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Increased arid and semi-arid areas in India with associated shifts during 1971-2004

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/6953/
 
Title Increased arid and semi-arid areas in India with associated shifts during 1971-2004
 
Creator Rao, A V R K
Wani, S P
Singh, K K
Ahmed, M I
Srinivas, K
Bairagi, S D
Ramadevi, O
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
Climate change
 
Description Climate change is one of the major challenges in 21st century faced by Agriculture in India, more
so in the Semi-Arid Tropics (SAT) of the country. In recent years, natural and anthropogenic factors have
impacted climate variability and contributed to a large extent to climate change. Based on one degree
gridded data of India Meteorological Department (IMD) for 34 years (1971-2004), climatic water balances
are computed for 351 pixels in India and used for classifying in to six climate types following Thornthwaite’s
moisture regime classification and areas falling under different climatic zones in India are delineated.
Considerable changes in the country’s climate area observed between the two periods; 1971-90 and
1991-2004. Increased semi-arid area by 8.45 M ha in five states viz., Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab, and decreased semi-arid area by 5 M ha in eleven states, contributed
to overall increase in SAT area of 3.45 M ha in the country.Overall, there has been a net reduction of
10.71 M ha in the dry sub-humid area in the country. Results indicated that dryness and wetness are
increasing in different parts of the country in the place of moderate climates existing earlier in these
regions. ICRISAT’s Hypothesis of Hope through Integrated Genetic and Natural Resources Management
(IGNRM) using climate ready crops and Integrated Watershed Management could be a potential adaptation
strategy by bridging the yield gaps for developing climate resilient agriculture in the country.
 
Publisher Association of Agrometeorologists
 
Date 2013
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/6953/1/JAgro_15_1_11-18_2013.pdf
Rao, A V R K and Wani, S P and Singh, K K and Ahmed, M I and Srinivas, K and Bairagi, S D and Ramadevi, O (2013) Increased arid and semi-arid areas in India with associated shifts during 1971-2004. Journal of Agrometeorology, 15 (1). pp. 11-18.