Effect of south-west monsoon onset on rice area in different agro-climatic zones of Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Our current knowledge of the climatic impacts on cropping area is limited. This study investigates the impact of monsoon onset on kharif rice area. There are frequent changes in the Indian summer monsoon. The Indian agriculture is highly vulnerable to any change in south-west monsoon, crop production and crop acreage to be influences by variability of monsoon onset. Fall in the yield leads to shortage of food grains and price rise which affects food security of poor most. This study was carried out to identify impact of SW monsoon onset on acreage of kharif rice at different agro-climatic zones of Chhattisgarh during 1989 to 2017. On the basis of correlation analysis we found that there is positive relationship between onset dates of monsoon and kharif rice acreage. The R-values were 0.136 (In CPZ), 0.06 (In BPZ) and 0.122 (In NHZ) for the correlation between monsoon onset dates and rice area. The highest value of correlation co-efficient was found for Chhattisgarh plain zone (r = 0.136) which is significant at the 5% level of significance. In comparison of average rice acreage data under different categories of monsoon onset, we found that late onset conditions are favorable for kharif rice acreage.