Introduction
The
contribution of agriculture in GDP is on consistent decline; it has shrunk from
over 25.80 per cent in 1996 to about 16.96 per cent in 2014 and is further
expected to decline because of the lack of focus on agriculture. This share is
on consistent decline owing to lack of focus on agriculture over the years and
shrinking economic support. Indian agriculture still continues to real under
the shadow of monsoon. The lack of irrigation facilities continues to pressure
the Indian agriculture even after 62 years of independence, since only 48.3 per
cent of sown agricultural land is irrigated. The land of the country is thus
under tremendous pressure to feed over a billion population and provide
employment to about 65 per cent of the total work force. It is therefore very
necessary that the monsoon should commence on proper time and precipitation
should be in adequate amount.
Indian agriculture is
facing increased pressure on account of consistent population growth (Annual
1.53 per cent) and its extensive reliability on monsoon rains. For farmers, it
is highly critical to know when the onset will occur as this affects the timing
of the planting of crops. If rainfall is deficient then more than two-thirds of
the seedlings can die. To prevent this, the prediction systems play a very
important role. Rain is critical as two-thirds of the population depends on
farm income and nearly 60 per cent of summer-sown areas do not have assured
irrigation. Kharif crops account for nearly half of India’s food output,
including rice, lentils, sugar, spices, mangoes and oilseeds. The country is already reeling under a series
of unseasonal rain and hailstorms that has damaged crops in 16 per cent of
total area sown in the winter.
El Niño is a 'warm' ocean current originating along the coast of Peru
that replaces the usual 'cold' Peru or Humboldt Current. This warm surface
water reaching towards the coast of Peru with El Niño are pushed westwards by
the trade winds thereby raising the temperature of the Southern Pacific Ocean.
A reverse condition is known as La Niña. Southern Oscillation, a phenomenon
first observed by Sir Gilbert Thomas Walker Director-General of Observatories
in India, refers to the seesaw relationship of atmospheric pressures between
Tahiti and Darwin, Australia.
El Nino has
been in news for long time because IMD, RBI and Economists warning about its
negative impact on Indian agriculture and Indian Economy.
Basic understanding on El Nino / La Nina
During normal
year two things are “STRONG”
• Cold Peru Current
• Trade Winds
As a result,
cold water is dragged from Peru towards Australia as shown in the following
image. Owing to the above current & trade winds two cycles are created as
During the El Nino the above currents
(Cold Peru Current & Trade Winds) become weak. As result, cold water is not
dragged from Peru to Australia. But reverse happens – warm water is dragged
from Australia towards Peru. Consequently, warm water + low pressure condition
develops in the Eastern Pacific (Peru) and Cold condition + high pressure in
Western Pacific (Australia).
Since Pressure is inversely related
with amount of rainfall, the results are following:
•Warming of Pacific Ocean near
Western coast of Peru and Ecuador. It Occurs @every 3-4 years; [In theory, it
should occur @every 12 years]
•Its impact usually lasts for
9-12-18-24 months.
•It weakens the trade winds and
changes in Southern Oscillation, thereby affects the rainfall pattern across
the world.
Effect of the
development in the Pacific Ocean results in the weakening of the trade winds
and changes in Southern Oscillation, thereby affects the rainfall pattern.
Impact of Southern Oscillation
How
does it affect India and World?
India
- Drought
condition decreases the agriculture output, leads to food inflation.
- Declined
supply of cotton, oilseeds and sugarcane negatively affects the textile,
edible oil and food processing industries respectively.
World
- Drought
situation over South East Asia and Australia hurts rice and wheat
cultivation respectively.
- Warm
condition over Peru coast: unsuitable for Plankton population, thus bad
for fishing industry. Birds migrate in search of fishes, thus less guano
dropping for Fertilizer industry in Peru and Ecuador.
- Flood
situation in South America & US Midwest lead to decline in
coffee-cocoa and corn-wheat production respectively.
El
Nino Phenomenon in India
According to Historical data of 126 years
(1880-2005), about 90 per cent of all evolving El Niño years have led to below
normal rainfall and 65 per cent of evolving El Niño years has brought droughts.
However, one thing is clear that El Niño years do affect the weather in India
in terms of Monsoon rain. During this time, the rainfall is generally below
normal, which has its bearing on crop production. Here is a list of droughts
taken place in India in last two centuries. Some of these have been an outcome
of the El Niño phenomenon.
Latest Developments
The effect of monsoon rains
in the food grains output of the country can be clearly seen from the above
table and figure. The monsoon in year 2014 was almost 88.00 per cent to the
normal monsoon in 2014-15 and most of the crops exceeded their estimated
targets of production and as a result we received a record food grain
production of above 250 million MT. The monsoon was declared as failure in the
year 2012 by the central government and the effect of deficient monsoon is
clearly visible for the gap between the target and the expected production
levels in major crops. Since similar situation in the monsoon is expected
in the recent times, there are ample reasons for us to fear for the lower
production. The pre-monsoon development of the current year is
closely in lines with the situation in 2009 & 2012, where the western
disturbance has been stronger than other years.
