Gujarat is the westernmost state of India, having a 1600-km-long sea coast with the Arabian Sea. It is surrounded by the mountain ranges of the Aravalli, Saputara, and Sahyadri from the northeast, east, and southeast directions. The Gulf of Khambhat separates the western peninsula (Saurashtra region) from the main land, which has alluvial soils. Kutch is the largest district, having a long stretch of desert area known as the Rann of Kutch. Climatologically, three main climatic regions exist: arid in the northwest part, dry sub-humid in the southeast part, and most of the remaining part is under a semi-arid climate. Based on rainfall, soil, and cropping patterns, Gujarat has been divided into eight agroclimatic zones, with Navsari (Zone I), Bharuch (Zone II), Anand (Zone III), S K Nagar (Zone IV), Bhachau (Zone V), Taragadia (Zone VI), Junagadh (Zone VII), and Arnej (Zone VIII) as the zonal headquarters (Fig. 1). Rainfall is highly variable in space and time, from less than 250mm in some parts of Kutch district to more than 1500mm in Valsad and Dangs districts (Pandey and Patel 2011). About 90–95 percent of rainfall is confined to a four-month period (June to September) of the SW monsoon, influenced by the monsoon currents of the Arabian Sea as well as the Bay of Bengal branches. The absence and presence of one or both causes dry spells and heavy rainfall, resulting in the simultaneous occurrence of droughts in one part of the state and floods in other parts, which makes the planner’s tasks more difficult. The soils of the Gujarat state vary in texture and structure due to variation in their origin and are mainly classified into black soils, mixed black and red soils, residual sandy soils, alluvial soils, alkaline/ saline soils, laterite soils, desert soils, etc. As a result of variations in soils and rainfall, a variety of crops are grown in the state. Paddy, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum are the principal cereal crops, while groundnut, castor, sesame, and mustard are the oilseed crops. Invited Articles (Silver Jublee Publication) Journal of Agrometeorology ISSN : 0972-1665 (print), 2583-2980 (online) Vol. No. 25 (2) : 224 - 238 (June- 2023) DOI : https://doi.org/10.54386/jam.v25i2.2151 https://journal.agrimetassociation.org/index.php/jam Gujarat, being a coastal state, is likely to be impacted by global warming and climate change not only due to sea level rise and salinity ingress but also due to an increase in the frequency of cyclonic storms and other extreme weather events, causing uncertainty in crop production. An attempt has therefore been made to understand the climate of Gujarat in the past, present, and future based on the works done at the Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Anand. Analysis carried out on climatic trends and climatic extremes using past available data from different stations in Gujarat has been highlighted. Crop simulation models validated with experimental data collected for different crops across Gujarat state were used to understand the response of crops to climatic variability. The climate change impact studies and adaptation strategies carried out under the NPCC project have also been highlighted. And lastly, the work done by the author as an emeritus scientist on climate projections under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 for all the districts of Gujarat and their likely impact on selected crops is presented. The results revealed that in the past, temperatures have shown increasing trends but not reached significant levels except at certain locations at night. Rainfall has also increased, but marginally. Future temperatures have been projected to increase in different parts of Gujarat under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 with varying magnitudes. Similarly, the rainfall has also been projected to increase, while the sunshine hours are projected to decrease. The ultimate impact would be a drastic reduction in yields in spite of the increase in CO 2 level, suggesting that the present-day crop varieties would not be able to sustain crop production levels under a changing climatic scenario. Key words: Climate change, Climate variability, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5, Impact on crops, Climatic extremes ABSTRACT VYAS PANDEY Former Emeritus Scientist (ICAR), and Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural Meteorology, Anand Agricultural University, Anand 388110, Gujarat Email: vyask.pandey@gmail.com Climate variability, trends, projections and their impact on different crops: A case study of Gujarat, India Article info - DOI: https://doi.org/10.54386/jam.v25i2.2151 Received: 02 March 2023; Accepted: 19 April 2023; Published online : 25 May 2023 “This work is licensed under Creative Common Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) © Author (s)”