On-off monsoon keeps AP farmers on tenterhooks

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is experiencing an erratic monsoon over the last few years, with a few bursts of rain at the beginning of the season, interspersed by prolonged dry spells. This year, coastal AP and Rayalaseema registered about 55 per cent and 80 per cent excess rainfall respectively in June, the highest in the country. But as on August 22, many districts remained dry. There were only 62 mandals under the ‘deficient rainfall’ category at the end of June: by August 17, this list covered 281 mandals.

A similar situation prevailed last year, with many districts receiving 100 per cent more rainfall in June and recording about 55 per cent deficiency in July and August. Such inconsistency in the monsoon carries many disturbing implications: it is upsetting the prospects of farmers, depleting of groundwater levels, causing a water crisis, lowering food produce and having a negative impact on ecology and economy.

Retired meteorologist, Rallapalli Murali Krishna, told this correspondent that even though many weather systems had formed in recent times, they were shifting base to other states due to lack of a southward tilt in the emerging low pressures and depressions. “On the other hand, the southwest monsoon currents have been drifting towards China, making the monsoon lose its influence over the state. Good rains are on the cards in September. Climatic change has its own role to play in erratic monsoon patterns,” Mr Murali Krishna added.

Gone are the days where there would be continuous rains for a period of two to three months. The depression a few days ago and low pressure about 20 days ago, which migrated to other states, were consonant with the outlook provided by meteorologists. Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Srikakulam districts were already categorised as districts having more than 20 per cent deficiency in rainfall.

While the state's normal average rainfall is about 360.8 mm, it got about 302.0 mm with about 16.3 per cent deficiency as of August 22. A professor from Andhra University said a variety of factors were distorting pressure belts during the monsoon, including increasing temperatures, greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea levels, change in land-use pattern and pollution. “Our research studies indicated a paradigm shift in the monsoon patterns down the years. The influence of the northeast monsoon is increasing steadily while the southwest monsoon is losing its prominence,” he added.