At a seminar on "Climate is changing: Food and agriculture must too", the experts said small farmers are largely affected by natural disasters like flood and drought. "Around 60% of the chronically hungry people in the world are women as per Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations," the experts said at the seminar which was organised by Bihar State Productivity Council (BSPC) to mark World Food Day on Sunday. Over 100 participants participated in the seminar, held on the campus of Bihar Industries Association.

President of BSPC Sudhir Kumar Singh said climate change has also threatened the stability of food prices. "Variable temperatures threaten the stability of food prices. It may also result in significant decline in production of major crops, such as maize, wheat, rice and soybean. Innovation in the agricultural sector can go a long way in mitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture," Singh said.

Ranjit Kumar Das, chief general manager of Nabard, said the organisation was working towards farm mechanization and empowering self-help groups to mitigate the effects of climate change. "To minimize the pressure on traditional crops, there should be a shift in dietary habits in India as it has happened in south-east Asian countries," Das added.

Dr Pradhan ParthSarthi, associate professor, Central University of South Bihar, rued government's failure to record environmental changes. "There should accurate mapping of the daily changes. Automatic weather stations (AWS) are operational in very few of the 38 districts in Bihar," he said, adding that AWS records temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind directions, sunshine, rainfall and evaporation. "Erratic uploading of information should be avoided. A dense network of AWS should be created and linked to weather-based crop insurance scheme and National Agriculture Insurance Scheme. Solar and wind power systems should be promoted to minimize the effects of climate change," he added.

SomnathBandyopadhyay, associate professor, School of Ecology and Environment Studies, Nalanda University, claimed that despite having the best alluvial soil, Bihar is lagging behind other states in terms of agricultural productivity. "A change in the climatic condition further exacerbates the condition of farmers who hardly have the expertise of modern methods of farming. The farmers should be trained in modern ways of farming to maximize yield," he added.