Climate Change impact on Manipur Agriculture sector

The rise in temperature, changing of rainfall patterns in this era of climate change has been affecting Manipur’s agricultural sector. The production of rice, potato, chilli and even pineapple and oranges has been severely affected due to the climate change and subsequent human pressure this year.

Orange cultivator Rahoulung Golmei of Dailong village had already abandoned his orange orchard at Khoukum village in Tamenglong district and has instead opted for a small business in the hill district headquarter of Tamenglong. This young father of two children who used to earn a minimum of Rs 50,000 in a season from his orange orchard of 700 orange trees has now started selling second hand clothes in the hill station following the widespread and sudden death of his orange plants due to an unknown plant disease two years ago.

Manipur produces around 31,968 metric tonnes of oranges when cultivated in an area of 4,138 hectares of land in the year 2008-09, the state’s Horticulture Department sources said. Tamenglong district alone produces 17,311 metric tonnes.

Like him, another orange cultivator Asenbou Newmai of Phellong village in the same district also faced the impact of climate change on his orange orchard. “The production of the fruit will decline in view of the death of many orange plants,” Asenbou, father of 6 children who usually earns Rs 1 lakh every year from his orchard said. “We really don’t know the reason behind the sudden drying up of its branches.”

Experts are of the view that lack of proper care due to human pressure and climate change are the major factors for the death of the trees. “A little known about insect called the Asian long horn beetle might have attacked the citreous fruits the way they’ve eaten up branches and stems of Yongchak (Parkia Timoriana or tree bean) in recent times,” Professor Kh Ibohal, an Entomologist in Central Agricultural University (CAU) in Imphal said. “The insect appeared here because of climate change and global warming.” “We’ve been observing this though no specific study has been done,” he added.

Last year, Manipuri’s favorite delicacy - Yongchak had almost disappeared from the Imphal markets after thousands of its trees in the state were dried up due to the attack of these insects. Yongchak Eromba, prepared with fermented fish, is one of the most delicious and sought after dishes of Manipuris during winter.

“Except for some, most of the cultivators in the hills are not serious about giving nutrients to the decades old orange trees not to speak of attending to them with proper technology inputs,” says A Rajlakshmi, subject matter specialist (Horticulture) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Manipur Centre.

According to the specialist, the overall citreous decline in Manipur is because of lack of attention to the trees, no insect measures and indiscriminate killing of wild birds besides the untimely rain patterns during the monsoons.

The unpredicted rain in the early part of October has affected 20,081 hectares of rice fields including 65 hectares of pea and 13 of potato plantations in Manipur as per the state Agriculture Department sources.

The Meteorological (MET) Office, Imphal has recorded actual rainfall of 594.7 mm during last year’s monsoon (June to September) against this year’s rainfall of 801.1 mm.

Imphal East district remains the worst affected district as water submerged 10,738 hectares of rice fields, 124 hectares of vegetable farms and 11 hectares of spices besides displacing 23,000 families under 55 villages. More than a hundred families residing in this district including that of N Muhindro who used to get 40 bags of rice (60kg per bag) on an average from his half of a hectare rice field are helpless as no alternative could be taken as the flood water that had destroyed the standing crops is yet to recede from their fields.

A progressive farmer Thokchom Ibomcha of Kakching Ningthou Leikai village in Thoubal district which supplies half of Manipur’s agricultural crops is also facing a similar trauma as unpredicted rain had destroyed the pea plants in his rice field measuring 1 hectare at Pallel Loukon Khunman Engkhol in the district. “The unpredicted rain destroyed the newly germinated pea plants in my field,” Ibomcha, the pioneer pea cultivator under zero tillage formula who had been annually getting an additional income of Rs 20,000 (for the last three years) from his pea plantation said.

Sharing a similar sentiment Oja Surjit of Kakching Senapati Leikai village who has a potato farm at the popular low lying field of Lousi Loukon, said, “The changes in the rainfall pattern makes things worse here in the field. Time has come for everyone to mitigate the situation.”

Similarly the untimely or unpredicted rain had even destroyed the standing chilli plants in various parts of the state. As a result locally grown green or dry chillies are not easily available in the market unlike in the previous year.

The climate change and subsequent human intervention has forced a young cultivator Ch Kishan of Saram Tangkhul village in Thoubal district to convert his flood prone rice field measuring 1.5 hectares into a Kouna or reed farm since last year. Nongpoksekmai River which passes near his field usually overflows during the monsoon season due to heavy siltatrion of the river bed.

