Dryland farmers from various mandals in Anantapur district were on Wednesday asked to follow some essential tips being given by agriculture scientists with regard to fine-tuning their farming practices, right from selecting the type of crop for sowing to the time of applying fertilizer, in order to overcome the vagaries of the nature due to climate change.
At an awareness programme organised by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to sensitise farmers and Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) members on how to face the new phenomenon, bank manager Usha Madhusudhan said NABARD funding was available for challenging the impact of climate change or for adopting methods for sailing through it and reaping profits.
Delivering the keynote address, A.F. Ecology Centre Director Y. Malla Reddy said that unforeseen rains and floods were witnessed in Anantapur and some parts of Rayalaseema owing to the climate change phenomenon, for which while humans were partly responsible, members of the farming community needed to take some steps with the help of the government to minimise damage, or avoid sowing at certain times. “The majority of the farmers growing groundnut, red gram and Bengal gram had heavily lost in Anantapur district due to the nature’s vagaries, which calls for adopting climate resilient agriculture,“ he added.
Agriculture Research Station Rekulakunta Principal Scientist B. Sahadev Reddy gave the 140-year history of rainfall and temperature in the district and the average change in both parameters, particularly in cropping months, and said they were trying to find new seed varieties and methods of cultivation to reduce the impact of these two.
His colleague and a researcher in agronomy, Y. Pavan Kumar, dwelt at length on reducing the soil temperature by resorting to natural mulching or inter-cropping to reduce the loss to farmers due to vagaries of nature. He also explained the impact of rain and cold weather on mango flowering, which was getting delayed this year.
Horticulture Assistant Director Gatti Satish said the shift from groundnut to horticulture crops helped farmers, but they needed to concentrate on value-addition and proper storage to improve profitability. “Currently, schemes are available for subsidy on setting up collection centres and cold storages and registered FPO groups could approach them for funding,” he added.
Siddhapuram Livestock Research Centre Head H. Srinivasa Naik explained the deficit of dry, green and concentrated fodder for the cattle and other livestock, which needs to be immediately addressed. Stylohemta was one of the pasture grass that could benefit farmers and fodder processing and storage banks were the way forward for meeting the fodder need of 49 lakh sheep and goats, 49,000 cows, and 28,000 buffallows in the district.
