Ready SOP to counter effects of El Niño: Experts to Tamil Nadu government

TIRUCHY: Climate experts claim that the El Niño effect would continue next year also and have advised the farmers to opt for changing the crop pattern and concentrate on cultivating pulses, which are drought-tolerant.

They have also appealed to the State government to accelerate actions through the Drought Management Department and formulate a SOP for water conservation through identifying existing tanks and reuse of water.

“When the drought condition crosses 40 per cent, the drought management département declares it as a crisis and initiates steps for supporting the farmers who are ultimately affected. The first advice to the farmers during such scenarios would be not to take up cultivation unless there is adequate groundwater for their respective fields,” said A Meenakshi Sundara Arasu, Climate adaptation expert and former faculty member of Irrigation Management Training Institute, Tiruchy.

Arasu said that the water availability in Mettur should be analysed periodically for the release for irrigation.

“Due to El Niño, there would be water shortages and drought-like situations would prevail. While the groundwater level has already depleted, the farmers, instead of going for paddy, opt for pulses which could be realised within six turns of watering; otherwise, they would certainly fail cultivation if they opt for paddy,” Arasu said.

He said that a short-term variety paddy has a minimum duration of 110 days and water is required based on the stages of the cultivation.

“There should be foresight in each cultivation period and readiness for adequate storage of water, but we have already faced a shortage of water in Mettur and groundwater too is depleted, and so the government should implement an SOP on this immediately. There should be coordination between the agriculture department and the Water Resource Department before forming SOP. The Water Resource Department should initiate a meeting with the agriculture department and take a decision and then go to the farmers,” Arasu said.

He said that the main drawback in the Delta region is that there is no adequate water storage facility. “The farmers use water that is released and have no plan of storage and reuse of water. As a result, a huge quantity of water goes to waste into the sea,” he said.

He pointed out that there is no data on available tanks in the state, particularly in the Delta region. “Government should ensure retrieving the tank details and renovate them and clear the encroachments. There should be a GIS map for identifying the tanks that were already in existence,” he said.