20 Dec In-situ moisture conservation: A step towards smart agriculture
स्वस्थानी नमी संरक्षण: स्मार्ट कृषि की दिशा में एक कदम Nowadays, there is a need to consider and take a note of the water management in agriculture. Ground water level is declining rapidly and surface water is also under dwindling situations due to increased evapo-transpiration as a result of global warming and disturbed rainfall pattern. Agriculture, being totally dependent on irrigation and rainfall being the sole scarce source of water, has led to multiple problems in the past several decades. It can be well illustrated through the meteorological data of ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat & Barley Research, Karnal that there has been a reduction in the number of rainy days by 22% from 1972 to 2015. The rainfall distribution pattern has changed during the peak monsoon (south-west) months viz. fifty percent reduction in rainy days during July, whereas 25 percent reduction in August. Similarly 25-50 percent reduction has been observed in winter months (January & December) and 25 percent during summers. The frequent drizzling during monsoons has changed to occasional torrential outbursts and the humidity in the atmosphere has also come down. Though macro factors in the universe have a major role in influencing the global climate, micro level environmental conditions modify at regional level. For example, evergreen trees which have high timber...