Publication on Desertification
- Drought in Rajasthan
- Historical Aspect of Drought
- Strategy to Combat Drought and Famine in the Indian Arid Zone
DROUGHT IN RAJASTHAN
Drought has got different faces and every one views it from his own angle. In simple terms, drought means low or less rainfall in a year or several years over a certain area, region or pockets. However, causes may be hydrological, meteorological, natural, bio-physical, social or religions. Unlike floods, droughts donot occur all of sudden or without notice but they are mainly the results of men-environment effects and a set of weaker sequences mostly extended and less rainfall. Increasing human activities and over exploitation of natural resources badly effects the weather circle. the severity of droughts may results into the loss of live stock and human beings. the various studies carried out at CAZRI reveals that there is a set pattern of drought in Western Rajasthan. It will start from the north eastern part during the month of June and will spread/shift towards south eastern part of the state in the month of August. Drought adversely effects regetation, crops, livestock, households, or namets etc. of the villagers and thus spoils villagers economy. During droughts farmers/villagers are compelled to sell their crops, lands and household good at a very cheap rates. Not only livestock but also the human beings migrates during droughts, specially in consecutive second and third years, in near by places/states. The India has been divided in the four major regions and desert zone has been classified in the western zone of the country. the 72% of the India population live in the villages and about 2,30,000 villages donot have surface water in around 1.6 km radiers. The villagers consume most unhygenic water which is not recommended for even animals. The rainfall variation in the country is unique where Cherapunji (Meghalya) receives about 120 mm rain every year as compared to the Jaisalmer (Rajasthan)about 12 mm a year. the regions prone to droughts are Western Rajasthan, Gujrat specially Kutch and some part of Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Historically, Jaisalmer faced most severe droughts during 11 century, when it didnot rain for consecutive 12 years. Again during 1348 AD and 1392 AD, the "Thar Desert" faced severe droughts when people of the region survived on raw animal meet. Though, today region has faced many severe droughts and famines, yet, the 'Chappna Kal', 1899-1900 (vikram Samvat 1956) has the worst impact on the people of the area. It was 'Triple Kar' (Trikal) of food, fooder and water in Rajasthan. During this drought 83% area of the region experienced deficient rainfall. The people of the region and time who witnessed this severe drought used to say that no such dreaded famine in the past occured in Rajasthan for the last 100 years. The most ocutely affected regions were Marwar, Bikaner, Mewar, Jaisalmer, Ajmer and Jaipur. this drought was considered as a most unprecendented event. The havoc caused by this famine can be judged from the fact that one million person had starved to death and a large number of survivors were reduced to the condition of moving skeletons. After 1899, four major droughts in the years, 1979, 1982, 1987, and 2000 occured in the country. the 11 states of the counltry reported to have experienced the recent drought. The severity of the drought can be understood by the fact that about five crore people of the two states- Rajasthan and Gujrat have been affected seriously. The entire livestock population of these two states reported to have faced severe water and fodder shortage. it had become most usual to ssee the heap of dead bodies of cattle population daily on the road sides of the villages. The idea of better monitoring and accessing drought has been a quest for CAZRI for about five decades. The CAZRI is always advocating for better climatic monitoring. Particularly drought monitoring, rain water harvesting, watershed management and early warning of droughts beacuse drought is a normal, recurring hazard in virtually all parts of Rajasthan.
