EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON CROP WATER REQUIREMENT IN VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

Water is important for life and it is becoming a scarce resource in the future owing to climate change. To apply irrigation water efficiently, the water requirement of the crops is to be estimated accurately. The crop water requirements (CWR) may currently be estimated using a variety of computer models. A computer program called CROPWAT 8.0 was created by Joss Swennenhuis and calculates the summarized irrigation water requirements of a complex scenario. In this study, the weather data from 2011 to 2020 was collected from the Regional Agriculture Research Station, and calculated the average weather data for estimating the CWR. CWR for varietal crops in Anakapalle for Paddy (Kharif), Paddy (rabi), Green gram, Maize, Groundnut (Kharif), Groundnut (rabi), Cotton (Kharif), Cotton (rabi), Sugarcane and Small vegetables was 559.5 mm, 460.0 mm, 253.8 mm, 336.6 mm, 301.9 mm, 253.0 mm, 490.3 mm, 469.5 mm, 1284.8 mm and 346.8 mm respectively. The MarkSim weather generator forecasted the weather conditions using models HADGEM2-ES and MIROC- ESM–CHEM for the years 2030, 2040, and 2050. It was observed that there is an increase in crop water requirement with the range of 12.00 to 13.50%, 13.50 to 14.51%, and 14.51 to 15.74 percent for the years 2030, 2040, and 2050.