1. STUDY OF AGROCLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF NAGARJUNA SAGAR RESERVOIR TO REDUCE
VULNERABILITY USING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
SATYENDRA TRIPATHI & A. VASAN
Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management
Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
Shameerpet Mandal, Jawahar Nagar
Hyderabad 500078, India
OVERVIEW RESULTS
The biomass produced according to the simulation is 10.355 tonnes/hectare out of a potential of 10.826 tonnes/hectare for the
Climate change is the biggest environmental and developmental challenge facing humanity. Projected climate change given soil conditions which gives us 96% efficiency. Adjusted Harvest Index is determined to be 52.6% with a reference HI <=50
is likely to impact all natural resources, agriculture, and food security systems in the coming decades. There is %, considers technical and management improvements over time and increases the accuracy of the simulations. ET water
realization at the global and national levels on the need for mitigation and adaptation to address the impending productivity calculated as per biomass 2.09 kg/m3 and yield 1.10 kg/m3 whereas, crop-water productivity was determined to be 70
climate change. The effects of climate change reflect change in global to local markets that may amplify the g/m2 or 0.170 tonnes/hectare.
importance of sustainable management practices. Vulnerability refers to the potential of a system to be harmed by an
external stress. The impacts of climate change on the key sector of “agriculture” is represented by the change in
indicators such as relative variability of rainfall, water availability, crop water demand (evapotranspiration) and
precipitation pattern. These indicators have been derived from the impact assessment model named “AquaCrop”.
AquaCrop is a crop water productivity model developed to simulate yield response to water of herbaceous crops, and
is particularly suited to address conditions where water is key limiting factor in crop production. To reduce the
vulnerability, biomass is a key factor in agriculture and carbon benefits (C-benefits) such as carbon stock
enhancement in most natural resources and agriculture could be considered as an additional factor. Enhancement of
carbon stock could contribute to improve the soil fertility and thereby increased crop yields. Similarly, enhancement in
C-benefits could contribute to reduce the vulnerability through enhanced and stabilized crop yields as well as
diversification of income sources. Vulnerability study has been carried out for a case study of Nagarjuna Sagar
command area (16.6N, 79.33E) located in Nalagonda district, Andhra Pradesh, India. For the case study
area, AquaCrop model assessed the actual biomass as 10.355 tonnes/hectare compared to the potential of 10.8236
tonnes/hectare for the given soil fertility with 92% efficiency and adjusted harvested index of 52.6%. Biomass can be
achieved up to 16.983 tonnes/hectare under controlled/ managed crop management practice. Most carbon
enhancement interventions are likely to have positive socio-economic and environmental implication. These
indicators are utilized to assess the future vulnerability to climate change. It is concluded from the results that majority Fig. 1 ET (1969-2005) Fig. 2 Temperature variations (1969-2005)
of the command area under Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir are subjected to climate induced vulnerability currently and
also in the near future.
INTRODUCTION
There is global interest in promoting mitigation and adaption in agriculture, and other land use sectors to address the
twin goals of climate change and sustainable development. Agriculture management and production is facing complex
challenges such as the impact of climate variability and change, land degradation, increased competition for water, and
loss of carbon stocks in agricultural lands. It is found that the impact on crop production due to loss of carbon stock
and how to enhance crop production through increased carbon stocks have been ignored in most analyses.
However, sustainable agriculture, low-carbon farming, and climate-smart agriculture initiatives that incorporate
conservation agriculture, soil-nutrient management etc., promote enhancement of carbon stocks as co-benefits. To
reduce vulnerability, biomass is a key factor in agriculture and C-benefits such as carbon stock enhancement in most
:
natural resources, and agriculture could be considered as an additional factor. Enhancement of carbon stock could
contribute to improve soil fertility and thereby increased crop yield. Similarly, enhancement in C-benefits could
contribute to reduce the vulnerability through enhanced and stabilized crop yield as well as diversification of income
sources.
Fig. 3 Crop development-canopy cover Fig. 4 CWP – Biomass estimation
The following objectives are adopted during the vulnerability study of the areas, namely
 Estimation of soil water evapotranspiration
 Estimation of possible Biomass production using AquaCrop model
 Enhancement of carbon stock using sustainable agriculture practice
METHODOLOGY:
Fig. 5 Variation in soil evaporation when Fig. 6 Soil-water profile
the soil surface is wet and Root Zone
Depletion
Fig. 7 Various indices
Flow Chart : Functional relationship mechanism of AquaCrop Model (source: FAO 2010)
CONCLUSION
For this case study, we assessed the actual biomass to be 10.355 tonnes/hectare compared to the potential of 10.8236 tonnes/hectare for the given soil fertility with 92% efficiency and adjusted harvested index of 52.6%. Biomass can be achieved up
to 16.983 tonnes/hectare under controlled/managed crop management practices. Most carbon enhancement interventions are likely to have positive socio-economic and environmental implications. These indicators are utilized to assess the future
vulnerability to climate change. It is concluded from the results that majority of the command area under Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir are subjected to climate induced vulnerability.