Crop production losses due to climate changes will go up in the state, with an estimated 70 per cent of the cultivated area, which supports 60 per cent and 67 per cent of livestock and rural population of Karnataka, facing ‘extreme to high’ levels of vulnerability, said experts from Bengaluru-based National Bureau Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Data pertaining to 29 districts of the state were collected under three major crop groups: cereals, pulses and oilseeds, from various departments of the state and Central governments. “The estimated production losses from cereal, oilseeds and pulses were normalised to construct cereal production loss index, oilseeds production loss index and pulses production loss index, respectively. The average score of these three indices was treated as crop production loss index. Our analysis reveals that more than 80 per cent of the districts that are a part of northern Karnataka are in the range of ‘extreme to high degree of crop production losses’ whereas around 75 per cent of districts of southern Karnataka were grouped in ‘low to medium degree of crop production losses’, which shows that the latter is relatively consistent in crop production,” said the research team, which also includes experts from Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Ballary, and National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack. Overall, the degree of crop production losses are ‘extreme’ in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Tumakuru, Raichur, Davanagere and Mysuru. In the overall index, Bengaluru (rural) and Bengaluru (urban) are ranked 24 and 25 respectively among the 29 districts. “Crop production is vulnerable to climatic variability and causes year-to-year fluctuations in crop yields. The extent of variability is high and conspicuous in rain-fed areas. Districts categorised under extreme degree of crop production losses alone account for 41 per cent of the total crop production losses in Karnataka, with the breakup being 37 per cent, 47 per cent and 56 per cent share in the total losses occurring in cereals, oilseeds and pulses production respectively. These districts, therefore, must be given due attention by policymakers to minimise losses,” said the researchers. Analysis shows Davangere, Mysuru and Haveri districts have incurred the maximum losses in cereal production, up to an extent of 283.8, 276.1 and 223.8 thousand tonnes per annum. Though not as alarming, Bengaluru (urban and rural) also faced losses to the tune of 30.7 and 39.1 thousand tonnes respectively. Overall, the reduction in yield of cereal crops owing to changes in climatic conditions is the major reason for losses in the cereal production (65.36 per cent) in the state. Davangere and Haveri are more prone to yield reduction, respectively, whereas Mysuru has been affected by losses due to higher year-to-year fluctuations in area under cereal crops as is evident by 57.1 per cent loss due to deviation in area only, shows the analysis. Districts like Dakshina Kannada, Bidar, Dharwad, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Gadag and Chitradurga had losses due to yield reductions by over 80 per cent. Source - http://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com