Written question asked by Virendra Sharma (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 December 2010. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

India: Agriculture

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects of climate change on (a) agriculture and (b) food security in India.

Answer: The Department for International Development (DFID) has supported a number of publicly available assessments of the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security. These are available at:"www.worlp.com"and"www.mprlp.in"Economic and population growth is increasing the demand for water, food and energy in many countries, India included. Our assessment is that climate change is compounding this and will impact on agriculture and food security in India in a number of ways. Temperature increases, unpredictable monsoons and disease could reduce agricultural productivity, which could contribute to further increases in the price of food, food insecurity and child malnutrition. The poorest people are likely to feel the hardest impacts, with women and children being most affected.

Secondary information