‘Normal’ rains turn abnormal for crops
Prolonged dry spells may force Centre to announce a near-drought year
Hyderabad: Experts have said that Indian Meteorological statistic showing rainfall in a district as “normal” might not actually be reflective of how the erratic rains are impacting the farmers.
The IMD records statistics by average, but the impact on farmers is on a daily basis.
For instance, in Khammam, rainfall in the week between July 16 and July 22 was 46 per cent less than normal, but the cumulative rainfall recorded was 30 per cent more than normal.
“The year might not fall into the technical definition of a drought, but there have been prolonged dry spells followed by heavy rainfalls of 5-6 cm on a single day. Such spells will damage the dry crops as it leads to water stagnation. Prolonged dry spells, too, spell death for crops,” said G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, director of the Hyderabad-based non-profit Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
As per the Indian Meteorological Department, southwest monsoon rains are 12 per cent less than normal in Telangana, 30 per cent less than normal in Rayalaseema and 24 per cent above normal in Coastal Andhra Pradesh this season.
Heavy downpours on a few days and long dry or low rain spells pattern on other days have been a consistent feature over the past few years.
Experts said that a change in the cloud patterns during the southwest monsoon season is one of the reasons for such inconsistent rains.
In its report released last year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report had stated that frequency of heavy rainfall events would increase at the expense of light rainfall events.
“Observations are showing that clouds are no more coming from the southwest. They are from the Bay of Bengal,” said chief scientist from CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Dr Shakeel Ahmed.
“There was a good spell in the third week of June. But, that was followed by a dry spell of three-four weeks. The intermittent rains have also caused poor groundwater recharge as water can’t seep in on a single day,” Dr Ahmed said, adding that there has been zero ground water recharge till now in Hyderabad due to the pattern of rains.