The Indian summer monsoon plays an integral role in the Indian economy. Even after seeing tremendous growth in the service and the industrial sectors, India remains predominantly an agricultural country. The Indian summer monsoon, therefore, plays a large role in terms of water availability and ensuring food security. The monsoon in India occurs in two phases: the Indian summer monsoon, occurring in the months of June-July-August-September (the JJAS cycle) and the winter monsoon, occurring in the months of December-January-February (the DJF) cycle.
Maharashtra depends heavily on the monsoons for its agricultural production. Though lately irrigation facilities have been developed in some areas of Maharashtra, large dependency of farmers still remains on the rains. The state gets most of its rain in the months of the JJAS cycle. All the Kharif crops (like rice, millet, sorghum) are sown during this season.
Variability in rainfall can be either in terms of time or in terms of spread. This paper focuses on the spread or distribution of rainfall across the districts of Maharashtra. We focus on the spatial patterns specifically as the variability in these patterns has been causing agricultural imbalances across regions in Maharashtra. Some of the more drought prone districts (Ahmednagar, Jalna and Beed ) see huge crop losses leading to loss of income, food insecurity and imbalanced regional growth. However, some of the other districts (some parts of Pune like Baramati) see a relatively good harvest.
Droughts can have adverse effects on multiple levels. It can affect individuals, governments and ecology as a whole. At a micro level, droughts can create severe financial pressures on the farmers as they cause crop loss which in turn c...
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...es of Lok Sabha.)
This paper measures how spatial variability in rainfall is related to food grain production. Greater variability in rainfall patterns makes it more likely for agricultural droughts to happen thereby causing food insecurity amongst the drought hit victims. We, therefore, make some suggestions to manage food insecurity in the times of droughts.
The paper has been divided into two broad sections: section I and II. Section I describes the problem of spatial variability and describes its implications on food grain production. Towards the end of section I we show how the erratic rainfall patterns can lead to more agricultural droughts causing crop loss and therefore lesser accessibility to food. Section II describes the relationship between agricultural droughts and food insecurity and makes suggestions to manage food insecurity in times of droughts.
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
The dust bowl was the worst environmental disaster in the U.S history. Farming practices changed as a result of the Dust bowl. Farmers changed how they plow / take care of their field.There are also many conservation programs and measures implemented as a result and many farmers have fixed drought problems so their soil does not get to dry.
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
When the crops were plentiful, the harvest would bring money and food and supplies for the next year's crop. Rain had an enormous impact on the farmers. Too much or too little could be devastating to their crops or the food supply of farm animals, and they affected the farmers who were dependent them....
Secondly, employment opportunities play a big role in the cause of urbanisation in India. In the rural areas of India, people mainly depend on agriculture for their nourishment. During times of drought, these people are unable to support themselves and therefore have to migrate to cities to support themselves.
The following is a report on Australian drought situation. It will identity the definition of the drought, describe the causes of drought, represent impact of drought in Queensland and introduce management to help farmers cope with future drought occurrences.
Climate change is currently generally regarded as a major global issue that is especially acute in developing countries. This study focuses on the impacts of climate change and variability on smallholder farmers, their vulnerability and coping strategies on a micro-scale in a developing country.
In this essay, the effects of climate change on agriculture and how to manage it shall be discussed. Climate change has and will greatly affect agriculture. As time progresses, the effects of climate change will worsen and become detrimental. Mendelsohn and Dinar (2009:1) state,” if future climate scenarios lead to a widespread reduction in food supply, there could be massive problems with hunger and starvation”. Climate change is a change in global climate patterns which is mainly caused by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. The writer chose this topic because climate change is a global problem that will pose a threat to people’s lives around the world and must be dealt with sooner than later.
Since 1960s both minimum and maximum temperatures have exhibited a rising trend; with minimum increasing by a range of 0.7-2.0 degrees Celsius and maximum by 0.2-1.3 degree Celsius varying by region and season. Notable also is variability of rainfall patterns such as below normal rainfall in the long rains season and more during the short rainfall season, some regions have recorded more intense rainfall and downpours that have resulted to floods and infrastructural impairments. Extinction or near extinction of flora and fauna, changes in flowering and maturity patterns in crops are all attributable to climate change. These changes have had and are expected to have far reaching impacts on the economic sectors of the economy. Some of the expected sectoral impacts are discussed
The greenhouse gases are those that absorb the Earths radiation and thus contribute to the greenhouse effect, but water is also a major absorber of energy. Where there is an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (as with CO2 due to the burning of fossil fuels) this results in an enhanced greenhouse effect - which is of concern as it could lead to climate change (i.e. global warming).
Agriculture is considered to be one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Although at present, the overall impact of climate change on global scale agricultural productivity is not reliably estimated (Gornall et al., 2010). Many studies show serious implications on agricultural productivity for instance IFPRI(2009) projects that in South Asia by 2050 climate change will reduce production of rice, wheat and maize by 14%, 44% to 49% and 9%-19% respectively relative to no climate change situation. Historical temperature yield relationship indicates that at the global scale warming from 1981-2002 very likely offset some of the yield gains from technology advances, rising CO2 and other non climatic factors (Lobell and Field, 2007).
(2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Drought - a fact sheet. Retrieved from: http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/factsheet/cc.pdf The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007).
Sandra Postel, on the other hand, has a different opinion than Danielle’s. She proposed that “without increasing water productivity in irrigation, major food-producing regions will not have enough water to sustain crop production”.
Climate change is currently affecting agriculture because it is causing prolonged droughts, violent flooding, sea level to rise, and also health related issues. Droughts and flooding utterly affect agriculture because it damages cultivation since the amount of water applied to crops and farming is fundamental to the...
Global warming is one of the main causes, which leads to the lack of water and drought. A drought-like condition exists in most of India’s part. Government of India states that 68% of the country is disposed to the drought, which (consequences are) leads to massive migration of people to more favorable places, famine, conflicts among inhabitants. India is known in the world as one of the biggest producers of water-intensive crops such as rice, sugarcane and wheat. According to a survey done by Grail Research, approximately 82% of total water is used for agricultural consumption and 90% of it is employed for irrigation of rice, wheat and sugarcane (Grail Research, LLC, 2009). There are several solutions which could lead to the decr...