Kerala, which depends on other states for agriculture products, has been losing crops on huge tracts of land natural calamities every year, shows data procured under the RTI Act.

Crops on around 40,960 hectares (ha) of agricultural land were lost to calamities in the state in just three-and-half years from June 2019 to December 2022, as per data from the agriculture department. Crops on 18,899.79ha were destroyed due to heavy rain. Crops on around 186ha were lost due to drought during the same period. Landslides also washed away crops on 183ha.

Alappuzha and Kottayam districts were the worst affected by the extreme weather events. Alappuzha reported crop loss of 5,939ha in just from April 2021 till December 2022 and it was 2,957 ha in Kottayam. Kasaragod reported the lowest crop loss of 119ha in the same period.

The crop loss affected 3,15,013 farmers in the state with banana cultivators being the worst affected. Banana crops of around 1,12,643 farmers were destroyed in three-and-half years due to the calamities. They are followed by paddy and coconut farmers.

As the extreme weather events wreaks havoc, a report prepared by the department of environment calls for adaptation strategies and action. The report released this year, admits that a high percentage of area is exposed to hazards and the risk to agriculture and its productivity is likely to increase.

Experts are of the view that farmers should adopt advanced technologies to mitigate crop loss due to natural calamities and to increase productivity in the face of rising momentum of climate change.

"The solution is technology. Encourage more farmers to adopt appropriate technologies with the agriculture department's support. Take soil conservation measures where it is possible. Scientific soil management practices are very important. We must also do soil and land classification. Crop loss is always not due to, soil issues. There are many factors to it. In places where drought is destroying crops, we have to do scientific irrigation methods and proper use of dams," said S S Nagesh, chief of agriculture division in Kerala State Planning Board.

Source - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com