India Needs District-Level Data for Better Climate and Food Policy

PK Mishra emphasizes the need for granular, district-level data to anticipate climate risks, optimize agricultural policy, and ensure food security, calling for the integration of administrative records and satellite information for better decisions.

Improving District-Level Data for Climate Action

India needs to strengthen the availability and use of district-level data to anticipate climate risks and make agricultural and food security policies more responsive to local conditions, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra said on Wednesday, calling for better integration of administrative records, surveys and satellite-based information. Addressing the 20th annual meeting of the Environment for Development Network at IIM Kozhikode virtually, Mishra said national and state-level data often failed to capture differences in climate risks, agricultural conditions and nutritional outcomes across regions and communities.

“National and state-level averages are important, but they do not always reveal the differences that matter on the ground,” he said, adding that data must be sufficiently detailed to capture local variations. Mishra further added that “simply more data is not enough. We must generate information that is timely, reliable, comparable and useful for decision making”. He called for integrating administrative records, surveys, satellite imagery and geospatial information, while strengthening the ability of state and district-level institutions to analyse and use such data. Mishra also cited improvements in the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey and the revamped Periodic Labour Force Survey as steps towards making official statistics more timely and comprehensive.

Global Cooperation and Agricultural Challenges

On international cooperation, Mishra said countries in the Global South faced common challenges, including climate variability, pressure on natural resources and the need to ensure food security and better nutrition. “These challenges are not confined to any one country,” he said, calling for the sharing of data, research, policy experiences and successful approaches to develop solutions suited to local conditions. He added that international research partnerships could improve climate risk assessments, strengthen analytical capacity and help identify cost-effective policy interventions.

Mishra said climate change was directly linked to economic development, agricultural productivity, water availability, food security, public health and livelihoods. Agriculture supports nearly 45 per cent of India's workforce and remains vulnerable to rising temperatures, irregular rainfall, droughts, floods and water stress.

Enhancing Nutritional Security

He said food security should go beyond ensuring adequate production of staple crops. “People must also have access to affordable, diverse and nutritious diets,” he said, noting that climate-related disruptions could affect the availability and affordability of pulses, fruits, vegetables and milk. He called for crop diversification beyond rice and wheat towards pulses, oilseeds, millets and horticulture to improve nutritional diversity, support soil health, conserve water and reduce production risks. He also stressed the need for better storage, processing, transportation and market infrastructure to reduce losses across the food value chain.

Mishra said the National Agricultural Research System released around 3,000 climate-resilient crop varieties between 2014 and 2025, while more than 50 cattle breeds and 15 buffalo breeds had been covered under conservation and genetic improvement efforts. “The objective must be to move beyond understanding what has happened towards identifying emerging trends, anticipating risks and enabling timely responses,” he said.

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