The pre-monsoon rains will be negligible this season leading to excessive heat in April and May, but this is a good sign for farmers, weather analysts said on Tuesday
The pre-monsoon rains will be negligible this season leading to excessive heat in April and May, but this is a good sign for farmers, weather analysts said on Tuesday.
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The India Meteorological Department has already declared heatwave condition in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. On Monday, Barmer in Rajasthan sizzled at 44 degrees Celsius.
The excessive heat is being attributed to low weather activity. However, this is good for farmers.
According to private weather forecaster Skymet, unlike the 2013 and 2014 crises, this year's Rabi crop is safe as the current weather pattern shows deficient pre-monsoon rain which would lead to excessive heat.
"The current pattern shows the summer would be harsh and the pre-monsoon rain would be low... the western disturbance could lead to drizzle in the beginning of April, but overall effect would be low over the major agricultural belt," Skymet Director Mahesh Palawat told IANS.
Heavy pre-monsoon rains in April and May result in loss to Rabi crop such as wheat, chana and arhar dal. The huge loss to arhar dal production in 2014 was said to be a major reason behind the surge in price of tur dal in 2015.
The pre-monsoon rain with winds and occasional hail in April and May in 2014 caused loss to the wheat and arhar crop production that year.
The mango production was also hit in Uttar Pradesh due to the loss of early fruiting due to heavy winds in May.
"In 2014, entire arhar and wheat crop was damaged due to heavy rains and hail... Most of it occurred at the time of harvest. If rains are light, then its not a problem, but heavy rains cause a lot of issues," Umesh Chandra Pandey, a progressive farmer based in Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, told IANS.
The harvest period of the Rabi crop is April last week to May first week.
Meanwhile, the IMD along with state governments is making concerted efforts to ensure last mile connectivity for dissemination of information on heatwave, the death toll due to which stood at more than 700 last year, and to reduce the number of such casualties.
The India Meteorological Department along with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has asked states to take steps to avert deaths due to heatwave.
IMD Director General K G Ramesh said the weather department would release heatwave forecast every Thursday for April, May and June.
"We recently had a meeting with states and advised them to take necessary steps so that lives are not lost due to heatwave. We are also ensuring last mile connectivity so that information on heatwave can be disseminated to the masses," he said.
Northwest India, including several parts of Gangetic plains, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, are known to be core heatwave zones. Nearly 1,600 people lost their lives in 2015 and 700 in 2016, with the majority of cases coming from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Ramesh said Maharashtra, Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have taken various steps to avoid casualties due to heatwave. Citing the example of Telangana, he said the state has decided to close schools by 1:30 PM so that students are not exposed to heat during the peak period.
"We have set a target to minimise the number of deaths due to heatwave to a two-digit figure. Dissemination of information is very important as we can only collect data, but action is taken by the local government.
"For this, last mile connectivity is crucial and we will ensure that information on heatwave reaches people," Ramesh added.
M Rajeevan Nair, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Science, urged all states to take pro-active steps to deal with heatwave.
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