Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Agriculture Minister today here took a review meeting of the efforts being made since April to face the deficient monsoon, Shri Sanjeev Balyan, Minister of State for Agriculture was also present. The meeting was attended by the senior officers of Agriculture Ministry including Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Secertary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Secretary, ICAR, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Officers of Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Fertilizers, Secretary, NDMA, Officers from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) was also attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed the latest monsoon predictions in June given by the IMD. Accordingly to these predictions the North West area will receive 85% rainfall, which is little less than the average. According to these predictions it is expected that the rainfall will be deficient by 12%.
Last year also the prediction of IMD was made in the month of June for this region had indicated that the rainfall will be 85% and in 12 divisions there will be an expected deficiency of 12%. However the preparation of Government was such that sowing was affected only in 2% and the production was affected by 3% only. The slightly deficient prediction for this region will not have an adverse impact as the area under irrigation in this area is very high. The status of reservoirs in this area is also very encouraging. While the storage capacity in the North West region last year was only 38%, this year it is 42%. It may be mentioned that the average storage capacity for this region for last 10 years has been 28% only. Therefore there is no reason for any worry. Water harvesting as also drought related works already undertaken under MNREGA is around 116000. Ministry for Power has also prepared a contingency plan for supply of adequate electricity. Ministry of Fertilizer has already released 90 lakh tone fertilizers till May, 2015 to the States as against 60 lakh tones demanded by the States. This is part of the advance preparedness for the kharif crop.
All the Ministries are well prepared to handle drought and have nominated a nodal officer for the same. Ministry of Agriculture has nominated Jt. Secretary level officer as nodal officer for each State. Department of Animal Husbandry has also nominated a nodal officer for 8 regions. Officers of the Seed Corporation also informed that sufficient quantity of seeds that can be effective in deficient rainfall are available. Similarly officers of the Deptt. Of Animal Husbandry informed fodder seeds are also available in sufficient quantity.
It is a matter of satisfaction for the farmers that the North West are in which there is a probability of deficient rainfall, has sufficient irrigation avenues available.
The preparation for Kharif Started with convening of ‘National Kharif Conference’ on 7th and 8th April, 2015, by inviting all the state governments and other Departments/Ministries. The Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture inaugurated the conference and participated in the deliberations. He emphasized the need for a coherent and comprehensive production plan for Kharif 2015. He also highlighted the need to be prepared with contingency plans for Kharif, in the event of below normal monsoons. The criticality of preparation against the backdrop of drought situation of 2014 and damages during Rabi 2015 arising from natural calamities was also emphasized.
2. The Ministry of Agriculture with support from ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dry land Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad has prepared detailed crop contingency plans for 580 districts spread over 25 States. As seen from the experience of last year, these are highly useful in case of a deviant monsoon. As regards North Eastern States, contingency plans for 30 districts are under preparation, and will be ready by the end of this month.
Secretary DAC and Secretary DARE jointly organized a one day workshop at CRIDA, Hyderabad on 24.04.2015 with ICAR Institutes, SAUs and State Governments. We reviewed the operationalization of these contingency plans prepared for the previous monsoon season and advised, that these be revised and further fine-tuned based on the learnings of the last year. The current year’s contingency plans have incorporated the required changes.
CRIDA has begun organizing state-level workshops for all agriculturally important States, where senior officers and scientists from this Ministry, ICAR Institutes, CRIDA, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKS), etc. interact with officials of State Government to facilitate fine-tuning and operationalization of contingency plans. Such meetings have already been organized in several states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Karnataka & Chhattisgarh etc. In the remaining states, meetings are scheduled to be conducted in the month of June.
3. The State Governments have already been advised, vide own letter dated 07th May, 2015, to initiate advance remedial measures encompassing various engineering and agronomic practices for moisture conservation and more efficient use of available water. The advice includes using MGNERGA funds for WHS, desilting of canals, energizing tube-wells, replacing/repairing faulty pumps etc. The Chief Secretaries of States have also been requested to advise the APCs/Principal Secretary (Agriculture) to conduct periodic reviews on preparation for kharif season, with emphasis on contingency crop plans and investments made in water conservation structures under various schemes like ‘Integrated Watershed Management Programme’ (IWWP) etc.
4. The States have been advised to keep aside about 5 to 10% of the fund allocated under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) to make emergent interventions. In addition, the states are also allowed to use 10% of the allocations under Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) as flexi-fund. This reserve will enable the State Governments to make meaningful intervention immediately, if needed.
5. Review meetings with 18 agriculturally important states were held by the DAC on June 2nd and 3rd of 2015. An assessment of inputs and seeds primarily for a rain-deficient eventuality has been made. The Department has adequate quantities of short and medium duration varieties of different crops. The quantity available for Kharif 2015, for various crops is 109.45 lakh quintals.
Further, the department has been operating ‘National Seed Reserve (NSR)’ scheme with participation of 22 agencies including National Seed Corporation (NSC), State Seed Corporations (SSCs) and a few state departments of Agriculture. Under NSR, the quantity of short and medium duration varieties for crops available is 1,78,892 quintals and for North Eastern states, it is 30,350 quintals.