Major Statistics of Foodgrain Production and Stocks
In the above figure, an
attempt has been made to find the link between the total foodgrains production,
the percentage of irrigated land and the stocks in hand of the government to
cope up with the adverse climatic/ production scenario. The data represented in
the above graph is between 1976 and 2014. The Red Ovals in the plot marks the
drought year (as declared by All India Summer Monsoon Rainfall, Department of
Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, and Government of
India). The Identified drought years are 1979, 1982, 1986, 1987, 2002, 2004, 2009,
2012 and 2014 (Partial). In almost all the drought years the production of
foodgrains had come down. The percentage irrigated land in the country is
almost constant (about 46.4 per cent) for the last 12 to 15 years. The
foodgrains stocks in the hand of the government has also shown declining trend
in the corresponding draught years.
The status of the foodgrain
production in the drought years in comparison to the preceding normal year on
monsoon is shown in the following table.
From the above table it can
be inferred that the production of foodgrains has declined in the drought year.
The growth of the irrigated area has been evenly paced with marginal dips in the
drought years. The pressure has been noticed in case of the procurement of
foodgrains by the government agencies which have declined in almost every
drought. The major reason identified for the drought in the country between 1979-
2002 is been the El-Nino (the basic description of which has been given in the
earlier text). Important geological facts regarding Indian drought has been
mentioned in the following text box which we feel is of prime importance if we
have to discuss the overall performance of the agriculture sector.
The pattern and the progress
of monsoon and its comparison to the total foodgrain production over the years
in the country could be analyzed from the following figure.
Progress of Foodgrain Production & Developments
in Monsoon Rain Distribution
Impact of Monsoon on Indian Economy
A good monsoon helps drive up
rural spending on goods, such as gold and consumer durables, boosting
manufacturing and economic activity. When rain dependent farm output is robust,
rural spending goes up on major consumer durables. This creates demand for the
manufactured goods, which in turn helps the general economy. On the reverse
side, if the monsoon is inadequate, it puts pressure on the country’s economy
as government has to borrow more in order to mitigate the effect of drought and
to support the farmers’ income.
Major development in Climate Changes
which has raised concerns over 2015-16 Monsoon
- The Australian Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology's Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) dropped to -11.2 in March from 0.6 in February. A sustained SOI reading below -8 indicates El Nino conditions. The bureau has raised the possibility of El Nino conditions developing this year to at least 70 percent from 50 percent earlier (declared in March).
- Nomura (Japanese brokerage firm) has also stated that the El Nino risks for this year is rising in India and it could result in sub-par rains, hurting rural demand and food inflation in the country. As per Nomura, a third consecutive bad agricultural season could severely impact rural incomes in India, force the government to announce higher Minimum Support Prices and possibly push food inflation temporarily higher.
- We are already into an El Nino phase as reported by Damodar S Pai, lead monsoon forecaster at India Meteorological Department.
- The chances of El Nino occurring in 2015 have increased. Ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific continue to be warmer than average, trade winds remain weaker than average, and all models surveyed suggest further ocean warming will occur.
- Ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific continue to be warmer than average, trade winds remain weaker than average, and all models surveyed suggest further ocean warming likely to continue.
- The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also predicted the likelihood of an El Nino event this year with at least a 70 per cent chance.
- The month of March was also ranked warmest by NCDC in a record dating back 136 years. The Japan Meteorological Agency concurs, whereas NASA, which does its own independent analysis, ranked March as third warmest.
- On April 9, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officially declared a strong El Niño advisory reflecting substantially above-average surface sea temperatures forming across the equatorial Pacific. This means that there is a 60 to 70 percent probability that America could experience a monster winter like the El Niño that hit in 1997-1998, causing torrential rains in the Southeast, ice storms in the Northeast, tornadoes in Florida, and mass flooding in California.
- NOAA emphasized that their El Niño forecast is supported by the increase in subsurface temperatures, enhanced convection over the Date Line, and the increased persistence of low-level westerly wind anomalies which has caused wide spread rains in India in the last couple of months.
- El Niño brings areas of low pressure and increased rainfall to the west coasts of North and South America (including California), according to Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
- Normally, the trade winds along the equator blow in the opposite direction. This helps bottle up warm surface waters in the western part of the tropical Pacific. But here, they’ve reversed, helping warm water to flow toward the east which confirms the presence of El Niño.
The food production trend over the years have
been upside barring few down’s due to weather woes, which is positive for the
country. The major slump in the production was seen in 2002-03 which was a
severe drought year. The same trend was noticed for the year 2009-10. The point
of concern is the distribution of rainfall. From the above figure it is evident
that the number of districts with normal to excess rainfall is declining as the
years are passing. If the same trend continues for another decade or so the
threat of drought occurring in the country would increase immensely and hence
only 46.4 per cent of the total cultivated area has good irrigation facilities,
the Indian agriculture may be heading towards much stiffer challenges.
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