Impact of Climate Variability on Crop Production in Marathwada Region of Maharashtra

This study has been undertaken to examine the impact of climate variables on agricultural production in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, one of the major agrarian state which has adversely affected agriculture and nearly 82% area of state which fall under rainfed sector, is under severe stress. Nearly 52% of state area is drought prone with districts having a frequent unequal distribution of rainfall every 5 years and severe drought conditions for once in every decade. Out of 36 districts in Maharashtra, 21 are facing drought according to simulation studies. Variations in climatic variables affect the performance of crops and induce shifts in cropping pattern. The present paper aims at understanding climatic variability in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. The cropping pattern of Maharashtra has shifted towards pulses and cash crops like cotton from the earlier cereal-centric system. Cotton and soybean in the Marathwada shows high instability in yield. Impact of climatic variables on crops like cotton, sorghum, soybean, and red gram has also been estimated and we found that the variables like rainfall and square of rainfall have significant impact on yield of respective crops. On the other hand, minimum temperature has significant impact on cotton and sorghum yields and maximum temperature has significant impact on cotton, and red gram yield.