The farmers of Punjab & Haryana are feeling cheated. Due to the starting of summer heat from the 1st week of March itself, the wheat grains have dried up. The team of Indian Grain Management and Research in their survey found that the wheat grains have dried up to approx. 6%. Due to this, there is a 10% to 12 % decrease in the weight of the total crops. Also, due to a decrease in the quality, the farmers are getting less price of it. This problem persists in Madhya Pradesh also. The cashew nut producers in Goa are in sorrow because of the failure of crops due to the untimely summer heat. In Kashmir, whether it is a tulip, apple or aadu, are slashed by climate change and global heat. After January 1891, for the first time, it is getting so hot in March. During this year there was less snowfall from January- to February and it rained only nominally in March.
In our country, 80% of the apple is produced in Kashmir. This year it is suspected of 20-30% less production. Scientists are saying that due to intense summer heat, there will be an adverse effect on the sweetness and succulent of the apple. Not only apple, similar is with cherry, and, aalubukhara also. This year the famous tulip garden was forced to close 5 days before the closing date because the flowers were shrunken due to the heat. In the past few years due to the extreme season, particularly, all of a sudden, a lot of rain the field crops were destroyed and weakened the farmers.
Fresh research by Indian Agriculture Research Council revealed that by 2030, the temperature of the earth undoubtedly is increased by 0.5 to 1.2 degrees centigrade. Year by year due to the effect of an increase in the temperature, in 2050 it will increase from 0.80 to 3.16 degrees and in 2080 it will increase from 1.56 to 5.44 degrees. An increase in the one degree means a loss of 360 Kg of crops per hectare. In terms of the effect on agriculture due to changes in the climate, 360 districts have been identified as sensitive. Out of these 109 districts are very sensitive. In these districts in the coming decades, it is supposed to be a loss in productivity besides similar situations will be of the animal husbandry, poultry, and fish productivity.
Just after the independence, the role of agriculture in the gross domestic product was 51.7 %, which is now reduced to 13.7% only. The point of consideration is that today also the population dependent upon agriculture is likely to be around 60%. The condition of the farmers is deteriorating. Between the years 2001 to 2011, out of the total no. of farmers 85 lakh farmers has been decreased. Except for a few states, in the whole of the country the cultivable area has decreased.
In terms of season, land utilization, vegetation, and living things, India is a country of wide diversity. Here the effect of climate change is of the different types in the distance of 100 Km. But the worry to overcome the problem of water conservation, malnutrition, and hunger are the same all over the country. In our country event in these days, 75% of the available freshwater is spent on agriculture. Due to the increase in the temperature, the water reservoirs are in danger & our society is facing it for the last two decades. According to the latest edition of the research paper of the proceeding of the National Academy of Science the, it is needed to reduce the effect of climate change on agriculture and to maintain the nutritional status, it is needed to increase the production of the crops like ragi, bajra, and Jai. According to the scientist of the Columbia university Dr. Kalle Devis, in India due to an increase in the temperature, the productivity in agriculture is decreasing. Besides, the nutrients are also decreasing. Despite the increase in the temperature, if India wants to save water for the future, besides improving the nutritional status, then the dependency on rice & wheat is needed to be reduced.
The main reason for the change in the climate or increase in the temperature is the modernization process, there is an increase in Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. The latest report from Howard TH Chan School of Public Health reveals that the nutrients in our diet are reduced. Report threatened that increasing temperature of the earth is double danger. Including IPCC and in the many international studies is supposed to decrease agriculture productivity.
Due to a decrease in the nutrient till 2050, the quantity of zinc will be less in 17.5 crores of the people in the world, 12.2 crores of people will suffer from the deficiency of protein. 63% of protein, 81% of iron element & 68% of zinc are supplied by the trees & plants. However, 1.4 billion of the population are suffering from the deficiency of iron, for them, the danger will increase. This report is more dreadful for a country like India because our country is suffering from the problem of malnutrition in the past. The base of the economy in India is farming & agriculture, therefore right now we should be conscious and find the solution for it.
( Sources Shree Pankaj Chaturvedi, Hindi newspaper Prabhat Khabar, Ranchi, Jharkhand)
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