Expected heat waves may affect production and prices of veggies/fruits this summer

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, March 9

It is not just the wheat crop that farmers in India are currently worried about. Expected heat waves and spike in temperatures between March-May are also expected to affect the production of vegetables, especially the leafy green variety, and India’s “king of fruits”—Mango—according to reports.

This year, the month of February was the hottest on record in India since 1901, as per the IMD.The IMD has also warned of a hotter March, April and May and heat waves in several parts, including Northwest and Central India. The growing possibility of El Nino is further adding to the worries.

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review preparedness for hot weather.

Experts say the possibility of higher temperatures and heat waves between March and May is expected to hit production and result in an increase in prices of some vegetables and fruits. Some of these may report a fall up to 30 per cent due to the flowering and fruiting process being adversely affected by higher temperatures.

There have also been reports of a drop being reported in flowering in mango in some parts.

The sudden and early onset of summer may also affect the yield and quality of citrus fruits, bananas, lychee and vegetables like cabbage and tomatoes.

It may come as a contradiction but higher temperatures also led to the crash of the prices of onion, potato and cauliflower in some parts of the country.

The rise in temperature in Maharashtra in February made late Kharif onion prone to damage, leading to early off-loading and thereby triggering price collapse in Lasalgaon.

Onion was not the only crash reported this year so far. The prices of cauliflower, cabbage and tomato too fell. Not realising the cost ofproduction, farmers in Punjab destroyed their cauliflower crop. The prices of potato also reported a sharpdrop in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Bengal, as per reports.

Decreased rainfall

Not just higher temperatures, at 7.2 mm India experienced the sixth lowest rainfall since 1901 in February, 68 per cent less than the LPA of 22.7 mm.

According to the IMD, the rainfall over Central India was nil—lowest since 1901.

Northwest, including Punjab and Haryana, received 76 per cent less rain in February—only 10.9 mm against the normal of 44.9 mm.

The winter rains are very important for Rabi crops. However, while Punjab and Haryana are well irrigated, around two-third of India’s agricultural tracts depend upon seasonal rains, that is the monsoon. Monsoon is also crucial to replete rivers, lakes, reservoirs, groundwater—the overall water management of the country.

The looming threat of El Nino has only aggravated the worries of those involved with agriculture.

Agriculture and climate change

Last year, India experienced the hottest March in over 100 years—a situation that affected the wheat production and forced the government to take several remedial measures, including curbing wheat exports and increased paddy in PDS.

Climate change is affecting food production and supplies globally, including“first world” countrieslike Spain and the United Kingdom.

Strange as it may sound, after facing higher electricity bills and cost of living, people in the UK are currently facing a shortage of basic vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.

Apparently, high energy costs in winter led to lesser production in greenhouses of Britain and the Netherlands.

Crops like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers are grown in greenhouses because of low temperatures in these regions. Vegetables and fruits are also imported from the warmer countries in Europe and Northern Africa.

According to reports the UK procures around 95 per cent tomatoes and 90 per cent lettuce from Spain and North Africa.

However, exports of fruit and vegetables from Spain were reportedly lower than last year due to weather conditions.

To some extent ‘Brexit’ was also said to be responsible for the situation. Earlier, as a part of the common market,the movement of goods was done more freely, as per reports.