Managing India's small landholder farms for food security and achieving the "4 per Thousand" target

Abstract

The "4 per Thousand" initiative was launched at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) in December 2015 to address global climate change through the aspirational goal of increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stock of the world to 40-cm depth by an average annual rate of 4%. Small landholders (SLHs), often faced with difficult bio-physical and socio-economic conditions, are the principal managers of soil in India. There are 117 million SLHs representing 85% of the total operational holdings, cultivating over 72 million ha of land, and meeting 50-60% of India's food requirement. The agricultural soils of SLHs are strongly depleted of SOC and nutrient reserves. Therefore, the challenge of feeding 1.7 billion people in India by 2050 will depend on increasing the current productivity levels by restoring the depleted soils of SLHs. According to our estimates, soils of SLHs currently contain 1370-1770 Tg C and, which can be increased to 2460-2650 Tg C by 2050 through large-scale adoption of best management practices (BMPs) including balanced application of nutrients, compost, agroforestry, and conservation agriculture. A wide spread adoption of these practices can enhance C sequestration by 70-130 Tg CO₂e per annum and produce 410-440 million Mg of food grains accounting for 80-85% of the total requirement by 2050. In this paper we propose strategies for achieving the dual objectives of advancing food security, the "4 per Thousand" target and mitigating climate change in India.

Keywords: Best management practices; Inequality; Social exclusion; Soil health.