With both maximum and minimum temperatures at 3-5 degrees Celsius above normal in most of the country’s wheat-growing areas, there is concern over the crop currently in farmers’ fields and due for harvesting only in April.
What is the issue?
- Last year’s mercury spike after mid-March singed the crop when it was in the final stages of grain formation and filling.
- This time, heat conditions — or at least the winter’s abrupt curtailing — are prevailing from mid-February itself, when the wheat has hardly entered the flowering and heading period, which precedes kernel development.
- If temperatures continue to soar, the grains will not have the time to accumulate sufficient starch and proteins.
- Forced maturity would make them come out shriveled, translating into lower yields. This happened with the 2021-22 crop.
- The difference now is that government wheat stocks are roughly half of their year-ago levels.
Vulnerability to climate change –
- A second successive poor crop — one hopes March does not turn out that hot — also corroborates wheat’s vulnerability to climate change. In this case, it has to do with the early arrival of summer.
- All the more reason, then, to breed wheat varieties that can tolerate terminal heat stress or are amenable to harvesting by March-end.
What is the solution?
- The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has developed a variety, HD-3385, suitable for sowing in the second half of October, as against the usual time from early to late November.
- While the normal varieties are prone to premature flowering when planted early, HD-3385 has a longer window not only for grain development, but also for vegetative growth of roots, stems and leaves.
- IARI scientists claim that its grain yields, too, are 1-1.5 tonnes per hectare higher than the existing varieties. The good thing is that the institute has licensed the new variety to a private company for seed multiplication and commercialisation.
- It should help in faster lab-to-land adoption, even while fully protecting IARI’s intellectual property rights.
Challenges –
Sowing wheat in October would, of course, present a challenge in Punjab and Haryana, where farmers have a short window after harvesting of paddy. They resort to burning stubble in order to sow wheat even in November.
Conclusion –
If there are demonstrable benefits from early sowing, varieties such as HD-3385 may actually induce farmers to cultivate wheat using happy seeders and other non-burn residue management technologies. While that is welcome, it is equally clear that agriculture scientists have a lot of work ahead. At the core of it will be breeding for climate change.
Source – The Indian Express
QUESTION – Wheat crop is becoming exceedingly vulnerable to climate change and global warming. Discuss the potential solutions that we have found recently and examine if they are viable or not.
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