The Hindu Business Line : Short-term crops mooted to overcome monsoon delay

Hyderabad, July 3 With delayed monsoons threating farmers, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has suggested a four-pronged strategy to overcome it.

“The first step is to grow drought-tolerant and climate-change ready crops to match the available length of the growing season and low soil moisture,” said Dr William Dar, Director-General of ICRISAT.

“The second is to get ready with a contingency plan for the replacement of crops affected by drought. With delayed monsoon rains, farmers may not be able to grow their traditional crops. Instead, they should grow other short-duration crops,” he said in a statement here. “Short duration crops thrive and yield well even with scarce water as they mature before soil moisture gets depleted. For instance, in sorghum growing areas farmers can plant improved pearl millet instead,” he pointed out.

capacity building

The third step will be to efficiently manage the natural resources, arresting land degradation, conserving soil moisture and harvesting excess water in the rainy season.

Lastly, steps should be taken to empower stakeholders through capacity building, enabling rural institutions and formulating policies supportive of dry-land agriculture, he said. By taking up these, the possibility of lower crop production or crop failure could be averted.

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