“I started fish farming 10 years ago,” Kishan who believed that Kouna can be harvested thrice a year with less labour said. “Now I’m looking for a new option so that fish farming and Kouna cultivation can be integrated with less labour.” Kauna is a type of reed usually grown in the wetlands and marshes and is often used for making handicraft items. Thus Kishan and some Nongmaithet villagers have taken up the practice of Kauna cultivation and now they get 250 to 300 bundles per hectare (each bundle costs Rs 100). “However we’ve lost the charm of harvesting rice,” he lamented. “We used to get 80-100 bags of rice per hectare (A rice bag weighing 50kg costs Rs 800 in local market) during the better days.”

Due to drought last year, the state produced around 2.51 lakhs metric tonnes of rice against 5.18 lakhs metric tonnes in 2008-09. With enough rain, the state Agriculture Department is expecting to reach the 2008-09 production trend this year.

Contrary to farmers in the low lying valley area, tenant farmer J Hechuon of Bunglon village in Manipur’s hill district of Churachandpur, has the summer heat to blame for having to spend extra money to maintain his 2 hectare pineapple on the slopes of Khousabung hill range.

In the eighties this successful farmer used to get a profit of about Rs 20,000 annually from pineapple cultivation alone but now it has increased up to Rs 50,000. Like him, almost all the 60 households of Bunglon enjoyed similar incomes from pineapple farming alone.

The climate change has forced them to spend extra money for the protection of the fruits. “I’ve been spending Rs 5000 to 6000 in hiring local labourers to maintain the farm for the last two seasons,” the head of a 10 member joint family said. Officially, Manipur produces 1,09,519 metric tonnes of pineapples from its 12,048 hectares of farm land in 2008-09.

Unfortunately no scientific study has been done till date on climate change and its impact on the state’s agricultural sector. “So far no study has been done in this regard due to pre-occupation with several priority research works in the University,” Prof M Ruhinikumar, Director (Research) of CAU, Manipur said. “However we’re planning to take up not only the climate change factors but also other factors too, in the shortest possible time,” he said.

The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MEF) on the other hand has released the first ever comprehensive report on climate change impact and has categorised the North East states and three other regions namely the Himalayan region, the Coastal region and the Western Ghats of the country as regions which are most vulnerable to climate change.

It states that the Northeastern region is vulnerable to ‘water-induced disasters because of its location in the eastern Himalayan periphery, fragile geo-environmental setting and economic under-development’.

“The powerful hydrological and monsoon regime of the region, especially the Brahmaputra and the Barak (Meghna) river systems are both a resource and a source of vulnerability,” the report prepared by the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA), a network-based programme of the MEF which consists of over 120 institutions and over 250 scientists countrywide, states.

The Northeastern region having about 52 percent forest cover is recognized as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots due to its rich natural endowments besides constituting about one-fifth of the country’s total potential of petroleum and natural gas reserves.

Depicting scenarios for the 2030s as compared with the year 1970, India’s first climate change science assessment report has predicted overall increase of rainfall (0.3-3 percent) besides increase in intensity (1-6mm per day) in the North East but likely decrease in the number of rainy days (1-10 days). Similarly the region is likely to be warmer from 1.8 Celsius to 2.1 Celsius.

As a result, there is a likelihood that the region would be vector borne diseases prone (Malaria in particular) throughout the year from the present 6 months period, the report said.

Besides this, its probable impact on the agricultural sector could be huge with fall in rice yield between 5-10 percent and maize produce reduced by 40 percent against the country’s overall fall in rice and maize production between 5 to 20 percent. India needs an average rise in agricultural production of about 4% every year to ensure food at reasonable prices to all its citizens.

Moreover, the average state of economic development and growth in the North East is lower than in other part of the country. The average per-capita income of the region is approximately 30 percent lower than the national average, the report added. Assam and Manipur have the lowest per capita income in the region.

With regard to impact on water yield of the region, the report states that the trend in water yield in the Northeastern region is similar to the precipitation trend as the trend in precipitation in the region exhibits considerable spatial variability with respect to the predictions for the 2030s. “The reduction in water yield in Arunachal Pradesh is up to about 20%,” it said. “An increase in water yield is seen in Assam and Manipur and the magnitude is up to about 40%.”

“The present assessment attempts to bring together what is known as four major regions in India, namely the Himalayan region, the Northeastern region, the Western Ghats and the Coastal region in regard to observed climate and climate change projections for the year 2030s on 4 key sectors such as the agriculture, water, natural ecosystem, biodiversity and health,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in his forward note of the report. “As I have said in the past, no country in the world is as vulnerable, on so many dimensions, to climate change as India,” he added.