Worst Monsoon Start In 80 Years Has Indian Govt. Scrambling To Irrigate Crops - Power Lacking

[hatrack]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is scrambling to divert power supplies to the countryside to irrigate rice and oilseed crops and limit damage after the worst start to the vital monsoon season in eight decades has raised fears of a drought.

The shift threatens to worsen the summer power deficit that has plagued India for decades, particularly with the country's hydropower plants running below 40 percent of capacity as scanty rains have depleted reservoirs.

Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is worried about the shortfall in monsoon rains as hydropower accounts for one quarter of India's total power generation of 149,400 megawatts.

He said the government had ensured a higher supply of electricity to Punjab and Haryana states, the key grain producing regions, to help irrigation. "They have the water but they don't have the power," Shinde said, adding India already faced a power shortage of 15,000-20,000 megawatts. India's farm minister, Sharad Pawar, said on Monday that monsoon rains were expected to improve this week, while the latest weather office bulletin forecasts heavy rains in coastal areas of southern India and parts of central India.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE56D3VE20090714

[lapfog_1]

1. Punjab doesn't really have the water

Punjab is the "bread basket" of India, one of the most agricultural areas in the country.

Land is very pricey there because almost all of it is farmed, usually by small family units that farm one or two acres of land, rented from the land owners.

Irrigation water has been harder and harder to get as the water table has been dropping by up to 10 feet every year.

The energy (diesel) needed to pump from deeper and deeper wells is bankrupting these small farmers.

All too often, the small peasant farmers are committing suicide in the face of rising costs and harder work.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/india-1500-farmers-commit_n_187649.html

[GliderGuider]

2. But ... nobody could have foreseen this!

It's not like climate change creates rainfall variability, or something.

I've always maintained that the big threat from AGW isn't rising sea levels, it's the effect on agriculture from the disruption of rainfall patterns.