Traditional crops like pulses and maize are emerging to be climate-resilient alternatives
The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand’s agriculture has been changing. Over the last decade, it lost 27.2% of its crop land on which food grains and oilseeds were cultivated, while crop yield has fallen by 15.2%, according to a new report by Climate Trends.
Titled ‘Water and Heat Stress in the Hills: How Climate Change is Shaping Uttarakhand’s Agriculture Landscape’, the report looks at the effect of a warming climate on agriculture in Uttarakhand. It found that major crops like wheat, paddy, and potatoes have suffered significant losses, both in cultivated area and yield.
The most concerning trend was seen in potato production. According to the report, potato production has fallen by 70% in the past five years, with the districts of Almora and Rudraprayag seeing the biggest decline.
According to the report, there were 94 extreme weather days in 2023, resulting in damage across 44,882 hectares of farmland in the northern state.
Shifting cropping patterns
The report found that while overall production has fallen, there is a silver lining.
Some of Uttarakhand’s traditional crops— such as pahari toor daal (pigeon pea), gahat (horse gram), chana (chickpea), urad (black gram), bhatt (black soybean), and rajma (kidney beans), seem to be more climate-resilient than others. In fact, pulses like chickpea and pigeon pea’s cultivation area and yield have both gone up, according to the report.
Spice cultivation has also taken an upward swing, with turmeric cultivation doubling, and chilli production also increasing by 35%.
“Currently, there is a slow shift from traditional crops like paddy and wheat to horticultural crops,” says Dr Anil Kumar, scientist at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Udham Singh Nagar.
According to experts, agriculture is changing due to a changing climate, and has to adapt accordingly. In Uttarakhand, average temperatures have increased by 0.02°C annually over the past decade, leading to higher regions experiencing more pronounced effects of climate change, the report stated. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and more extreme weather events have disrupted traditional crop patterns, according to the report.
“Water stress is a huge concern in the hills of Uttarakhand. Erratic rainfall patterns are significantly impacting the cultivation of paddy and wheat. Soil quality has degraded and its productivity has gone down over the years. Lack of adequate winter rainfall is particularly affecting rabi crops. There is not enough water available to cultivate paddy or wheat,” says Jogendra Bisht, President of Lok Chetna Manch.
This is forcing farmers to look for climate-resilient alternatives.
“Pulses, particularly black soyabeans, horse gram which can be grown in dry lands and non rainfed regions are adapting better to the changing climatic conditions than paddy and wheat which are more water intensive,” says Bisht.
Drought-tolerant varieties of pigeon pea have been introduced to combat prolonged dry spells, while farmers are also applying multi-cropping strategies along with millets and pulses to ensure more productivity.
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