The Hindu : Small dams mooted for reducing drought effect

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Small dams mooted for reducing drought effect

By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR MARCH 3. A workshop on `drought management techniques' held at the College of Horticulture of the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) near here today has recommended construction of small and medium scale reservoirs wherever possible without affecting the environment to mitigate the effects of recurring rainfall shortage in the State.

Talking to The Hindu on the proceedings of the workshop the Head of the Department of the Agricultural Meteorology of the KAU, GSLHV Prasada Rao, said the CWRDM, Kozhikkode is known to have mapped the possible locations for such reservoirs. He said the CWRDM Director, E J James, in his presentation at the workshop had said that there was nothing wrong in going in for reservoirs considering the environmental impacts. Sediment lost is only one-tenth from the forests. Dr James has however emphasised the need for ensuring that reservoirs are built in high elevation areas without causing destruction to the forests by consequent encroachments.

Another long-term strategy that has been proposed at the workshop is to evolve better watershed management practices for the State as a whole, Prof Rao said.

Among the short-term strategies that have been recommended at the workshop include adoption of soil moisture conservation practices like mulching and cutting of lower leaves. Emphasising that the drought affects low-yielding crops more than the high-yielding crops, Prof Rao said adoption of better crop management techniques could contribute to the mitigation of the drought consequences to some extent.

He said the workshop recognised the fact that the definition of drought in the all India context is not correct in Kerala situation, particularly in the case of plantation crops. The definition of the drought in all India context is being made based on the rainfall deficiency in monsoon season and it can be seen that this deficiency has not affected the plantation crops in Kerala.

In Kerala what is needed is the formulation of a location and crop-specific definition of drought, and this will be based on the rainfall from November to May. The workshop has entrusted the KAU the task of formulating this definition, Prof Rao disclosed.

The workshop has also suggested the CWRDM to work out a spatio-temporal distribution diagram of drought in Kerala so that the appropriate drought management strategies could be evolved for each region of the State. He said the based on the discussions at the workshop a drought management strategy for the State will be submitted to the Government by March 31 next.

The Vice Chancellor of the KAU, K V Peter, delivered the keynote address. Nearly 45 delegates from the institutions like KFRI, Department of Agriculture, Regional Rubber Research Institute of India, Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Spices Board as well as from KAU, and CWRDM attended the workshop.

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