Climate change may bring a better harvest in Kerala.
Climate change may prove beneficial to Kerala in select sectors notwithstanding its negative impacts, including sea-level rise.
The silver lining in the cloud is that it will increase the production of cocoa, coconut, and arecanut and positively influence the recruitment and catches of oil sardine during the post-south-west monsoon, says the second national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The communication was prepared by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
A prediction on coconut farming made using a "validated coconut simulation model" stated that the yields were likely to be "positively influenced" by an increase in carbon dioxide (CO) and temperature of up to three degree Celsius. Researchers used the simulation model where the impact of elevated temperature and CO on coconut yields was simulated for different agro-climatic zones, it said.
In the plantation crop sector, cocoa will also be "influenced indirectly by the increase in atmospheric temperature. Analysis indicated that a rise in temperature by 1 degree Celsius should be beneficial for crop productivity." The improvement in production, according to the report, was projected to be about 100 kg of dry beans per hectare.
