Agroclimatic approach for improving sowing decisions

Abstract

For successful crop planning, farmers require information on the optimum crop sowing window. Traditionally, farmers take up sowing with the onset of monsoon during rainy (kharif) season, which may cause crop failure in the case of early season drought or break monsoon just after the onset. In this regard, to work out the onset dates of the crop growing season over 19 Agro-Ecological Regions (AER) of India, 3 methods, viz. Soil Water Balance, Depth and modified Morris and Zandesta methods were used. Soil Water Balance method was found to be the most suitable but it is data-intensive. Therefore, Modified threshold Combination (MTC) method comprising 40 combitions of rainfall information was employed to find out the onset dates. The results revealed that, in humid and per-humid regions, MTC criteria worked well, while in semi-arid and arid regions, onset dates outside of sowing window and false onset were found frequently. This necessitates further refinement of the criteria especially for the arid and semi-arid regions. The outcome of the present study will help the farmers and policy makers in planning and managing the agricultural activities.