Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
produce will be affected most as the temperatures have shown rising trend
right from February onwards in most parts of India. If temperature data of
last 50 years is taken in to account, it is clear that average temperatures
have risen by 2-3°C and this rise is erratic in nature. There is a sudden
rise in temperatures in March and April rising up to 42-46°C in central
India. Such temperatures were earlier experienced in the month of May.
Maximum temperatures have increased up to 47.7°C and 48.2°C in May
2010 at Nagpur and Chandrapur, respectively. This trend is subtle and now
in most parts of North and Central India temperatures rise above 41-42°C
right from March onwards. These conditions are forcing orange growers
to harvest the fruit in February-March itself as compared with harvesting
season till April earlier (up to year 2000) in Central India. Fruit drop in
'Nagpur' mandarin may increase due to water scarcity and dry (stress)
conditions.
Climate impact is most felt in temperate region because increasing
minimum and maximum temperatures are causing devastating effects on
flowering and fruiting. Changing degree-days would change heat sum-
mation and in turn it will affect fruit development and maturity duration
that will have direct bearing on postharvest operations, packing, transport
and distribution chain. Farmers in Himachal Pradesh are shifting to other
crops. Apple cultivation is being replaced with Kiwi and pomegranate
(Singh, 2010).
In arid region of Rajasthan (Bikaner), before year 2000, temperatures
never dropped below 0°C in winter. In last 8-10 years, it is common fea-
ture that temperature drops below 0°C every year. During 2006-2009,
temperatures remained below 0°C for 2−3 days consecutively in January.
Region is experiencing wide variation in rainfall since last 20 years, that
is, 98-472 mm rains annually. Floods have also occurred in recent past and
their frequency increased.
There is a lot of heterogeneity in the opinion and estimates about ef-
fects of climate change on fruits. Escalating greenhouse gas levels may
significantly boost production of fruits. But the effect may be a double-
edged sword; the increase in yield appears to be linked to a decrease in the
nutritional value of these crops, which needs to be examined.
