Reliability of weather forecast and dissemination of such information at the farm level is very important. There should be a mechanism to disseminate information effectively through information communication technology such that every farmer gets weather service at his/her doorstep.
The Village Resource Centres under ISRO programme must be linked with online network to disseminate agro advisory based on weather forecasting. It is very pertinent during weather calamities to minimise crop losses. In an event of unusual summer rains in Kerala, Kutttanad and Thrissur paddy farmers suffered to a large extent.
If advance weather service is extended at community level, crop loss would have been minimised to some extent by covering the paddy grains, according to farmers. Properly implemented weather insurance schemes will also enable farmers to get relief during calamities.
As a long-term measure, drainage facilities should be improved at micro-level so that flood damage is minimised in addition to development of flood tolerance/saline tolerant paddy varieties.
As the paddy/wetlands act as water sink during the rainy season and water source during summer, such lands should be protected as the area under wetlands is declining very fast in addition to deforestation reduction across the Western Ghats so as to reduce the run-off and degradation of soils.
Drought management
In the case of plantation crops, summer droughts like 1983 and 2004
adversely affect the plantation crops to a greater extent. It is true in majority of plantation crops except in cashew and mango, and to some extent in the case of black pepper.
In situ soil, moisture conservation and rainwater harvesting are viable technologies to mitigate ill-effects of drought. This is highly relevant under scarce water resources. Though we speak on drought tolerance varieties, we have to go long way for developing the same under field conditions.
Weekly agro-advisoryIf this service is provided on a continuous basis, it has beneficial effects and crop loss can be minimised in case of weather calamities. Pro-active measures in the form of suitable cropping systems and crop-weather-cultivation-pest calendars will mitigate the crop losses. The extension service in the field of agriculture should be re-activated based on the farmers' needs.
Awareness, adaptation and action are the need of the hour at every level to mitigate the ill effects of climate change/variability not only on crops but also on various sectors linked to the society along with the change in lifestyles of people as the human-made interventions are the causal factors for global warming.
Dr G S L H V Prasada Rao/Agro Meteorology Division of Kerala Agricultural University