77% of Maharashtra’s cropped area vulnerable to climate change, study finds

Mapping of socio-economic vulnerability in Maharashtra. (Image: Chaitanya Adhav, author of the research study)

A study conducted by central government institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has found that 24 out of 36 districts in Maharashtra are vulnerable to extreme weather events, droughts, and dwindling water security. This means, nearly three-fourths of Maharashtra’s cropped regions are vulnerable to the prevailing climate crisis.

The study titled ‘Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change – Index development and mapping for districts in Maharashtra’, revealed how extreme climate conditions affect the livelihoods and agrarian economy of Maharashtra.

The research conducted by Chaitanya Adhav of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, under the guidance of Dr R Sendhil from ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, found Nandurbar to be the district most vulnerable to cyclones, floods, droughts, changing rainfall patterns, changing temperature. And these extreme weather and climate conditions have also affected its crop production.

Apart from Nandurbar, the other highly vulnerable districts in Maharashtra are Buldhana, Beed, Jalna, Aurangabad, Hingoli, Parbhani, Nanded, Akola, Amravati, and Washim,” Chaitanya Adhav said.

The 14 moderately vulnerable districts include Dhule, Jalgaon, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Sangli, Solapur, Osmanabad, Latur, Yavatmal, Wardha, Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia, and Gadchiroli.

The districts least vulnerable to climate agricultural distress are Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Nashik, Satara, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Nagpur, and Pune.

However, in the vulnerable districts, climate change could eventually adversely affect the production of various dominant crops such as jowar, rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton, ragi, cashew, barley, and millets.

Given farming is the prime source of livelihood for 51 percent of Maharashtra’s population, “there is an instant need for focused policy efforts to address the socio-economic vulnerability in Central Maharashtra Plateau Zone, Scarcity Zone (Dhule, Part of Nandurbar and Aurangabad), and Eastern Vidarbha Zone,” Adhav said.

Speaking about what can be done to mitigate the looming crisis, Vijay Anna Borade, Agriculture Expert and Trustee of the Marathwada Sheti Sahayak Mandal (MSSM), said: “While there is a lot of discussion about impacts of climate change on agriculture, there is very little on-ground action that has been taken. What we are witnessing now is concerning because on one hand, the number of rainy days in a year has reduced drastically while on the other hand areas in Marathwada, which usually receive very little rainfall, are now being flooded. Keeping in mind the vulnerability of districts, changing crop patterns is a solution but it's not going to be such an easy task. We need to create parallel programs (adequate drainage, drip irrigation, crop rotation, etc.) to get stability in crop productivity and stable income of farmers. Only then can we divert farmers to change their crop patterns. Another option is controlled farming which also has financial limitations. Thus, we need a viable and sustainable plan to enable Maharashtra to tackle the impacts of climate change on farming.”

Akshay Deoras, Independent meteorologist and PhD student at University of Reading in England, on the other hand, suggested there should be a robust weather-forecast dissemination system, unlike the weather and crop advisories sent through various channels -- such as the Centre’s mKisan portal – that hardly makes a significant positive impact on farmers.