Floods, droughts and unseasonal rains are continuously increasing in India due to changing weather conditions. Farmers who are unable to understand this change of weather are constantly being harmed. Due to the effect of climate change, the diseases and damage that scientists have been warning about with their research, the effect of this is visible to the farmers in the fields. A special series showing the effects of climate change on agriculture in India.
The rise in temperature leads to mustard seeds. Small
farmer Viresh Kumar cultivates mustard on a large scale, but for the last few years, the problem of pests and shortening of grains has increased. Meanwhile, the rains and hail are causing damage to the crop. Veeresh used to sow mustard in the first week of October, but in the last few years, the red kir started growing.
New varieties being developed
Some plants of the crop wither and yield is decreasing as the grains are smaller. Like Viresh Kumar, who lives in Tanda village of Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, lakhs of mustard farmers are constantly worried about this loss. The effect of changed weather is that farmers are not able to get the required yields.
Viresh says that if it is summer in October and sowing, the crop will not be good. Sowing is delayed if we wait for the temperature to come down. The crop gets less time and finally, during the ripening of the crop, the temperature rises gradually and the production starts to dry.
Last year, for eight days, such a winter crop was brought to naught and the growth of the flower stopped, the mustard braided could not be long. In the case of excessive cold, the problem of stem rot and Mhow disease is also increasing. During mustard cultivation, the problem of rain and hailstorm is increasing. This also causes crop to fall or flowers to fall, which affects production.
According to
Pramod Kumar, the director of mustard research on insects and diseases in mustard fields, farmers should be advised to sow short days according to the weather, till today, the cold would start falling a little earlier than 507 years ago. It was not special that as the heat increased, its outbreak was increasing.
The Istem rad plant became less white earlier, being seen over ten to twelve years. Now the focus is more on climate change, higher yields in less days, and the mustard variety should adapt to the changing season. We are also developing new varieties according to climate change.
Direct effect of climate change
Pramod Kumar Rai, director of the Directorate of Mustard Research in Bharatpur, considers the direct impact of climate change. He says that if the temperature reaches more than 30 ° C at any time of the day at the time of sowing, then the loss is sure to happen. Sowing time of mustard has increased beyond 30 September. Now around 20 October, mustard sowing is called. But it does not cook well at late sowing and the grain is small.
