Regional climate change and climatic swings with special reference to production of rice and water resource potential in Chhattisgarh region of Central India

In the Chhattisgarh region of Central India, rice is grown in about 3.8 million hectare area of which more than 80% is rainfed. The average productivity of rice in this region is about 1.2 t ha -1 which is very low. A study on temporal variations of rainfall and rainy days has been made for different districts of Chhattisgarh region from the beginning of this century. The results revealed that there is an alarming decreasing trend of rainfall in some pockets in this region. Not only the quantum of rainfall, but also the number of rainy days is decreasing during the cropping season. The decreasing trend of annual rainfall is observed in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Balaghat and Rajnandgaon districts. As regards the number of annual rainy days, which determine the length of growing season, decreasing trend over the decades could clearly be seen at Durg, Balaghat, Raigarh and Bilaspur districts. Also it was noted that the rate of decrease for these stations in the recent decades is much higher than in the previous decades. The implication of this conclusion is that our future agricultural planning must take account of this decreas ing trend. Short duration but high yielding crop varieties need to be developed and brought under cultivation for successful agriculture including weather package as an input. The study on storage index attempts to understand the harvesting potential of the Chhattisgarh plains region in different months which is falling in the recent years during the months of September and October. In districts like Raipur, Bilaspur and Balaghat where there is a significant increase in irrigation resources, rice productivity has significantly increased over the decades.