Climatic trends and its impact on rice production in different agroclimatic zones of West Bengal, India

Changing climate has become one of the major perils for agriculture throughout the world. Rice is one of the most important food grains in India. In this study, the effect of climatic factors on rice production of different agroclimatic zones and districts of West Bengal, India, has been assessed for the period of 1996-2019. Mann-Kendall test was used to figure out trend, Sen’s slope estimator to figure out the degree of change, Pettitt’s test to detect change point in the data, and finally, multiple linear regression to understand the relationship between climatic factors and rice yield. The results reveal that, in general, the rainfall is decreasing. Area is decreasing, and yield is increasing significantly in most cases. Production is increasing, but not significantly everywhere. In West Bengal and specifically in the Vindhyan Alluvial Zone, climatic factors have a significant impact on yield. Bankura is the only district in West Bengal without a significant increase in yield due to a lack of irrigation facilities and other non-environmental factors.