A shortage of monsoon showers can adversely impact the state’s agriculture scene. But in these days of climate change where predictions like the monsoon go haywire, vegetable cultivation appears to have succeeded in weathering this, thanks to the copious pre-summer and summer showers.
According to scientists at the regional agriculture research station, Pattambi, sufficient summer showers and insufficient monsoon have helped vegetable cultivation across the state.
Sufficient quantity of water at the correct time is critical for achieving the optimum benefits from vegetable cultivation. The crop water requirement, termed evapotranspiration, is equal to the quantity of water lost from the plant plus that lost from the soil by surface evaporation during summer.
Numerous factors need to be considered while estimating evapotranspiration. The amount of solar radiation which provides the energy to help evaporate moisture from the soil and plant surfaces is the major factor.
Other factors include day length, air temperature, wind speed and humidity levels.
“We’ve received a fair amount of summer showers in the past four or five years and this has helped vegetable cultivation in its early stages,” says M. L. Jyothi, scientist at the Pattambi agriculture research station.
