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Publications Frequent droughts will impact food production: expert
Publications Frequent droughts will impact food production: expert | Frequent droughts will impact food production: expert |
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| Written by Jayashree NANDI | |
| Wednesday, 23 September 2009 | |
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By Jayashree NANDI, The Times of India
Geneva Sep 24 - As farmers face another drought, scientists from the
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warn that droughts are going to
be extreme and frequent in India. Acting director, Climate Prediction
and Adaptation Branch, WMO, Mannava Sivakumar spoke to TOI about the
climate issues India is facing and what measures it needs to take. While India maintains it will not be party to pressure from developed nations for equal targets, internally, we are facing strong climate impacts. How do we balance this conflict? I can’t talk about the international politics of who should accept emission targets. Negotiations or not, India needs to act right now. This year, rainfall has been 30% below normal in India. Because the Indian monsoon is going to be impacted, variability is going to be high. Though agriculture contributes to only around 20% of the GDP, 70% of the population is involved in agriculture. That gives enough reason to concentrate on good climate models and climate communication to farmers from meteorological departments. What kind of impact are we seeing in India? We have been using the same system of irrigation for decades, but now a new system of water management is required. We have valid data that glaciers in the Himalayas are melting. The flow of perennial rivers is going to be impacted. That will impede irrigated agriculture... Soil salination that has already started happening on a large scale is going to take a toll on arable land as well. When I was young, the maximum temperature in Andhra Pradesh was 44 degrees; in the past few years it has been going up to 50 degrees. Seedlings sown during such drought-like conditions cannot withstand high temperatures. How do we deal with this? There has to be a bottom-up movement. A national mission of educating farmers needs to be in place. Political leadership and international negotiations can be separate. I know that the India Meteorological Department is making a big effort. They have at least made a beginning by sending SMS alerts to farmers. But it has to be more nuanced, reaching out to remote areas and also look at long-term impacts that farmers are going to face. (The correspondent was in Geneva on the invitation of Media 21-Global Journalists Network)
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