-LIve Mint
A day ahead of a crucial ministerial meeting to review India’s severe rainfall deficiency, the agriculture ministry has unveiled a district-level plan of action that primarily consists of advisories on the kind of seeds to be sown, altered sowing plans and the conservative use of water.
According to the department’s website, advisories have been issued to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
Except for the last three, arid conditions prevail over more than 40% of the remaining states though most are yet to declare a drought.
The agriculture ministry’s communique stressed the need to switch to varieties of paddy that take less time to grow, but may be less yielding. “Coarse rice should be replaced with short-duration varieties such as Basmati rice,” reads the advisory for several districts in Punjab.
A government official involved in preparing the advisory described it as a routine but significant exercise during times of deficient rains.
“A total agricultural drought (as in 2002 and 2009) is relatively rare,” said H. Venkateswarulu, director, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, who prepared the assessment. “But every year some district in India faces a drought. This is routine like that, but extremely important.”
On Tuesday, a high-level review meeting to be chaired by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is expected to take stock of the drought situation as well as discuss measures such as cash and food subsidy support and distributing special seeds to certain states.
On the back of a directive by the Prime Minister’s Office earlier this month, various departments—down to the district and taluk (an administrative unit) level—are monitoring water availability, access to fodder, fertilizer and seed on a weekly basis.
Later this week, the met department is expected to further downgrade its expectations from the monsoon over the remaining months of August and September, which normally bring about half the seasonal monsoon rainfall of 89cm.
Compared with last year, area under agriculture was 10% lower, as of 27 July. Though sowing of rice, the key monsoon crop, was relatively less affected, other crops such as coarse cereals and pulses were significantly affected with sowing more than a fourth less than last year’s levels.