Ground water and farm incomes at risk from climate change in Tamil Nadu, India

Policy Brief No. 91-15

Research from South India suggests that climate change will affect ground water availability with serious and negative implications for agriculture. Any increase in temperature above a threshold of 34.3 degree centigrade, in particular, will have a negative effect on farm incomes. This threshold level of temperature has already been breached some 60 times in the last forty odd years.

Small and poor farmers will be the worst affected as a result of climatic effects. This is because they are unlikely to invest in additional or deeper wells to counter the effects of declining water tables and well failures. Two adaptation measures -- testing and dissemination of drought tolerant seed varieties and regulation of deep-bore wells -- will contribute to better conservation of scarce ground water resources.