Strategies for climate change impacts on irrigated crops in National Capital Region of India

Abstract

Irrigation has helped in increasing food production and achieving food security in India. However, climate change is expected to affect the crop production in irrigated area particularly in groundwater irrigated areas. This study was undertaken for suggesting strategies to climate change impact on irrigated crops based on projected change in crop water requirement and groundwater availability for irrigation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Prevailing groundwater recharge in the study area during monsoon was 4.01 MCM (Million cubic meter). The same for various scenarios varied from -15.47 MCM to 5.08 MCM. It was revealed that groundwater recharge would increase if it is estimated based on the climate prediction done using local weather data. The impact of climate change on groundwater availability is evident in scenarios based on INCCA and IPCC predictions where it varied from -2.66 MCM to 1.02 MCM. Contrary to common perceptions, crop water requirement of prevailing cropping system would not increase in future if all the important climatic parameters are considered for its prediction. This may be due to the fact that effect of increase in temperature on crop water requirement may be compensated by decrease in other climatic parameters such wind speed and duration of daily sunshine hours. Results indicated that climate change may not have much impact on sustainability of prevailing cropping system as per the crop water requirement is concerned. Based on water requirement and groundwater availability under various climate change scenarios, appropriate strategies to cope up the climate change impact on irrigated crops have been suggested.

Climate Change and Its Impact on Crop Water Requirement of Mulberry (Morus spp., Moraceae) Crop in Yadgir District, Karnataka, India

“…The total ETc of across all locations was shown to be variations as the climate changes under all scenarios. In addition to these, similar kind of results also observed in [14]. [16] anticipate a rise in global ETc in all places, as predicted by the INCCA and IPCC [17].…”

“…According to the findings, there has been a decline in ETc's Shahapur and Shorapur, and an increase in ETc of Yadgir during the last 35 years. In addition, the wind speed, relative humidity, and solar radiation changes had an impact on the increase of crop water requirement [14]. The study region is comprised of black dirt and some measure of red soil.…”

Irrigation Requirement of Crops under Changing Climatic Scenarios in a Semi-arid Region of Northern Karnataka

“…Based on water requirement under various climate change scenarios, appropriate strategies to cope up the climate change impact on rabi crops needs to be planned. Rainwater harvesting and artificial groundwater recharge need to be made mandatory in the study area for increasing the groundwater recharge and water availability (Kambale et al, 2015). It is concluded that in order to ensure long-term and sustainable groundwater utilization in the region, proper estimation of crop water requirement and optimal water management are needed.…”

“…This leads to more vigorous hydrologic cycle, influences precipitation, its intensities, frequencies, extreme events and changes in soil moisture status (Srinivasarao et al, 2014). Many studies reported that irrigated agriculture would be severely affected by climate change due to increased crop water requirement and decreased water resources availability especially in the arid and semiarid regions of world including India (Mahmood, 1997;Goyal, 2004;De Silva et al, 2007;INCCA, 2010;Shahid, 2011;Kambale et al, 2015;Srinivasarao et al, 2015;Behera et al, 2016;Srinivasarao et al, 2016b). Longer drought periods, considered to be the expected impact of climate change, increases the water stress in crops and reduces the growing period and crop productivity (IFPRI, 2009;Manekar and Bharadiya, 2012).…”

“…In Rajasthan, climate change increased the evapotranspiration in irrigated corn by 15 mm and resulted in an additional irrigation water requirement of 34.27 MCM (Tung and Haith 1998). The strategies to cope up with climate change impacts on irrigated crops needs to be planned based on the changes in crop water requirement and water availability for irrigation (Srinivasarao et al, 2013;Kambale et al, 2015;Srinivasarao et al, 2016c). It was predicted that irrigation water requirement of potato in West Bengal would be increased by 7 to 8% by 2020, while it may increase about 14 to 15% by 2050 (Chatterjee et al, 2012).…”