stress-tolerant crop varieties is crucial in preserving productivity under climatic stress. These varieties are more drought, heat and salt tolerant. Research has shown that they can improve yield stability in at-risk areas by reducing yield losses under stress conditions, which can be 10-25% (Cairns et al., 2022).

Agroforestry Systems

Agroforestry makes it more resistant by enriching the soil, storing carbon and regulating the microclimate in combination with crops. Agroforestry systems can boost farm value by 20-40%, and store 0.5-2Mg ha -1 yr-1 of carbon, helping with adaptation and mitigation (Dhyani et al., 2023) [6] .

Precision Agriculture and Digital Technologies

Site-specific input management through tools like remote sensing and decision-support systems is facilitated by precision agriculture. The efficiency of input use is enhanced by 20-30% through precision nutrient management and by 8-15% through production improvement (Zhang et al., 2023) [23] . Weather-based advisory systems also contribute to adaptive capacity by helping to inform timely decision-making.

Impacts on Productivity And Resilience

Agronomic practices that are climate-smart improve resourceuse efficiency, boost soil health, and make farming less vulnerable to climatic stresses, thereby increasing crop productivity and sustainability under climate change.

Influence on Crop Productivity

Climate smart practices help to enhance yield and system efficiency. Optimization of input use and improvement of the nutrient-use efficiency using integrated approaches to nutrient management, conservation agriculture and precision farming. Depending on the crop and environment, these interventions can boost crop yields by 10-30% (Aggarwal et al., 2023) [3] . Conservation agriculture can help farmers boost productivity by 4-10%, while cutting production costs in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The implementation of micro-irrigation yields better water productivity and increase yields by 20-35%. Precision nutrient management can boost the efficiency of fertilizer use by 20-30%, which can lead to increased productivity and reduced fertilizer input costs (Jat et al., 2023) [11] .

Effect on Climate Resilience

Climate-smart practices enhance resilience through increasing farming systems' resistance to climate variability. Better soil structure, more organic matter and improved moisture holding capacity increase water and nutrient supply. With mulching and conservation tillage, the moisture holding capacity of the soil is raised by 15-25%, and the incidence of dry spells is decreased (Thierfelder C et al., 2022) [20] . By diversifying crop production, crop diversification decreases the risk of crop production. Stresstolerant varieties can save 10-25% production loss under Drought and heat stress conditions (Prasanna et al., 2023) and agroforestry is helpful in providing extra income and regulating microclimate.

Integrated Impact on Productivity and Stability

Climate-smart agriculture does not only increase productivity, but also resilience. CSA is a long-term approach that encourages sustainability and stability, as opposed to short-term yield optimization. Farms using several of one or more CSA practices experience reduced yield variability and increased income stability compared to conventional farms (Thornton et al., 2023) [21] , particularly for smallholder farmers in India. [18] . Economic considerations also influence adoption, with some CSA interventions, like precision irrigation or climate-resilient crop varieties, and soil health management practices, for example, necessitating significant start-up costs. Financial and credit access is limited and disproportionately affects resource-poor farmers, thus limiting large-scale implementation (Villalba et al., 2024) [22] . Agriculture extension system is also weak and this severely restricts effective dissemination. The efficiency of the technology uptake of CSA is limited by poor field demonstrations, low-capacity building initiatives, and poor farmer-scientist linkages. Also, the agro-climatic diversity makes it difficult to scale up CSA practices, since their success in the various regions varies according to soil types, rainfall patterns, and cropping systems (Mohapatra et al., 2023) [15] . Other institutional and policy gaps hinder adoption. Weak incentive mechanisms, limited access to carbon markets, low penetration of crop insurance, and inadequate support mechanisms mean that farmers' willingness to adopt CSA technologies is low (IPCC 2022). Most importantly, recent studies indicate that the CSA rollout in India is not uniform and complete across all regions, necessitating integrated frameworks, location-specific approaches, and scalable solutions (Ajatasatru et al., 2024) [1] .

Future Prospects

Carbon markets and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) are enabling payment incentives for farmers to reduce their emissions from agriculture, thus contributing to the speed of CSA uptake (Villalba et al., 2024) [22] . Enhancing institutional and policy frameworks (e.g. climate-based crop insurance, targeted subsidies and promoting low carbon agricultural systems) will be crucial to boost the adoption and resilience. What's more, capacity-building and participatory extension methods such as farmer field schools, digital advisory systems, and mobile weather prediction systems are good enough to fill knowledge gaps at the grassroots level (Samuel et al., 2024) [18] . The adoption of technological innovations alongside robust institutional engagement and geographical adaptation will be key to scaling up CSA effectively in India, from a strategic perspective. Overall, CSA is projected to be an important method to achieve food security, climate resilience, and GHG mitigation, especially in climate-vulnerable areas like South Asia, and will be vital to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2 and 13).

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) provides a holistic strategy to tackle the challenge of food security in order to build climate resilience and lower greenhouse gas emissions by the sustainable management of climatic resources. However, its widespread adoption is limited by lack of awareness, low extension services, financial constraints, agro-ecological diversity and lack of policy support, especially for smallholder farmers in less-developed countries such as India.

Conclusion

However, the opportunities to increase CSA adoption and effectiveness are high due to the development of digital agriculture technologies, climate resilient crop varieties and better agronomic practices. Actions to enhance institutional systems, increase climate financing, and strengthen extension systems will play a major role in scaling up the implementation of CSA. In sum, CSA offers a strategic approach to sustainable agricultural transformation and will play an important role in future food security, climate change resilience, and sustainability.

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