Miscellaneous
Preparing farmers for climate change
Introducing resilient seeds and climate-responsive agriculture is one way to improve country’s agricultural outputSangam Prasain
The Ministry of Agricultural Development statistics show that this year’s paddy transplantation was completed on less then 90 percent of the 1.52 million hectares land. In the same period last year, paddy transplantation was completed on 98 percent of the country’s paddy fields.
In the wake of reduced paddy transplantation this year, some of the lawmakers has demanded that some Tarai districts be declared “drought-hit” areas and farmers be compensated.
Mekh Bahadur Gurung of Fulbari village in Taplejung district planted pulses instead of paddy because of inadequate rainfall this year. Kali Bahadur Angbang of Hangpang village in the district also switched to maize farming. Similar shift in farming pattern was witnessed in Ilam district as well. Bhim Bahadur Bishwakarma of Chulachuli had sown paddy saplings on his land, but he did not transplant them due to poor rainfall and lack of irrigation.
Because of early monsoon and timely rainfall, Nepal recorded an all-time high food grain production of over 9.45 million tonnes in 2011/12. As a result, the economic growth rate rose to 4.6 percent that year. Paddy output amounted 5.072 million tonnes, up by 13.7 percent compared to 2010/11.
The climate, however, did not favour the paddy farmers in 2012/13. Nepal’s annual output of cereal crops dropped by 7.6 percent to 8.73 million tonnes, largely due to fall in paddy output. Paddy output dropped by 11.3 percent, and the economic growth rate slumped to a six-year low by 3.5 percent, the lowest since 2006-07. The area under paddy cultivation shrank 7.2 percent to 1.42 million hectares, while paddy productivity dropped 4.3 percent to 3,171 kg per hectare.
These are few examples that Nepal has been experiencing because of changing climate patterns, including the variability in rainfall and seasons. Problems like drought, floods and landslides have been affecting agricultural crops and their output.
In the recent years, Nepal has also been witnessing wide precipitation, recording rainfall at a single location and leaving gaps in spatial coverage. This year, for example, there were rain deficit in eastern Tarai and western regions, whereas the far-western region had normal rainfall. The mid-western region, at the same time, received heavy rainfall, causing floods and landslides.
According to the Department of Agriculture reports, floods and landslides country wiped out up to 35,040 hectares of farm land in different parts of the country. Floods and landslides in 17 districts incurred an estimated loss of Rs 1.91 billion.
Extinction of indigenous crop varieties of local basmati rice, wheat, maize and other agricultural crops is also being observed across the country in the past few years. “Obviously, conditions for paddy farming deteriorates whenever there is a change in rainfall and temperature patterns,” says Bhola Man Singh Basnet, agro expert and scientist. “The number of rainy days in Nepal has gotten shorter in the last few years.”
There used to be sufficient rainfall starting from June in the past, but the calendar has been shifting gradually, raising concerns over reduced food production. According to International Rice Research Institute one degree Celsius increase in night time temperature decreases rice production by 10 percent.
Ministry of Agricultural Development Spokesperson Uday Chandra Thakur says that the ministry has implemented early warning system since last year to reduce vulnerability of drought and other
agriculture-climate events. “The project’s task is to update on agriculture-climate risk by adopting a monitoring and early warning system to give advance notice of coming hazards. Timely information can help farmers to make crop-saving decisions and plant appropriate crops,” says Thakur.
The $31 million Pilot Project on Climate Resilience supported by the World Bank is expected to create an agricultural information management system tailored for farmers. Before the project, the government only monitored water level in rivers through manual data collection. Thakur says the new project could make farmers better prepared with reliable and updated information on meteorological, hydrological and agricultural conditions.
Besides, the government has also launched three new improved varieties of paddy seeds- Sukhha Dhan 4, Sukhha Dhan 5 and Sukhha Dhan 6-that are tolerant to extreme climatic changes. These varieties of paddy seeds, which can survive under stress and retain desirable grain qualities, are likely to be released for farmers by June next year.
These new varieties, also known as climate change-ready rice, can tolerate drought for up to one-and-a-half months and can grow under water-deficiency stresses. They have been recommended for the Tarai, inner Tarai and river basin areas.
Among these three paddy breeds, Sukhha Dhan 6 has the ability to re-grow even two week after submergence. It has an average yield of 4-4.5 tonnes per hectare, and under a good irrigation condition, the output can go up to 5.5 tonnes per hectare on an average. The plant stands 125 cm tall and the maturity period is 120-125 days. Swarna sub-1 and Sambha Mansuli sub-1 rice varieties that are flood tolerant have already been made available to farmers.