D.C. Ojha, Editor/P.I.(ENVIS)
Drought has got different faces and every one views it from his own angle. In simple terms, drought means low or less rainfall in a year or several years over a certain area, region or pockets. However, causes may be hydrological, meteorological, natural, bio-physical, social or religions. Unlike floods, droughts donot occur all of sudden or without notice but they are mainly the results of men-environment effects and a set of weaker sequences mostly extended and less rainfall. Increasing human activities and over exploitation of natural resources badly effects the weather circle. the severity of droughts may results into the loss of live stock and human beings. the various studies carried out at CAZRI reveals that there is a set pattern of drought in Western Rajasthan. It will start from the north eastern part during the month of June and will spread/shift towards south eastern part of the state in the month of August. Drought adversely effects regetation, crops, livestock, households, or namets etc. of the villagers and thus spoils villagers economy. During droughts farmers/villagers are compelled to sell their crops, lands and household good at a very cheap rates. Not only livestock but also the human beings migrates during droughts, specially in consecutive second and third years, in near by places/states. The India has been divided in the four major regions and desert zone has been classified in the western zone of the country. the 72% of the India population live in the villages and about 2,30,000 villages donot have surface water in around 1.6 km radiers. The villagers consume most unhygenic water which is not recommended for even animals. The rainfall variation in the country is unique where Cherapunji (Meghalya) receives about 120 mm rain every year as compared to the Jaisalmer (Rajasthan)about 12 mm a year. the regions prone to droughts are Western Rajasthan, Gujrat specially Kutch and some part of Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. Historically, Jaisalmer faced most severe droughts during 11 century, when it didnot rain for consecutive 12 years. Again during 1348 AD and 1392 AD, the "Thar Desert" faced severe droughts when people of the region survived on raw animal meet. Though, today region has faced many severe droughts and famines, yet, the 'Chappna Kal', 1899-1900 (vikram Samvat 1956) has the worst impact on the people of the area. It was 'Triple Kar' (Trikal) of food, fooder and water in Rajasthan. During this drought 83% area of the region experienced deficient rainfall. The people of the region and time who witnessed this severe drought used to say that no such dreaded famine in the past occured in Rajasthan for the last 100 years. The most ocutely affected regions were Marwar, Bikaner, Mewar, Jaisalmer, Ajmer and Jaipur. this drought was considered as a most unprecendented event. The havoc caused by this famine can be judged from the fact that one million person had starved to death and a large number of survivors were reduced to the condition of moving skeletons. After 1899, four major droughts in the years, 1979, 1982, 1987, and 2000 occured in the country. the 11 states of the counltry reported to have experienced the recent drought. The severity of the drought can be understood by the fact that about five crore people of the two states- Rajasthan and Gujrat have been affected seriously. The entire livestock population of these two states reported to have faced severe water and fodder shortage. it had become most usual to ssee the heap of dead bodies of cattle population daily on the road sides of the villages. The idea of better monitoring and accessing drought has been a quest for CAZRI for about five decades. The CAZRI is always advocating for better climatic monitoring. Particularly drought monitoring, rain water harvesting, watershed management and early warning of droughts beacuse drought is a normal, recurring hazard in virtually all parts of Rajasthan.
D.C. Ojha, Editor/P.I.(ENVIS)
STRATEGY TO COMBAT DROUGHT AND FAMINE IN THE
INDIAN ARID ZONE
Pratap Narain Director Central Arid Zone Research Insitute (I.C.A.R.) Jodhpur
During the previous century, the Indian arid zone experienced agricultural drought in one part or the other during 33 to 46 years, which suggests a drought once in three years to alternate year. Often drought persists continuously for 3 to 6 years, as prolonged droughts faced by this region during 1903-05, 1957-60, 1966-71, 1984-87 and 1997-2000. Such prolonged droughts put tremendous stress on natural resources and lead to severe scarcity of food, fodder and water. The major causes of agricultural droughts in the Indian arid zone are its geographic location not favouring abundant monsoon rainfall, poor quality and excessive depth of groundwater limiting its use for irrigation, absence of perennial rivers and forests, poor water holding capacity of soils, and huge drawl of limited groundwater resources. Because of lack of substantial irrigation facilities, the agriculture is mostly dependent on rainfall. The increased pressure of both human (400%) and livestock (127%) population during twentieth century has put tremendous pressure on land, and surface and groundwater resources. Therefore, the impact of drought is felt much more severely in the arid region compared to other parts of the country. As the water storage is dependent on the scanty and erratic rainfall, the duration of