Poor farmers in drought affected regions are in a desperate situation and are taking extreme steps such as suicides. What are the causes for droughts and how can this problem be mitigated?

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Poor farmers in drought affected regions are in a desperate situation and are taking extreme steps such as suicides. What are the causes for droughts and how can this problem be mitigated?
Approach:
  • Brief Introduction to droughts in India
  • Mention causes for droughts, and briefly mention problems that arise due to them
  • Discuss how to mitigate drought problem.
  • Conclude appropriately
Model Answer :
Drought results from long period of dry weather and insufficient precipitation, which causes acute dry conditions. In India around 68 percent of the country is prone to drought in varying degrees. Since agriculture is the major source of livelihood in India, successive droughts have led to crop failures creating acute rural distress leading to farmer suicides.
Factors responsible for droughts in India:
Natural factors:
  • The South-west monsoon accounts for 70 to 80 per cent of the annual rainfall over major parts of India. Failure of monsoon is a major reason for droughts in India.
  • Skewed distribution of monsoon rains across different regions of India make some regions chronically prone to droughts.
  • Depletion of surface and sub-surface water resources, especially in areas of low yearly rainfall.
  • Climatological factors like El Nino impact the onset of southwest monsoon and moisture carrying capacity.
Anthropogenic factors:
  • Inappropriate agricultural activities leading to excessive water use cause depletion in water levels.
  • Activities such as deforestation and encroachment of wetlands lessen the ability of land to hold water.
  • Anthropogeic activities leading to global warming, result in fluctuations in phenomenon like monsoons.
Droughts have severe economic, social and environmental consequences. Water bodies gets dried up, soil quality and crop yields gets reduced, farmer distress increases culminating into hunger, malnutrition, deaths and farmer suicides.
As a result, there has been a shift in approach to drought from relief centric approach to holistic and integrated management with emphasis on prevention, mitigation and preparedness.
Droughts can be mitigated by:
  • Systems: Drought monitoring, advanced warning systems and Drought Management Plans at various levels.
  • Integrated Watershed Management: Focus should be on conserving and developing degraded natural resources including water through moisture conservation, rain water harvesting etc. especially in drought-prone areas and deserts.
  • Irrigation: Irrigation facilities reduce dependency on monsoon, and techniques like drip irrigation reduce usage of water. Ex- SAUNI project.
  • Agriculture: Proper agricultural practices (right crops, crop rotation etc.) based on agro-climatic conditions
  • Capacity Development: Human resource development, training, education (including public awareness campaigns) and capacity building
  • Crop Insurance
Climate change will potentially increasing the frequency of events like droughts, which can lead crop losses, distress and widespread unemployment. While drought mitigation measures can significantly improve the coping capacity and dampen the impact of drought, if drought conditions worsen, many agencies of the state and centre will have to work in concert to prevent acute rural distress.

Subjects : Disaster Management