Abstract
Agriculture in South Asia is largely dependent on rainfall, where about two-thirds of the cultivable lands lack irrigation facilities. In recent years, increasing frequency and severity of droughts have had a severe impact on rainfed agriculture and livelihood of millions of farmers in the region. There are numerous drought adaptation and mitigation options available for rainfed agriculture. A seed bank is one of those options that can play an important role in minimizing the effect of droughts on crop production. This paper assesses the need for seed banks in rainfed/partially irrigated areas of South Asia for the purpose of drought risk management. The need for additional seeds of the main crops or suitable alternative crops for re-sowing/planting after drought-induced losses of the main crop was assessed by using long-term gridded rainfall data and crop information. Results show that very limited rainfed areas in South Asia require additional seeds of main or alternative crops for drought risk management once in five to seven years’ drought return period. About 90 percent of such areas in South Asia may require additional seeds for drought risk management once in 10 years or more. The timing and severity of droughts during cropping season and cost/benefits of seed bank maintenance play a major role in choosing additional seeds for the main crops and/or alternate crops for maintenance in the large seed banks. This study shows that, despite the large investment requirement, maintenance of large seed banks for drought risks management is economically viable for the limited areas in South Asia.
Highlights
Erratic rains and droughts are among the major constraints in agricultural production in South Asia, where more than 700 million people are directly dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods [1,2]
This paper presents a scientific assessment of the role that large seed banks can play in drought risk management during a particular period of cropping season in the rainfed and partially irrigated agricultural areas
The analysis of long-term gridded rainfall data for all South Asian countries indicates that drought during the four weeks of the crop sowing period followed by normal rainfall is a more common scenario than normal rainfall during crop sowing weeks followed by severe drought
Summary
Erratic rains and droughts are among the major constraints in agricultural production in South Asia, where more than 700 million people are directly dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods [1,2]. Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have reported droughts at least once every three years, while Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal have suffered from frequent droughts. The major drought-prone states in India are Rajasthan, Gujrat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha [5,6]. Large parts of southern Afghanistan, southern parts of Pakistan (Baluchistan and Sindh States), north-western Bangladesh (Rajshahi, Khushtia, Jessore, and Khulna Divisions) and north-western Nepal experience frequent droughts [7,8,9]. Between 1900 and 2015, droughts affected 1.06 billion people and resulted in losses amounting to approximately US $ 5.4 billion [4]
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