What characteristics can be assigned to monsoon climate that succeeds in feeding more than 50 percent of…

Question

What characteristics can be assigned to monsoon climate that succeeds in feeding more than 50 percent of the world population residing in Monsoon Asia?

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

The monsoon feeds Monsoon Asia because its rain arrives with summer heat, its reversing winds set a predictable cropping calendar and its floods renew fertile river plains suited to wet rice. India's south-west monsoon alone brings nearly 75% of the country's annual rainfall.

**Introduction**

The monsoon is a seasonal reversal of winds, driven by the ITCZ's northward shift and land-sea heating contrast, that brings most of the year's rain in the hot season. This rhythm sustains the rice-and-river economies feeding over half of humanity.

**Monsoon Climate Traits That Sustain Farming**

1. **Rain with warmth**: Summer rain coincides with peak temperatures, and India's south-west monsoon brings nearly 75% of annual rainfall, against a long period average of 87 cm (IMD).
2. **Seasonal wind reversal**: Onshore summer winds and offshore winter winds create the predictable wet-dry calendar of kharif and rabi.
FIGURE: geography-p17-2 | Seasonal reversal of winds as the ITCZ shifts north in summer and south in winter
3. **Year-round warmth**: Warm temperatures with mild winters, aided by irrigation, allow two or three crops a year in the Mekong delta and Indo-Gangetic plain.

**How These Traits Feed Monsoon Asia's Billions**

1. **Wet-rice ecology**: Concentrated rain suits flooded paddy, and Asia grows and eats roughly 90% of the world's rice.
2. **Fertile river plains**: Monsoon floods of the Ganga, Mekong and Yangtze renew alluvial soils that carry some of the densest rural populations on Earth.
3. **Water banking**: Recharged aquifers and reservoirs irrigate the dry season, vital where about half of India's net sown area is rainfed.

**Way Forward**

1. **Forecast and store**: Mission Mausam (2024) advisories and PMKSY's Per Drop More Crop can time sowing and stretch monsoon water.
2. **Resilient crops and cover**: ICAR's NICRA varieties and PMFBY insurance can buffer delayed onsets and El Niño years.

**Conclusion**

Warm-season rain, reversing winds and silt-renewed plains make the monsoon the life-support system of Asia's rice economy. Securing it against rising variability is central to the region's food security and SDG 2 on Zero Hunger.

What characteristics can be assigned to monsoon climate that succeeds in feeding more than 50 percent of the world population residing in Monsoon Asia?

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