Extreme weather linked to climate crisis shrivels farms

NEW DELHI: Extreme weather events, widely held to be the impact of the climate crisis, have shriveled farms in some regions, as widespread flooding in states such as Maharashtra and a drought in the North-East, especially in Assam, could trim yields, analysts said.

Changing climate patterns in India are a reality now, according to climatologists, and are also taking a toll on agriculture, which supports nearly half of all Indians.

Overall, the monsoon, the rain-bearing system that waters nearly 60% of the country’s netsown area, is forecast to be normal or average, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). However, this is a forecast for a four-month average (June-September), and rainfall has been geographically and “temporally” very skewed, according the IMD’s data.

This means some areas have received normal rainfall, while others have received most of its rainfall within a very short spell, which points to a truant monsoon.

Experts hold that longer dry spells and short periods of very heavy rainfall are telltale signs of the climate crisis’s impact on the monsoon. The rain-bearing system is critical for drinking, power and farming.

When harvests are robust, they contribute to nearly onehalf of the demand for goods and services in the economy, mainly from rural consumers. Nearly half of all motorcycles, for instance, are sold in rural markets, according to market data.

“It is now widely agreed by scientists that the number of rainy days will decrease due to the impact of climate crisis but total quantum of rainfall will remain same,” said KJ Ramesh, a former chief of the IMD.

This means there will be segments or periods of very heavy rain, followed by large gaps, which doesn’t bode well for the farm sector.

“Crops need evenly distributed rains to be bountiful,” said Jeet Singh Sandhu, vice-chancellor of the SKN Agricultural University, Jaipur.

Farmers depend on the monsoon to plant a variety of crops, such as rice, cotton, sugarcane, soybeans, corn and peanuts, among other crops with the start of the rainy season from June 1.

Around June 19, the rains tapered off and took a long pause, impeding sowing. Then, towards the second week of July, the monsoon reactivated, dumping heavy spells of rainfall within a week in several states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, damaging crops. While recent flooding killed at least 200 people in Maharashtra, seven people were confirmed dead from landslides in Himachal

Pradesh on July 30. In Jammu and Kashmir, at least three people died due to landslides on the same day.

The skewed pattern meant that June rainfall was 10% surplus, while in July, the rains turned 7% below normal. As rains gathered pace, sowing of kharif crops quickened. Yet, while they are nearly normal for this time of the year, planting is below last year’s levels.

Farmers have sown crops in about 84.6 million hectares, down 4.5% than the 88 million hectares sown last year. The rains, however, pulled sowing up to a level considered normal, which is 84 million hectares or the average of the past five years.

Flooding in states, such as Maharashtra, has destroyed crops, which could result in lower output, analysts said. “There have been widespread damage to various crops, like soyabean and a variety of fruits and vegetables in districts such as Satara, Ratnagiri and Raigad,” said Prakash Kumawat, an official of the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Committee in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, in the usually rain-surplus Assam, authorities have declared a drought in paddy hubs, such as Sarupathar and Golaghat, as rainfall so far has been 20% deficient, an official requesting anonymity said.

“These are also the main teagrowing belts, which have seen deficient rainfall,” the official said.

PERIODS OF VERY HEAVY RAIN, FOLLOWED BY LARGE GAPS, DO NOT BODE WELL FOR THE FARM SECTOR