Heatwave hurts farmers’ income as yields drop across many crops
Santosh Patkar in Devgadh Taluka Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra, is a worried man.
Devgadh, known as the home to the world-famous Alphonso variety of mangoes, has seen an unusual drop in yield. Being one of the primary pomological products in the area, Santosh is not untouched by this somewhat rare phenomenon.
He said yields had come down by a third on most trees.
“In the whole of Devgadh, usually during the peak season, 50,000-60,000 tonnes of Alphonso mangoes are produced. Of those 15,000-20,000 tonnes go for processing while the rest are sold as delicacies across the globe,” Patkar said on the phone.
However, this season so far just 30,00035,000 tonnes of the premium mango variety have been produced.
“More than the heat it is the heavy untimely rain immediately after Diwali that damaged the fruit in its flowering stage and thereafter intense cold waves during winter months affected it during germination,” Patkar said.
The rise in temperatures, according to Patkar, came at a time when the crop was ripening and hence did not have much of an impact.
Hundreds of kilometres away, Shivam Singh, 26, in Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, has seen an unusual drop in the per hectare yield of watermelons he has grown this year. He said till last year, he had produced around 400 quintals in his two-acre farm, but this year, the yield could not reach even 150 quintals.
“The rate in mandis is much lower than it was last year as the watermelon is inferior with less juice and water,” Singh said from his farm, where he is preparing the field for the next crop.
He said after two years of the pandemic, demand was looking good, but the yield loss had dashed his hopes.
If Singh is finding it difficult to recover the cost due to a sharp drop in yield, cashew farmers in Maharashtra are complaining of a fall in their produce because of heat stress.
A CRISIL report on Tuesday said the cumin yields in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the two biggest producing states, had dropped by 20 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, over last year due to adverse weather.
“In my 75 years of age, I have seldom come across such intense heat,” said Ghuman Singh, a wheat farmer in the Nabha sub-division of Patiala district.
He said the average yield in fields of Nabha and its adjoining areas was 15-18 quintals, which has dropped by almost 45 per cent this year.
“My cost of production is around ~3,750 per quintal, while the average realisation is less than ~2,500. On top of that, yields have plummeted,” Singh said on the phone.
Overall wheat production this year is expected to be 6-10 million tonnes less than the last official estimate of 111 million tonnes, largely due to the heatwave impact.
Across the length and breadth of India, farmers are feeling the impact of adverse climatic conditions, which are manifested either in the form of sharp spikes in temperatures or unseasonal rain.
The months from March to May, though considered a lean period for farming, have seen a sharp rise in temperatures, affecting the yields of almost all standing crops such as wheat, vegetables, pulses and seasonal fruits.
This could have a serious impact on their final output, leading to a surge in prices in the months to come.
“Any vegetable at its flowering stage will see a drop in yield as the heatwave has burnt the flowers,” said Shriram Gandhave, president of the Vegetable Growers Association of India.
He said the maximum impact had been on tomatoes and ladyfinger (bhindi).
For the record, vegetables production in 2021-22, according to the first advance estimate, is expected to be 199.88 million tonnes, marginally less than the 200.4 million tonnes of last year (see chart).
“Only mustard seems to have escaped the heat wave because, unlike wheat, its harvesting happened early, hence there is no impact on output,” said Abhay Dandwate, chief risk officer at the National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC).
The temperature increase
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its latest update, said Northwest and Central India experienced hottest April in 122 years with average maximum temperatures reaching 35.9 and 37.78 degree Celsius, respectively. In March too temperatures in several parts of India touched their record highs.
“The heatwave will have a negative impact on agriculture and could lower the yields of several standing crops, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and West UP,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had said.
The Met has predicted northwest and west-central parts of the country — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana — would experience above-normal temperatures in May as well. May normally is the hottest month of the summer season.
Climate change and agriculture
The unusual heatwave is something not unexpected.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its latest assessment report released a few months ago, said due to climate change, crop yields in India would decline, the production of commercial fish species like the Hilsa and Bombay Duck would go down, and the labour capacity in agriculture will drop.
On crop yields, the report said the yields of rice, wheat, pulses, and coarse cereals could fall almost 9 per cent by 2050. In southern parts of the country, maize production could drop by almost 17 per cent if emissions remain high.
Preparations
“Most people fear the impact of a sudden rise in terminal heat on crops such as wheat and once in four-six years this kind of thing happens. For this we have been working on developing varieties that can withstand terminal heat,” said A K Singh, director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).
He said the Nanaji Deshmukh Plant Phenomics Centre of the IARI had been screening several types of genomes and developing wheat and other crop varieties that were tolerant to spikes in terminal heat, like the one that happened this year.
The need of the hour, many experts say, is to expedite research, have more crop varieties, and, most importantly, spread the final seeds extensively among farmers.