\u25a0 Climate change and crop failure-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Cardamom farm is a thriving but closer look reveals wilted shoots and damaged pods \u2014 byproducts of an erratic weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713The Malayalam month of Edavam has come to an end without any steady downpour, the dry spell stretching all through the third week of June except for some mild, dwindling drizzles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Idukki recorded a large rain deficit of 69% during the June 1-22 period, bracing for a possible crop failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Cardamom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Cardamom is among the many thermosensitive crops hit by rising mercury levels, change in weather patterns and extreme climatic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713\u201cThere has been a steady rise in average daytime temperature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Dip in yield:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713250 kg per acre of dried cardamom is the average yield and is now down to 160-170 kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713The overall production of the spice has increased due to area extension during the last five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713While climate change is a factor impacting the crop, this indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides can give rise to a spate of adverse consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Cashew nut:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Aralam Farming Corporation Kerala Limited in Kannur: Total yield during the last season was 184 tonnes and this time it came down to 90, which means there was more than 50% dip in production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713While excess rainfall during the flowering season affected the fruit setting process, the wayward weather also messed up the quality of the produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713The rain that continued till November caused the flowers to fall and the rise in temperature during December-January was also not favourable for the crop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Spike in pest population:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Variations in temperature and relative humidity often facilitate the emergence of new pests and diseases, leaving many crops susceptible to attacks and outbreaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713While these changes will accelerate fungal infection in some crops, minor pests turning into major pests for some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713With the rise in temperature, the number of life cycles will increase and there will be a spike in pest population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Extreme rainfall events have been wiping out soil nutrient reserves, generating a negative impact on the crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Excessive rainfall will lower soil fertility and turn it acidic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713With the topsoil washed away there will be a depletion in organic matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713According to a study, thermosensitive crops like cocoa, black pepper, cardamom, coffee and tea may be under threat as the temperature range across the Cardamom Hill Reserve (CHR) of Idukki district is increasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713While poor rain affects pepper pollination, leading to a dip in production, change in humidity levels will influence the size and quality of coffee beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Paddy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Paddy farmers are a worried lot since incessant summer showers had wreaked havoc in Kuttanad, destroying the harvest-ready puncha crop in April 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Moreover, heavy summer rainfall aggravated bacterial leaf blight disease in paddy and this year a lot of farmers had to suffer yield losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Sugar cane:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713In Marayur, sugar cane farmers lost an entire season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713During this time Kerala witnessed an exceptionally high rainfall of 105.5 mm against the normal of 11.0 mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u25cf Impact of climate change:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2713Since climate-related crop failure has activated a shift in the cropping system where non foodgrain crops are steadily replacing foodgrain crops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u25a0 Climate change and crop failure- \u2713Cardamom farm is a thriving but closer look reveals wilted shoots and damaged pods \u2014 byproducts of an erratic weather. \u2713The Malayalam month of Edavam has come to an end without any steady downpour, the dry spell stretching all through the third week of June except for some mild, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":894,"featured_media":111840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1755],"tags":[4759,1797],"class_list":["post-111839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-upsc-important-topics","tag-climate-change-and-crop-failure","tag-upsc-daily-important-topic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111841,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111839\/revisions\/111841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gkseries.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}