6. Frequent reviews and monitoring:
6.1. This Ministry has four standing interventions for 2015 Kharif season to monitor status of monsoon, crop production and inputs with particular reference to seeds. These are:
i. Weekly review of Kharif production programme as part of Senior Officers Meeting (SOM) held every Monday by the Secretary, DAC.
ii. Weekly Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) meeting held every Friday by the Economic & Statistical Advisor (ESA).
iii. Weekly video-conference with the states every Tuesday to review the input status including seeds and fertilizer.
iv. Senior Officers of the department at the level of Joint Secretary have been nominated as nodal officers, with responsibility for 2-3 states each. They keep in touch with the states on a regular basis.
6.2. The DAC has nominated an Additional Secretary (Mr. Raghvendra Singh) as ‘Central Drought Relief Commissioner’.
7. A meeting with all concerned departments was chaired by Secretary DAC on May 21, 2015. The representatives of the Ministries/Departments of Water Resources, Land Resources, Power, Drinking Water, Food as also IMD, CWC etc. participated. They were all requested to update contingency plans to meet shortfall in monsoon. They were also requested to issue instructions to all states for advance preparations.
8. A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) meeting was organised under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary on June 2, 2015 with all concerned Ministries / Departments participating in it. The Cabinet Secretary reviewed the arrangements and status of contingency plans made by concerned Ministries including Water Resources, Power, Land Resources, Rural Development, Animal Husbandry, etc. He has advised all concerned to be in a state of readiness to meet a contingent situation effectively, if it arises, as a result of lower than normal rainfall. The status of readiness is as follows:-
8.1 India Meteorological Department, M/o Earth Sciences- The Agricultural Meteorological Division, Pune, in coordination with the respective state agriculture departments, has been issuing weekly ‘Agro-met Advisory Bulletins’ from 17 agro-meteorological advisory services units located at Meteorological Centres / Regional Meteorological Centres in the states.
8.2 M/o Water Resources and CWC – CWC shall ensure that water is made available to crops in rain-fed areas, in time, from the reservoirs depending upon availability. MOWR is preparing contingency plans, so that, water for irrigation can be made available for protective irrigation in case of shortfall in rainfall during critical period of crop growth. MOWR has been requested to direct states to make contingency plans for each of the reservoir/river basin and monitor its implementation. Special attention will be given to states with reservoir levels below normal.
8.3 M/o Power- The Ministry shall ensure uninterrupted/adequate power supply across the country and meet demand for additional power in case of shortage arising from monsoon failure in the catchment areas of the reservoirs. The Ministry will also put in place contingency plans. The Ministry will supply extra power to States with deficient/scanty rainfall, so that protective irrigation through electric pump sets can be ensured. Inter-regional transfer of power will also be considered in case of any contingency.
8.4 D/o Rural Development- Works under MGNREGA will be intensified in drought affected areas giving preference to water conservation/ harvesting related projects.
8.5 D/o Land Resources- has identified sites for check dams and water harvesting structures (WHSs) to be built and existing ones that need desilting. DOLR through IWMP has been implementing many schemes / projects that will aid drought proofing.
8.6 Ministry of Fertilizer- M/o Fertilizer will ensure adequate and timely availability of fertilizers, as per demand assessed, by DAC.
8.7 D/o Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries – The department will ensure arrangement for fodder supply and fodder seeds to meet contingency situation.
8.8 D/O DARE/ICAR- ICAR has been helping the states in preparation of district contingency plans. It is helping in promotion of drought resistant varieties, and water conservation practices, which are region-specific through KVKs. Further, ICAR will be uploading state level advisory on different aspects of crop production, horticulture, livestock, fisheries etc. This will be hosted on the ICAR website by June 10, 2015.
9. Review of crisis management plan (CMP) for drought for the year 2015
A Crisis Management Plan (CMP) for drought 2015 has been in place and is available at the website of Dept. of Agriculture & Cooperation, Min. of Agriculture. The ‘Plan’ has been updated recently in consultation with stakeholder Ministries/Departments. The Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture has also requested all Chief Ministers, vide his letter dated 12.05.2015, to direct the officers concerned to expedite preparation of state level ‘Management Plan on Drought’.
10. Around first week of July, based on review of actual rainfall status and if situation warrants, DAC will request CCEA to approve special measures such as diesel subsidy scheme, enhancing ceiling on seed subsidy under various schemes, additional fodder production program and special interventions for saving horticulture crops.
11. A review meeting to take stock of preparedness for a contingent situation was organized at the level of the Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture with all the departments of this Ministry as also other stakeholder-Ministries/Departments on June 5, 2015. Officials of Ministry of Agriculture, Agriculture Research and Education, Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, Rural Development, Land Resources, Power, Fertilizers, Indian Metrological Department apart from National Disaster management Authority participated in the meeting and apprised the Agriculture Minister about the Action Plan being prepared by them to tackle any contingency arising out of deficient monsoon.
12. As per IMD forecast, the most critical region in terms of deficiency in rainfall at 85% of LPA is going to be North West region, but it was noted with satisfaction that that this region is largely irrigated having least impact of rainfall deficiency. In addition a weather Company has forecasted a normal rainfall. Even then, I would like to assure you, that this Ministry is completely geared up to meet any likelihood of drought, in case of a deficit rainfall, as per forecast by the IMD on June 2, 2015.
SS/preparedness
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