Successive draughts, intense cold climate and floods have ravaged Bolivia. Let us hope that Kerala will not go the way of Bolivia !
That Bolivia is going towards a major Food Crisis has been highlighted by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of UN.
16000 cattle, 24000 hectares of wheat, corn fields etc will perish in Bolivia. Bolivia will not be able to absorb this crisis of a high magnitude. One fifth of Bolivia is stll reeling under the impact of Climate Change. FAO warns that all natural calamities except cyclones will have to be faced by Bolivia.
The agriculturists are always affected by Climate Change. Traditional agriculture gets destroyed by intense rains or drastic draughts. The agriculturist lives in debt and dies in debt. He is forced to stop his agriculture or fall into the debt trap !
That which is happening in Bolivia may happen in India and Kerala.
Normally Libra rains start in the evening, drizzle at night and before dawn stops raining. Now the climate patterns have changed and intense rains destroyed 5000 acres of paddy fields this season ! All seeds were destroyed and Keralites had to go to Madras to get the seeds. If the earlier patterns were followed - bright sunny days after the intense downpour - then the water would have drained itself from the paddy fields.
Heat also has changed its patterns. It is now 40 degrees at Palghat and the lowest temperature recorded is 22 degrees. In Nilgiriis, rising heat has created red spiders . 8% crop has been destroyed as a result. Red spiders attack the tea plantations which are devoid of huge trees.
There are many paddy fields in Kerala which does not produce, despite the intense work done by the agriculturists.
In Alleppey Dist, when temperature rose 1.8 degrees, there was a reduction in weight of the produce. The rising temperature during the months of January, February and March was the villain. The rice fields of Trichur and Palghat were also considerably affected.
Pepper cultivation is also affected. Weight also comes down. Also cocoa, tea etc in the highlands. In 2004, cocoa produce came down by 39%. Rubber produce declined by 3.8%. . In Kottyam, the highest temperature recorded was 33.3% and now it is 35% ! Because of intense heat and cold, more funguses made their way into rubber. Cashew has also been affected adversely by Climate Change. There is a drop in the produce by 30%. Kerala, which was first in cashewnut production, is now only fourth !
Palghat Dist, bordering Tamil Nadu, looks like the hot TN !. 41 degrees have been reported as the highest temperature. If you go to Chittoor in Palghat, you will come to know how different Palghat looks than the rest of Kerala. Paddy cultivation has come down in Palghat. Palghat gets more North East Monsoon than South West Monsoon !
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