Consequences of 2003 Drought in Karnataka with Particular Reference to Livestock and Fodder

Abstract

Karnataka ranks second, next only to Rajstahan in India, in terms of total geographical area prone to drought. Among its 27 districts, 18 are drought prone. During the years, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 it faced consecutive droughts. A study was conducted in 2004 to assess the consequences of 2002-03 drought in Karnataka with special emphasis on livestock and fodder components. Three districts of Karnataka (Chamrajnagar, Gadag and Gulbarga) each belonging to severely, moderately and less drought affected categories and representing three agro climatic regions were selected through multistage random sampling method. Data collected from 271 households was analysed. The annual income of the households reduced to half in drought year. The reduction was more in case of crops (61.42%) followed by livestock (30%) and labour (20%). There was significant difference in the number of farmers purchasing fodder during normal (50.92%) and drought years (81.18%). Similarly significant difference was noticed for the average quantity of fodder purchased in normal (22.83q) and drought years (38.80q); per ton fodder value (Rs.2199 in normal and Rs.4166 in drought years); average distance traveled to purchase fodder (4.25 km in normal and 44.07 km in drought years). In drought year, 17.34 percent households resorted to distress selling of livestock and the average herd size reduced from 4.15 ACU to 3.85 ACU. While majority (70.84 %) purchased fodder to mitigate drought effect, 32.10 percent of them fed less to the livestock than the usual quantity. The negative effects of drought on fodder and livestock would be reduced by enabling them to access fodder in a radius of 10 km of their habitation through fodder banks. This saves considerably their exorbitant expenditure towards transportation of fodder.

How large is the farm income loss due to climate change? Evidence from India

“…The imperativeness of this study can be realized in the context of recently felt severe drought in many parts of India, and especially in Karnataka. Karnataka is the south western state, CAER 14,2 which is second largest arid and semi-arid region in the country, after Rajasthan (Anandhi, 2010;Biradar and Sridhar, 2017). Agriculture in Karnataka is highly dependent on the monsoon rainfall; 26.5% area is irrigated while the remaining depends on rainfed cultivation.…”

Drought in Indian perspective, its impact on major crops and livestock and remedial measures

“…Around 113.5 million bovines were affected in nine states of India, with seven states facing fodder shortage (except Odisha and Tamil nadu) in drought year of 2002 (Patil, 2012). Purchase of fodder and crop residues like legume hays, rice straw and sorghum stover increases with simultaneous increase in fodder cost and there is reduction in purchase of concentrate feed and rice bran (Biradar and Sridhar, 2009;Chand and Biradar, 2017). During drought years there is decrease in feed intake, loss of body weight, decline in fertility, disturbance in reproductive performances, average lactation length and yields, worsening of milk to adult female cattle ratio, increase in dry and unproductive cattle, decrease in livestock population probably due to animal death due to lack of quality fodder, distress sale of cattle and unbearable cost of livestock; it also leads to migration of livestock especially cattle and sheep (Patil, 2012;Maurya and Tripathi, 2013;Mishra, 2017;Kanwal et al, 2020).…”

“…During drought years there is decrease in feed intake, loss of body weight, decline in fertility, disturbance in reproductive performances, average lactation length and yields, worsening of milk to adult female cattle ratio, increase in dry and unproductive cattle, decrease in livestock population probably due to animal death due to lack of quality fodder, distress sale of cattle and unbearable cost of livestock; it also leads to migration of livestock especially cattle and sheep (Patil, 2012;Maurya and Tripathi, 2013;Mishra, 2017;Kanwal et al, 2020). To lessen the drought impact, farmers practice distress sale of cattle fetching lower prices than normal (Toulmin, 1986;Biradar and Sridhar, 2009;Udmale et al, 2014;Chand and Biradar, 2017).…”

Combining agriculture, social and climate indicators to classify vulnerable regions in the Indian semi-arid region

“…The imperativeness of this study can be realized in the context of recent severe drought in many parts of India, especially in Karnataka. The state has the second largest arid and semi-arid regions in the country after Rajasthan (Biradar & Sridhar 2009;Anandhi 2010). Several episodes of high-intensity drought and significant variation in monsoon rainfall have been observed in Karnataka (Guhathakurta et al 2015).…”