Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
genetics and agronomic management of major food crops.
Much of what is known about the process of technologi-
cal innovation in agriculture has yet to be captured in the
discussions of climate change adaptation. The develop-
ment of technological solutions to minimise risks of cur-
rent climate can lead to two possible outcomes: increase
in agricultural productivity and insights about adaptation
to future climate change. Research efforts about the role
of technological change, driven by climatic constraints,
are pivotal in making any assertion about the likely adap-
tation of agriculture to climate change.
11.1
Introduction
Despite the evidence that technological innovation has been
fundamental to growth and development of agriculture around
the world, there is a dearth of research on the role of climate as
a stimulus for innovation of technologies. It has been argued
that lessons about climate adaptation come from our ability to
understand the process of the existing technological innova-
tion and its role in enabling farmers to cope with climatic chal-
lenges. Observing India's district-level time-series data over
12 years, I study the extent to which technological innovations
have provided farmers with options to substitute for climate
deficiencies to stabilise and enhance rice (
Oryza sativa
L.) pro -
ductivity in regions with a sub-optimal climate. Drawing upon
the hypothesis of induced innovation, which states that the
direction of technological innovation in agriculture is induced
by differences in relative resource endowments, my goal is to
investigate whether spatial variations in climatic resources
prompted the development of location-specific technologies
that substituted for climatic limitations in the rice-based crop-
ping system of India.
The main thrust of this study is to investigate if climatic lim-
itations have been factored into the research and development
of agricultural technologies, so that rice yields of climatically
constrained regions could be sustained through innovations,
thereby ensuring productivity convergence across India.
Insights from this research will provide informed choices about
the possible adaptation strategies that could be considered to
ensure food security in the face of deleterious climate change.
Easterling (1996) suggests that one way to draw insights about
the adaptation of the agricultural system to a changing cli-
mate is the use of retrospective analysis to understand how
