Lack of sufficient rains is likely to impact farming expenses and yields this time; drinking water, power generation affected
All 14 districts of Kerala are reeling under a drought-like situation as the southwest monsoon has failed completely in the state; even hill districts like Idukki and Wayanad are no exceptions.
Despite it being the last phase of the southwest monsoon, a prevailing drought-like situation in Wayanad has created concerns among the local farmers who produce dozens of indigenous rice varieties.
As sowing activities started in Wayanad very late this year since there were no rains in June and July, most farmers were expecting sufficient rains in August to replant their seedlings.
Also read: More dry days ahead? Monsoon on continuous break for past 11 days
Lack of sufficient rains is likely to impact farming expenses and yields this time, said Rajesh Krishnan, CEO of the Thirunelly Agri Producer Company Ltd, which works with local rice farmers.
SP Venkatachalam, a tribal farmer from Santhanpara in Idukki, said:
We had only two or three spells of rains between January and May. That was the time to sow seeds, but there was no water. We are also going to face a severe drinking water crisis. The agriculture office gave us vegetable seeds for the Onam market, but we could not do anything.
The situation is quite frightening for the growers of pepper, cardamom, ginger, coffee and other cash crops. The adverse changes in the rain calendar have affected the pollination of pepper plants and there would be a severe shortage this time. In Idukki, the deficit has been estimated at 61 per cent.
The flowering of coffee also remains highly affected in Wayanad, as there were no summer rains in April and May this year.
Water scarcity is alarming in the Wayanad villages, where the Kabini river originates as a confluence of different feeders. The situation is no different in Pulpally and Mullankolly villages through which the river passes before entering Karnataka.
Moreover, there is an additional burden on the eastern hill regions regarding water and other essentials, with tourists from other parts of the state and the country flocking to Kerala’s hill stations to escape the heat.
Also read: South India records its lowest June rainfall in 122 years
Kerala has received 45 per cent less rain than normal this season, and increasing heat severely affected power generation and drinking water needs across the state. Only 36 per cent of water remains in the reservoirs managed by the state electricity board, according to figures available on August 20.
Climate experts opined that this month is becoming one of the most rain-starved Augusts on record due to a looming El Nino (warming of surface waters in the Pacific Ocean).
“Rains this week and later may not make up this monsoon season’s overall deficit,” said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan of the National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.
Rain is still possible as the southwest monsoon lasts till September end. However, in El Nino years, there has been less-than-usual rainfall in September.
The experts at the Institute of Climate Change Studies (ICCS), Kottayam, which takes stock of the performance of the monsoon, pointed out that the remaining days in August are unlikely to witness any extreme rainfall events like in the past few years as per the current metrological features.
From June 1 to August 16, Kerala received only 877.2 millimetres of rainfall, whereas normal rainfall figures recorded for the southwest monsoon in the state are 1,572.1 mm, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
“The rainfall forecast for the next two weeks also shows a below-normal pattern,” said IMD Kerala director K Santhosh.
Palakkad is the most drinking water-scarce district in Kerala. At Shornur in Palakkad, Kerala’s second-largest river Bharathapuzha has now almost reduced into a trickle, driving drinking water scarcity in Shornur and nearby Ottappalam. And pumping from Bharathapuzha at key places like Ottappalam, Shoranur, Vaniyamkulam, Ambalapara and Lakkidi remains largely affected.
The Bharathapuzha controls the irrigation and drinking water needs of over a dozen municipalities and 175 Grama Panchayats in the north-central Palakkad, Malappuram and Thrissur districts.
P Abubacker, who heads Ummini Padasekhara Samithy, a forum of rice growers in the Ummini region, Palakkad, said:
The state witnessed high-intensity rains during the southwest monsoon in the last four years, resulting in many floods and landslides. Now the farmers here have almost abandoned paddy’s first crop season due to the prevailing water scarcity. Paddy seedlings are wilting across the district for want of water, and we have no means to recover from the crisis now.
The high intrusion of saline water into the rice fields has adversely affected cultivation in the Kuttanad region (known as Kerala’s rice bowl) of the Alappuzha district. Drinking water scarcity is acute in Kuttanad, which lies below sea level and is surrounded by vast backwaters. People here have to wait for government boats to get safe drinking water from elsewhere.
Wells and ponds have already dried up in the tribal heartland of Attappady. In Eruthempathy, Vadakarapathy and Kozhinjampara panchayats in Palakkad, residents have to wait for the water-carrying trucks thrice a week.
Idukki, where Kerala’s biggest hydroelectric power project is located, has recorded the lowest rainfall this season up to August 16, with a deficit of 60 per cent. With no fresh inflows, power generation at the Idukki hydroelectric station would be affected.
“The water level in Idukki at present is just 31.13 per cent (of capacity) against 80.2 per cent during the corresponding time last year,” said K Sajeesh, technical assistant to the director, generation (civil), Kerala Electricity Board Limited.
In the second-largest power project at Pathanamthitta’s Kakki, the water level now is 35.6 per cent, way below the 62.42 per cent level during August last year.
Drinking water reservoirs in the state are also in a similar state. Water supply to the capital city will also be hit if rainfall is deficient during the upcoming northeast monsoon.
At Malampuzha, the largest drinking water storage in Kerala, there is a depletion of 58 per cent. Currently, drinking water is available only for the next 100 days at the Peppara Dam. If we do not get northeast monsoon rains, things will be difficult, said Soumya S, assistant engineer, dams, Kerala Water Authority, Thiruvananthapuram.
“As per our estimation, the groundwater levels in Kerala have also gone down compared to the corresponding period last year,” said CP Priju, senior scientist, Hydrology and Climatology at the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management. He said a detailed study regarding the depletion of groundwater levels in the state is yet to be carried out.
“When we had good showers during this period, the temperature levels used to be lower. However, this year, the average maximum temperature is higher by three-four degrees Celsius,” IMD Director Santhosh said.
The El Nino had weakened the westerly winds and the cyclone formations in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal just ahead of the monsoon. This could have adversely affected monsoon rainfall in Kerala, the IMD director explained.
Kerala is now pinning its hopes on the northeast monsoon, which is expected between October and December.
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