Commodity Online
MAHBUBNAGAR, AP (Commodity Online): When there is severe drought or heavy flooding, the natural response of villagers to is abandon their land, cattle and flee to cities where they face an uncertain future. Now, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has shown how the use of information technology can help save villagers from incurring heaving losses when natural calamities strike and help prevent migration to cities.

When monsoon rains got delayed last year, the ICRISAT saved thousands of villagers from incurring heavy losses in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. Rains in 21 villages of Adakkal block in Mahbubnagar were 90% less than normal in June and July 2009 – the driest in 80 years. Yet many villagers did not migrate. Compare this with the monsoon of 2002, when a severe drought forced villager after villager to abandon their land and cattle and flee to cities.

Along with the government’s daily wage job schemes, ICRISAT’s farming systems meant for adverse weather prevented several villagers from migrating this year.

In partnerhsip with a women's self helf group Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya (AMS), ICRISAT helps villagers helps farmers understand the severity of drought and has launched a drought preparedness programme.

Preparing forecasts with science tools
As part of ICRISAT’s drought-preparedness program, surface water found in tanks, ponds, lakes and streams is measured using data and images available with the US Geological Survey that utilizes the Landsat remote sensing imagery.

Also, with the help of on-site surveys, accumulation of silt and weeds in water bodies are examined along with the encroachment on reservoir beds. Field surveys are then combined with animal and human population data to calculate the water needs of humans, livestock and fields in each of the 21 villages. The gap between water requirement and availability is carefully estimated.

Join India’s fastest growing B2B platform

Since the shortfall is almost entirely met by rains, weather predictions by institutes such as the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) are also compiled. Data are then brought together and studied to develop forecasts of the level of drought in each village.

Forecasts come in the form of color-coded maps, which are created with the help of geographic information system (GIS), where the color red points to regions likely to face an intense drought. Yellow suggests a less intense drought while green denotes slight drought conditions.

With state government support at the initial stage, ICRISAT set up an information hub with some computers and cell phone-based internet connection. What's more, village knowledge centers, also with computers and internet services, were established in eight villages. The maps are sent to the AMS volunteers through the internet, who then save them on the computers. They make color copies available for display and discussions in the villages.

The volunteers have also been trained to interpret the color-coded maps. They even know how to measure rainfall using a rain gauge, and regularly upload the data on a website maintained by ICRISAT at www.vasat.icrisat.org. The near-real time data is used to adjust the forecast of drought severity.

Post your comment  (0)

Connect:

Post to Twitter

Post to Facebook