India, May 19 -- Agriculture is both a victim of climate change and a contributor to it. In India, the sector accounts for 16 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions, much of it stemming from the input-intensive rice-wheat systems, promoted after the Green Revolution in the 1960s. Excessive use of nitrogen fertiliser is a chief culprit: estimates show that three-quarters of nitrogen-related emissions originate in agriculture, largely in the form of nitrous oxide (N2O), released through denitrification of applied fertilisers. Flooded paddy fields emit methane, another greenhouse gas. Such cereal-based monocropping also imposes a heavy environ mental toll, degrading soil health, depleting groundwater, polluting ecosystems and eroding...