Jowar can emerge as India’s sustainable alternative to wheat, says study

Climate experts have warned that the increase in temperatures due to climate change could adversely affect the wheat crop, causing concern among wheat-growing countries such as India.

The worst fears were realized with the discovery by a multinational research team that wheat is highly sensitive to increases in daily temperature extremes during multiple stages of its growth in the post-monsoon period and the dry winter season.

But the team said all is not lost. She said that jawar (sorghum) could intervene as a viable alternative. “Jawwar is able to handle temperature increases with much less impact on crops. There is an added advantage as well. Wheat needs 1.4 times more water than Jawar because of its extension of its growing cycle into summer,” the study said.

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wheat allergy

The study was conducted by researchers from Columbia University, USA. Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China; Indian School of Business; and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

The paper, “Climate resistance of dry-season grains in India,” was published in Nature’s Scientific Reports. Examining the sensitivity of wheat and neighboring crops to temperature rise and comparing water requirements under different scenarios.

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Wheat yields are likely to decline by 5 percent along with a large increase in water footprint by 2040, the paper said. Jawar, in this case, is India’s best bet with a meager 4 percent increase in water footprint with the same climate outlook, he argued. .

The highest producer of wheat

India is the second largest producer of wheat in the world, the newspaper said, having recorded a whopping 40 percent increase in production since the early 2000s.

“We have reached a critical turning point in India’s agricultural landscape. Our research highlights the urgent need for climate-smart agricultural interventions, particularly in the Rabi season,” said Ashwini Chhatri, co-author of the study and executive director of the Bharti Institute for Public Policy at ISB.

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“Conventionally grown sorghum or jowar is emerging as a game-changer, providing flexibility to predicted climate changes and requiring much less water than wheat,” he said.

Total wheat production in the country has increased since the turn of the century due to increases in yield (26 percent) and increases in area (17 percent). On the other hand, the production of jawar decreased by 5 percent in the same time period. This decrease comes despite a 37 percent increase in yield and is due to a 21 percent loss in area under production.

to caution

Agronomists were defending the prevailing trends in India towards the expansion of wheat cultivation from the north to the hotter parts of the country.

The study indicates a strong need to consider climate resilient strategies for spring-sown grains and amplifies calls by scientists and activists to diversify fall grains away from rice. “In addition to sorghum (jawar), we can explore millet crops such as pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), foxtail millet, barnyard millet, etc., as a suitable substitute for rice or wheat,” Arabinda Badi, Principal Secretary for Agriculture said Government of Odisha.