NEW DELHI: The Union Government on Monday announced that India has successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture over the past two decades, even as food production has risen significantly.
Greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector have progressively decreased, falling from 23% of total emissions in 2000 to 18% in 2010, and further to 13.44% in 2019. During this period, India’s food production surged by over 64%.
In 2000, India’s total food production was approximately 200 million metric tonnes (MMT), increasing to 329 MMT by 2023.
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh stated that, according to the Third National Communication (TNC) report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2023, emissions from the agriculture sector in 2019 were 420.97 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
“Despite the increase in agricultural production, the share of emissions from the agriculture sector has decreased progressively, from 23% in 2000 to 18% in 2010, and to 13.44% of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2019,” Singh said in response to a question from Member of Parliament Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
In 2019, food grains such as rice, wheat, pulses, and coarse cereals were cultivated on 65% of the total harvested area in the country. The greenhouse gas emissions from these crops are primarily methane from rice cultivation and nitrous oxide from fertilizer use.