IMPACT OF TEMPERATURE INCREASES ON AGRICULTURE IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT: A GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

  Agriculture is a primary economic activity which includes not only cultivation but livestock ranching, dairy farming, lumbering, irrigation and most of other activities. ‘‘Agriculture covers those productive efforts by which man settled on land, seeks to make use of and if possible, accelerate and improve upon the natural genetic or growth processes of plants and animal life, to the end that these processes will yield the vegetable and animal products needed and wanted by man” (Prithwish Roy, 2004). Increased temperatures have significant negative effects on agriculture, such as reduced crop yields due to heat stress, accelerated plant development, and increased water evaporation and soil moisture stress. These effects are particularly pronounced for foundational crops like wheat, rice, and maize. Furthermore, higher temperatures contribute to the proliferation of agricultural pests and diseases, further threatening food production and leading to increased water scarcity and soil degradation. An attempt has been made to study impact of temperature increases on agriculture in Solapur district.