AGRICULTURE - COMPLETED

Agroclimatology of Karnataka

It is well recognised that for an agro-based economy like ours, the study of meterology is crucial. The predictions that an agriculturist requires pertain to soil-moisture variation in certain crucial stages of crop growth. While the meterologist measures regularly only one factor contributing to soil moisture , namely rainfall. Thus, the problem is truly complex, and a major lacuna is the development of a odel of the variation of the vertical profile of soil moisture as a response to variations of rainfall under varying conditions of climate, soil and plant cover. Information currently available on the average distribution of rainfall for the year as a whole and for the various seasons, as well as charts showing variability of rainfall, do not lend themselves to direct utilisation in agricultural planning. Nor can such information be directly utilised for decision making in agricultural operations. The primary step for effective agricultural planning, therefore, would be determine the duration of the farming season at an operational level. KSCST identified a project on the Agroclimatology of Karnataka with the objective of processing available rainfall data for the state in order to generate information which could be directlyused for planning of agricultural operations. Eight Districts were studied. These districts fall in the semi aid tracts of Karnataka and comprise of Tumkur, Kolar, Chitradurga, Dharwar, Bangalore, Bidar, Bijapur and Gulbarga. The basic input for the analysis was a daily rainfall data for the period 1921-1970. On the basis of this analysis, recommendations have been arrive at for each district and these pertain to the choice of crop varieties which would lead to an optimal utilisation of available rain water.

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