At just 73.8mm, summer rain disappoints farmers in dist

Coimbatore: The district has received only 73.8mm rain this summer (March to May) against the normal rainfall of 127.3mm. In fact, it is one of the lowest summer rainfall in the past 10 years.
As per the data available with the agriculture department, the district has received lesser summer rainfall two times than this year - in 2016 (52.6mm) and 2019 (73.6mm).
This year, there were 10 rainy days in the district in summer season. For a day to be considered rainy there should be a minimum of 2.5mm showers in 24 hours. While there wasn’t any rainy day in March, there were four rainy days in April and six in May.
The district had recorded above the average summer rainfall in 2018 (205.5mm) and 2015 (309.3mm). On both the occasions, there was excessive rain.
Experts say the nature of summer rain is erratic, hence farmers cannot plan any agriculture activities. Most of the farmers make use of the summer rain to prepare their fields for kharif season. Only those who have alternative water sources such as borewells and wells would take up cultivation activities during summer rain.
S P Ramanathan, professor and head, Agro Climate Research Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, says the summer rainfall is called convective rainfall, which occurs when the heated air from the earth’s surface rises upwards along with the water vapour and gets condensed when it reaches a higher altitude.
“We can expect only sporadic rainfall in summer. It is not dependable rainfall for crops. Hence, farmers mostly make use of it only to make their fields ready for the next crop. Farmers can, however, stay positive as monsoon rain is expected in three days, as the wind is fast approaching,” he says.
Santhosh Krishnan, a weather blogger, said the summer rain has always been erratic. “But the degree of variation has been increasing over the decades, because of factors such as global warming and climate change.”