availability of water in surface water resources is reduced significantly in drought years. Groundwater table is declining @ 0.2 to 0.4 m/annum in almost three-fourth of the region, consequently shallow wells dry up during droughts and deep wells became deeper. Quality of groundwater deteriorates and sometimes the concentration of undesirable substances such as fluoride and nitrate increase to harmful/toxic levels. Grazing herds of animals quickly remove the scanty grass cover that come up with meagre rainfall, thus aggravating the problems of soil erosion and desertification. Widespread crop failures lead to acute shortage of food and fodder. Both human and livestock suffer from malnutrition and consequently become victim of host of diseases. As most of the people of this region depend on agriculture and pastoralism, drought leads to decline in income and employment opportunities. Large-scale migration with livestock or in search of employment is a common feature during prolonged droughts. To minimize the suffering of human and livestock, relief measures are taken up by the respective State Governments and NGOs' on a large scale. These measures mainly aim at provision of drinking water, supply of food grains through Public Distribution System at subsidized rates, supply of feed and fodder for livestock and subsidy to approved Gosalas, human and livestock healthcare, etc. Efforts to create direct and indirect wage employment through food for work barely sustain the living of the rural poor who suffer most due to drought. However, some long-term preventive measures need to be given increased attention for integrated development of drought-prone areas and to tackle the problem on permanent basis. Some of these direct measures are long-term forecast of monsoon, suitable land use system, water harvesting, soil and water conservation, contingency crop planning, adoption of improved technologies for dryland crops, efficient irrigation methods, enrichment of cereal straw as fodder, etc. In addition to these, human and livestock population pressure needs to be reduced through education, alternative ways of employment generation and disposal of unproductive livestock. The root cause of weak monsoon in India is related to the widespread, persistent atmospheric subsidence, which results from the general circulation of atmosphere. Better understanding and mathematical modeling of the monsoon phenomenon would be very helpful in early long-term forecast of monsoon to enable planners and farmers to plan accordingly. No one understands the value of single drop of water better than the desert dwellers. Rainwater harvesting is traditional way of life in arid regions. Various techniques of rainwater harvesting have been developed/refined by research workers. Improved designs of Nadis, Tankas, Khadins, etc. have also been developed. These technologies should be popularized among the people of this region. Utilizing flash floods/surplus rainwater for artificial recharge of groundwater to augment the dwindling water table is need of the hour. Integrated watershed management, which aims at utilizing the rainfall wherever it falls should be the unit for planning and implementation of the development programmes. The measures like afforestation, pasture development, livestock management, field crops, water storage, etc. are undertaken in the watershed areas identified as suitable for such measures. With the increased pressure on land, marginal lands are being brought under cultivation, which is a disastrous trend. Concerted efforts have to be made to adopt suitable land use systems keeping in consideration the rainfall, soil type and need of the people. Growing of crops, fruits, trees and grasses in various combinations minimize the risk of crop failure and provide stability to farm income. Suitable combinations of these components for different rainfall zones and soil types have been developed by CAZRI Scientists which should be preferred over crop cultivation alone. As water is the scarce resource in the Indian arid zone, efficient irrigation technologies like sprinkler and drip system should be popularized which aim at maximizing production per unit of irrigation water. Adoption of improved agronomic practices like use of improved varieties, timely weed control, use of fertilizers along with farm yard manure, in-situ rainwater harvesting, etc. can give good yields even in below normal rainfall years. Cultivation of water intensive crops should be discouraged. Besides natural resources, livestock and permanent vegetation such as grasses and trees are strengths for survival of mankind in the arid regions. Management of grasslands with Lasiurus sindicus, Cenchrus ciliaris and Cenchrus setigerus and top feed species such as Prosopis cineraria, Acacia senegal and Tecomella undulata need priority attention. Such a silvi-pasture system survives annual droughts and provides rich fodder. Quality of fodder particularly the wheat straw given to cattle during drought is usually very poor. The fodder quality can be improved through urea/molasses treatment, thus improving animal health and productivity with very little investment. Management of common property resources such as grazing lands, dams, village ponds, etc. needs top priority by the people for themselves to combat drought in arid regions. The drought situation like the present one during the past three year (1999, 2000, 2001) to occur in this region and it needs a proper planning to combat drought/famine. Drought impacts are generally more severe on livestock than on human beings. Some of the measures that can be taken up for combating drought could be as follows: Short-term measures 1. Early warning and drought monitoring should be carried out on the basis of long, medium and short-term forecasts. 