Question : Impact of Weak Monsoon on Agriculture

(a) whether the Government has any proposal to assess the impact of weak monsoon/ deficient rainfall in the country in the last three years;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the impact of such situations on the farmers and production of various agricultural items in the country, State-wise;

(c) the steps being taken by preparing any contingency plan to tackle such situations; and

(d) the steps being taken to educate and train farmers to overcome such situations in future with modern techniques and the latest technology?

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

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(a) to (d): Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has assessed the impact of deficit rainfall in the country in the last three years under National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project. Field experiments and simulation studies were carried out in agriculture and allied sectors by ICAR Institutes located in different parts of the country. Studies indicate that there seems to be a direct relation between deficit rainfall and yields of maize and rainfed rice.

Under NICRA, attempts are being made to develop drought tolerant rice, wheat and pulses. Findings of NICRA have led to release of a few drought tolerant crop varieties.



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ICAR-CRIDA along with other ICAR institutes, State Agriculture Universities and KVKs has prepared District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACP) for 650 districts recommending location specific climate resilient crops and varieties and management practices for use by the state departments of agriculture and farmers.

The district-based agriculture contingency plans are also being updated in consortium mode with participation of State agriculture/horticulture and veterinary universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and ICAR institutes.

The technologies/practices to cope with delayed onset of monsoon/deficit rainfall have been demonstrated. Demonstration of location specific climate resilient technologies is being taken up in 151 climatically vulnerable districts to enable farmers to cope with the current climatic variability and to enhance their adaptive capacity. In the past six years, 14,407 training programs were conducted throughout the country under NICRA project to educate farmers on various aspects of climate change and resilient technologies, covering 3,72,897 farmers so as to enable wider adoption of climate resilient technologies and increase in yields.









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