NEW DELHI: Amid a huge deficit of nearly 43% in monsoon rainfall this month, the Centre reviewed the current situation on Tuesday and set up an El Niño Monitoring Cell and a Crop Weather Watch Group for real-time tracking of preparedness, contingency measures and ongoing sowing operations in 315 potentially affected districts, including 111 most vulnerable ones, across the country.Though Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who chaired the review meeting with state agriculture ministers and senior officials, appealed to farmers not to panic, the gravity of the situation was discussed as nearly 40% (315 districts) of the total districts in the country are mapped as the ones where there is a greater risk of low rainfall and shortage of irrigation.Of these, 111 districts are identified as the most vulnerable, where the irrigation coverage is less than 25%. Besides these high-priority districts for action, 76 districts are of medium priority, where irrigation arrangement is in the range of 25-50%. The remaining 128 districts are of low priority, where comparatively better irrigation is available through dams and other infrastructure.A large number of potentially high-risk districts fall in 12 states — Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.The agriculture ministers of these states and district collectors of the vulnerable districts were consulted in detail during the review meeting and were urged to accelerate preparations at the local level.Chouhan said the ministry has prepared District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACP) for all vulnerable districts. “These plans provide clear measures, keeping in view each district’s climate, crop pattern, water resources and risk, such as: which alternative crops should be chosen in case of low rainfall, what the crop-change strategy should be, how the best use of available water can be made, and how new income options can be created by reducing risk,” he said.Directing states and district administrations to implement the DACP on the ground “without delay”, he said, “There is no need to panic. There is a need for preparation and collective action. If the central and state govts, scientific institutions, district administrations and farmers – all together make coordinated efforts, then even the challenge of El Niño can be turned into an opportunity, where water conservation, crop diversification, technical advice and social security schemes together become a protective shield for farmers.”El Nino is a climatic phenomenon that is associated with a weak monsoon in India. Keeping in view such a condition, the IMD already predicted ‘below normal’ rainfall this rainy season (June-Sept) with 60% probability of its being deficient, triggering a fear of drought.