2. Constitution of task forces in each district to initiate relief measures immediately after the drought strikes. 3. Supply of good quality drinking water to human and livestock in severely affected areas. 4. Fodder banks should be established in the region. Low quality fodder/alternate fodder resources should be enriched to meet the protein demand. 5. Cattle camps should be opened and fodder should be provided at a subsidized rate. 6. Contingency crop plans should be prepared in advance to meet out the aberrant weather conditions such as early/late setting of monsoon and or early/late withdrawal of monsoon. 7. Implementation of crop and livestock insurance schemes. 8. Timely availability of credit, postponement of revenue collection and repayment of short-term agricultural loans. 9. Training of personal involved in drought relief measures on short/long-term basis. Long-term measures 1. Greater coordination among like departments should be ensured. 2. Constitution of a drought monitoring committee to advise on drought situation. 3. Rainwater harvesting for both the drinking and in-situ cropping, improvement and popularization of traditional rainwater harvesting systems and rainwater conservation/efficient utilization. 4. Rejuvenation of traditional rainwater harvesting systems viz. Nadis, Tankas, Khadins, etc. 5. Systematic study on the use, artificial recharge and augmentation of groundwater aquifers. 6. Completion of IGNP lift canals to divert water to drought prone areas. 7. Human and livestock population should be managed to reduce the pressure on fragile arid ecosystem. 8. Popularizing the improved agronomic practices to maximize the crop yield per raindrop.
Pratap Narain Director Central Arid Zone Research Insitute (I.C.A.R.) Jodhpur
During the previous century, the Indian arid zone experienced agricultural drought in one part or the other during 33 to 46 years, which suggests a drought once in three years to alternate year. Often drought persists continuously for 3 to 6 years, as prolonged droughts faced by this region during 1903-05, 1957-60, 1966-71, 1984-87 and 1997-2000. Such prolonged droughts put tremendous stress on natural resources and lead to severe scarcity of food, fodder and water. The major causes of agricultural droughts in the Indian arid zone are its geographic location not favouring abundant monsoon rainfall, poor quality and excessive depth of groundwater limiting its use for irrigation, absence of perennial rivers and forests, poor water holding capacity of soils, and huge drawl of limited groundwater resources. Because of lack of substantial irrigation facilities, the agriculture is mostly dependent on rainfall. The increased pressure of both human (400%) and livestock (127%) population during twentieth century has put tremendous pressure on land, and surface and groundwater resources. Therefore, the impact of drought is felt much more severely in the arid region compared to other parts of the country. As the water storage is dependent on the scanty and erratic rainfall, the duration of availability of water in surface water resources is reduced significantly in drought years. Groundwater table is declining @ 0.2 to 0.4 m/annum in almost three-fourth of the region, consequently shallow wells dry up during droughts and deep wells became deeper. Quality of groundwater deteriorates and sometimes the concentration of undesirable substances such as fluoride and nitrate increase to harmful/toxic levels. Grazing herds of animals quickly remove the scanty grass cover that come up with meagre rainfall, thus aggravating the problems of soil erosion and desertification. Widespread crop failures lead to acute shortage of food and fodder. Both human and livestock suffer from malnutrition and consequently become victim of host of diseases. As most of the people of this region depend on agriculture and pastoralism, drought leads to decline in income and employment opportunities. Large-scale migration with livestock or in search of employment is a common feature during prolonged droughts. To minimize the suffering of human and livestock, relief measures are taken up by the respective State Governments and NGOs' on a large scale. These measures mainly aim at provision of drinking water, supply of food grains through Public Distribution System at subsidized rates, supply of feed and fodder for livestock and subsidy to approved Gosalas, human and livestock healthcare, etc. Efforts to create direct and indirect wage employment through food for work barely sustain the living of the rural poor who suffer most due to drought. However, some long-term preventive measures need to be given increased attention for integrated development of drought-prone areas and to tackle the problem on permanent basis. Some of these direct measures are long-term forecast of monsoon, suitable land use system, water harvesting, soil and water conservation, contingency crop planning, adoption of improved technologies for dryland crops, efficient irrigation methods, enrichment of cereal straw as fodder, etc. In addition to these, human and