Hyderabad, June 11 (IANS) National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) on Tuesday said it has launched an initiative to improve the adaptive capacity of the rural poor engaged in farm-based livelihoods to cope with climate change.

The inititative 'Sustainable Livelihoods and Adaptation to Climate Change (SLACC)' was launched on Friday.

NIRDPR is an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

It seeks to establish a large-scale proof of concept on integrating community-based climate change planning and adaptation by working with climate-smart Community Resource Persons (CRPs) and National Resource Persons (NRPs), according to a statement.

Under the initiative, a cadre of 200 'Climate Smart Community Resource Persons' and over 100 young professionals will be trained, who will be expected to disseminate the practice of sustainable livelihoods through adaptation to climate change.

As many as 638 villages in Mandla and Sheopur districts of Madhya Pradesh, and Gaya and Madhubani districts of Bihar under National Rural Livelihoods Mission have been brought under the initiative's coverage. These districts are either drought- prone or flood prone.

"The cadre will further disseminate the climate resilient technologies to the farming communities in their respective allocated villages," reads the statement.

NIRDPR Director-General W.R. Reddy said climate change was a new and significant challenge to the disadvantaged population as it could affect the yield and income of small and marginal farmers, especially in the rainfed areas.

"Altogether 23 technology interventions are prioritized for farm level activities for climate resilience. They aim to reduce the cost of cultivation, improve yield and income, profitability, empower women and generate employment," the statement quoted by Reddy said.

--IANS spk/prs