'Monsoon variability can lead to food insecurity': Experts

Experts from the agriculture environment and energy sectors in India have said that monsoon variability can impact food grain production and in turn food security for the country if the rain dependent farmers are not provided timely weather inputs along with guidance on technical inputs for better farm practicesRainfall due to southwest monsoon decides the fate of crop production along with other weather variables Factors that impact food production also include unprecedented heat waves such as the one experienced by northwest India earlier in MarchEven when the SW monsoon arrived three days early over Kerala the progress had been delayed over central India and parts of south peninsular IndiaIn view of the increasingly erratic nature of the monsoon farmers have already altered their sowing windows or changed crops replacing traditional yields with cash crops or vegetables with shorter crop life or horticulture with variable gestation period During a webinar multisectoral experts pointed out the lacunae and suggested some measuresAbinash Mohanty programme lead Risks amp Adaptation Council for Energy Environment amp Water said A 1 per cent change in monsoon rainfall will result in 034 per cent change in Indias agriculturedriven GDP that year A normal monsoon can increase GDP from the transport storage trade and communication sector by 1 per cent and 3 per cent in the agridominated states Our electricity generation can decrease by 13 per cent in case of weakened monsoon Hydroelectric power constitutes 40 per cent of the power sources that can also be impactedAsserting that India needs to build resilience through systems technology and financial innovations Mohanty said The approach needs to be changed from relief centric to response centric and that can happen only when farmers are provided granular climate information that can inform about the impact it will have on crops and the steps that need to be taken in the short medium and long termAvailability of granular data has been a common concern flagged by other experts too be it agriculture related or weather informationStating that RussiaUkraine war has given a clear message to each and every country to prioritize food sufficiency Devinder Sharma an agriculture expert told a webinar that monsoon deficiency is further going to increase pressure on food prices which are already high We need to build capacity to produce rather than worrying about the food security chainsSharma said In the name of climate smart agriculture the focus is on corporatized technology driven rather than making farming climate resilient Moreover the Krishi Vikas Kendras KVKs across India have been unable to deliverAnjal Prakash research director Bharti Institute of Public Policy Indian School of Business and one of the lead authors for the IPCC working group report II echoed the sentimentNew age skills and new age requirements to combat climate change are just not there in India he said and added People especially in the Himalayan region are adapting to climate change on their own There is no support whatsoever from the agricultural extension centres regarding climate change The way in this Ministry is organized they have no lateral entry to even understand the climate change impact on agricultureEarlier RK Jenamani a senior scientist with the India Meteorological Department IMD had detailed the variations in monsoon precipitation especially this year Easterly winds which are responsible for bridging monsoon rains have been completely absent so far in June We are witnessing southwesterly winds which have taken rains from Odisha West Bengal and Jharkhand to northeast India We are not expecting easterly winds for the next 45 days as well which is a cause of worry for the northern region Monsoon rainfall variability is very high as we can see that northwestern plains along with central and southern states are deficit by large margins while northeastern regions are in large surplusJenamani said IMD makes constant endeavour to provide information in a more and more decentralised manner to the smallest units in the field for agricultural inputsAlso ReadSlay it in the rains Herersquos how to plan your wardrobe for the Mumbai monsoonThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever