Climate Change and Agriculture over India

Abstract

The monsoon behaviour in 2007 over Kerala was totally different to that of previous years and heavy rains were noticed from June to September, leading to floods in low lying areas. The Paddy area was damaged in the Alappuzha belt of Kuttanad in Kharif 2007 due to floods. The length of rainy season was also extended, leading to delay in “puncha” sowing (second crop). No rains were noticed after “puncha” sowing since 24th November onwards. It revealed that prolonged flooded rains during the monsoon, followed by no rains during the “puncha crop” led to low paddy yield during 2007 – 08 in Kuttanad, which is one of the rice bowls of Kerala. In contrast, severe summer droughts were noticed in 1983 and 2004 during which the surface water resources became scarce due to hydrological drought and the State’s economy was hit very badly. Such abnormal weather phenomena could be attributed to global warming or as a part of natural climate variability/change. The year 1987 was the warmest year over Kerala and the decade 1981-1990 experienced more number of droughts. Deforestation, loss of wetlands, shift in cultivable area from foodgrains to nonfoodgrains, drying of ponds and wells, indiscriminate sand mining and depletion of groundwater are the major changes noted over Kerala. The Western Ghats is one of the 25 hot spots of biodiversity in the World. Most of the biomes seem to be highly vulnerable to the projected change in climate in a relatively short span of 50 years. Such extreme weather events are not uncommon in other States too across the Country. Temperature rise and variability in rainfall in recent years might be one of the potent factors for stagnation in agricultural production over various states. The Indian foodgrains production also revolves around 210-215 million tonnes since last several years due to the effect of weather abnormalities like droughts and floods and cold and heat waves despite the advanced technology. The scientists involved in climate change research indicate that climate change or variability may lead to more frequent weather related disasters in the form of floods, droughts, landslides and sea level rise. In a tiny State like Kerala, which falls under the humid tropics, it is indicated that the Southwest monsoon rainfall is likely to decline, surface air temperature and its range are likely to increase along the highranges of the Western Ghats. Under such circumstances, there is threat to thermo-sensitive crops like black pepper, cardamom, tea, coffee and cashew. Therefore, there is a need to formulate climate change risk management strategies to minimise the ill effects of climate change on war-footing