Climate change is increasingly affecting farming across India, disrupting crop cycles, reducing water availability, and putting pressure on rural livelihoods. States such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bihar face different climate risks, making it essential to promote solutions that are locally grounded and farmer-driven.
CAG, in collaboration with ASAR, the Alliance for Climate Resilient Agriculture (ACRA) brings together farmer groups, civil society organisations, research bodies, FPOs and local governments to strengthen climate resilience through agroecology. The initiative aims to create a shared platform for learning, field-level innovation and policy engagement, ensuring that communities are better prepared for climate impacts and able to adopt sustainable practices that support long-term food and livelihood security.
Farmers across India are facing increasing challenges due to climate change. Frequent floods and droughts, unpredictable rainfall, heatwaves, soil decline and falling groundwater levels are making agriculture more difficult each year. In 2024, extreme weather affected over 3.2 million hectares of crops, showing how urgent the situation has become.
Each state is affected differently.
- Kerala depends heavily on food from outside the state and is seeing major land-use changes.
- Tamil Nadu struggles with severe groundwater shortages and irregular monsoons.
- Bihar is among the most climate-vulnerable, facing floods and droughts almost every year.
- Maharashtra continues to deal with long periods of water scarcity and reduced crop productivity.
Although many organisations are working on agroecology and climate-adaptive farming on the ground, there is no common platform for these efforts to come together, share lessons or jointly influence policy.
The Alliance for Climate Resilient Agriculture (ACRA) has been formed to address this gap. It brings together farmer groups, NGOs, civil society organisations, research bodies, FPOs and local governments from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bihar. The aim is to support farmer-led, inclusive and locally suitable solutions for climate-resilient agriculture, rooted in agroecological principles.