Warm winter poses threat to optimum wheat yield in Madhya Pradesh

Most farmers in Madhya Pradesh may not be aware of the UN conference in Paris, but they are certainly losing sleep over climate change that threatens to impact the wheat yield this year.

“The temperatures have been exceptionally high for this time of the year, and it will certainly impact the yield of the early sown crop as low temperatures are needed for optimum tillering. The overall yield will depend on the ratio of early sown crop and the temperatures in the coming days,” agriculture expert and farmer Samar Singh said.

In October this year, scientists had advised the farmers to go for late sowing of wheat to neutralize the effect of comparatively warmer winter in Madhya Pradesh this year. The problem is that many farmers look at the availability of water rather than the temperatures before sowing the crop.

“At present, the nights are cool but temperature needs to come down in the coming days for optimum yield,” head of Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Indore regional station, Dr S V Sai Prasad said.

According to data of the state agriculture department, area under wheat cultivation is 55.85 lakh hectares this year and about 70% sowing of wheat has been completed.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Bhopal, has predicted relatively warmer winter in MP this year with temperatures expected to remain 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above the normal mark. Higher average temperatures would translate into a lesser intensity of cold, according to RMC.