Research Article Open Access

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON CROP WATER REQUIREMENT FOR SUKHI RESERVOIR PROJECT

Abstract

Climate can be defined as the ―expected weather‖ and when changes in the expected weather occur, we call these climate changes. With respect to the relations between the hydrological cycle and the climate system, every change on the climate could affect all meteorological parameters and this leads to change in the crop water requirement in agriculture. Considering this, a study was carried out to assess the impact of climate change on crop water requirement for the crops grown in the Sukhi command area of Vadodara district, Gujarat. For this study, daily meteorological data like maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, sunshine hours and rainfall for the period 2003 to 2009 are used. Cropping pattern data and crop data was used for this study. Future climate data were predicted for the periods of 2011-2030, 2046-2065 and 2080-2099 considering A2 scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (IPCC SRES) using stochastic weather generator named Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG 5.0) considering HADCM3 (Hadley centre Unified Model 3) scenario file. Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) was determined using mean monthly meteorological data with the help of CROPWAT 8.0 and then crop water requirement (ETc) was determined. Results shows the clear effect of climate change on crop water requirement of Rabi and Hot Weather crops. Results shows that crop water requirement of all Hot Weather crops (Millet, Ground nut, Maize, Small vegetables and Tomato) in all future periods is increasing as compared to base period 2003-2009. Crop water requirement of Rabi crops (Wheat, Sorghum, Maize, Small Vegetables, Tomato, Gram and Cowpeas) shows negligible decrease in crop water requirement in the period 2011-2020 but all crops shows considerable increasing water requirement in the period 2021-2030 including the periods 2046-2065 and 2080-2099 as compared to base period 2003-2009. For meeting the increasing water demand and to increase yield, over all water resources should be increased by doing water conservation practices effectively and also farmers’ should be motivated to use drip or sprinkler irrigation system instead of flooding methods

Dr. Falguni Parekh, Kevin Pramodchandra Prajapati

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