livestock population pressure needs to be reduced through education, alternative ways of employment generation and disposal of unproductive livestock. The root cause of weak monsoon in India is related to the widespread, persistent atmospheric subsidence, which results from the general circulation of atmosphere. Better understanding and mathematical modeling of the monsoon phenomenon would be very helpful in early long-term forecast of monsoon to enable planners and farmers to plan accordingly. No one understands the value of single drop of water better than the desert dwellers. Rainwater harvesting is traditional way of life in arid regions. Various techniques of rainwater harvesting have been developed/refined by research workers. Improved designs of Nadis, Tankas, Khadins, etc. have also been developed. These technologies should be popularized among the people of this region. Utilizing flash floods/surplus rainwater for artificial recharge of groundwater to augment the dwindling water table is need of the hour. Integrated watershed management, which aims at utilizing the rainfall wherever it falls should be the unit for planning and implementation of the development programmes. The measures like afforestation, pasture development, livestock management, field crops, water storage, etc. are undertaken in the watershed areas identified as suitable for such measures. With the increased pressure on land, marginal lands are being brought under cultivation, which is a disastrous trend. Concerted efforts have to be made to adopt suitable land use systems keeping in consideration the rainfall, soil type and need of the people. Growing of crops, fruits, trees and grasses in various combinations minimize the risk of crop failure and provide stability to farm income. Suitable combinations of these components for different rainfall zones and soil types have been developed by CAZRI Scientists which should be preferred over crop cultivation alone. As water is the scarce resource in the Indian arid zone, efficient irrigation technologies like sprinkler and drip system should be popularized which aim at maximizing production per unit of irrigation water. Adoption of improved agronomic practices like use of improved varieties, timely weed control, use of fertilizers along with farm yard manure, in-situ rainwater harvesting, etc. can give good yields even in below normal rainfall years. Cultivation of water intensive crops should be discouraged. Besides natural resources, livestock and permanent vegetation such as grasses and trees are strengths for survival of mankind in the arid regions. Management of grasslands with Lasiurus sindicus, Cenchrus ciliaris and Cenchrus setigerus and top feed species such as Prosopis cineraria, Acacia senegal and Tecomella undulata need priority attention. Such a silvi-pasture system survives annual droughts and provides rich fodder. Quality of fodder particularly the wheat straw given to cattle during drought is usually very poor. The fodder quality can be improved through urea/molasses treatment, thus improving animal health and productivity with very little investment. Management of common property resources such as grazing lands, dams, village ponds, etc. needs top priority by the people for themselves to combat drought in arid regions. The drought situation like the present one during the past three year (1999, 2000, 2001) to occur in this region and it needs a proper planning to combat drought/famine. Drought impacts are generally more severe on livestock than on human beings. Some of the measures that can be taken up for combating drought could be as follows: Short-term measures 1. Early warning and drought monitoring should be carried out on the basis of long, medium and short-term forecasts. 2. Constitution of task forces in each district to initiate relief measures immediately after the drought strikes. 3. Supply of good quality drinking water to human and livestock in severely affected areas. 4. Fodder banks should be established in the region. Low quality fodder/alternate fodder resources should be enriched to meet the protein demand. 5. Cattle camps should be opened and fodder should be provided at a subsidized rate. 6. Contingency crop plans should be prepared in advance to meet out the aberrant weather conditions such as early/late setting of monsoon and or early/late withdrawal of monsoon. 7. Implementation of crop and livestock insurance schemes. 8. Timely availability of credit, postponement of revenue collection and repayment of short-term agricultural loans. 9. Training of personal involved in drought relief measures on short/long-term basis. Long-term measures 1. Greater coordination among like departments should be ensured. 2. Constitution of a drought monitoring committee to advise on drought situation. 3. Rainwater harvesting for both the drinking and in-situ cropping, improvement and popularization of traditional rainwater harvesting systems and rainwater conservation/efficient utilization. 4. Rejuvenation of traditional rainwater harvesting systems viz. Nadis, Tankas, Khadins, etc. 5. Systematic study on the use, artificial recharge and augmentation of groundwater aquifers. 6. Completion of IGNP lift canals to divert water to drought prone areas. 7. Human and livestock population should be managed to reduce the pressure on fragile arid ecosystem. 8. Popularizing the improved agronomic practices to maximize the crop yield per raindrop.