New Delhi [India], February 4 : ICAR Institutes, State and Central agricultural universities have developed 2,900 varieties of different crops during 2014-2024, out of which 2,661 varieties are climate resilient, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bhagirath Choudhary, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
During this period, 63 field crop varieties have been developed for Kerala, comprising 23 of cereals, 2 of oilseeds; 10 of pulses; 15 of forage crops, and 13 of sugarcane of which 58 are climate resilient.
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) has been implemented since 2015-16 which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at the farm level through micro Irrigation systems like drip and sprinkler Irrigation systems.
The PDMC was implemented as a component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) during 2015-16 to 2021-22 and under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) from 2022-23 onwards.
The various components of this scheme helps in water saving as well as reduced fertilizer usage through fertigation, labour expenses, other input costs and overall income enhancement of the farmers.
The government provides financial assistance 55 per cent to the small and marginal farmers and 45 per cent to other farmers for installation of drip and sprinkler systems under the PDMC.
To help the farmers make decisions on day-to-day agricultural operations for reduction of crop damage and loss due to extreme weather as well as taking advantage of benevolent weather conditions, India Meteorological Department (IMD) runs a scheme - Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) to render weather forecast based operational Agrometeorological Advisory Services (AAS) in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), State Agriculture Universities and other institutions for the benefit of farming community.
Under this scheme, presently 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs), located at SAUs, institutes of ICAR and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) etc. are operational across the country. Along with the biweekly bulletins, daily weather forecast and nowcast information are also disseminated to the farmers by Regional Meteorological Centers (RMCs) and Meteorological Centers (MCs) of IMD.
Out of the 130 AMFUs, 5 AMFUs viz. Ambalavayal, Pillicode, Thrissur, Vellayani and Kumarakom are preparing the district-level AAS bulletins for all agriculturally important districts of Kerala. These units are also involved in the dissemination of AAS to the farmers through multichannel dissemination systems like print and electronic media, Door Darshan, radio, internet etc. including SMS using mobile phones through the Kisan Portal and also through private companies under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
SMS-based alerts and warnings along with suitable remedial measures are being sent during extreme weather events like cyclones, deep depressions etc. through the Kisan Portal.
Farmers access weather information including alerts and related agromet advisories specific to their districts through the mobile App viz., 'Meghdoot' and 'Mausam' launched by Govt. of India. To extend real-time weather updates to farmers to make appropriate decisions on farm operations, AMFUs also use Social media platforms like 'WhatsApp', 'Facebook', 'YouTube' etc.
In Kerala, these services have been integrated with the Agriculture Information Management System (AIMS), Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Govt. of Kerala. About 40 lakh farmers are accessing the information in English and regional languages from this platform.
Recently, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), has launched Panchayat-level weather forecasts for nearly all Gram Panchayats in India on 24th October 2024. These forecasts are accessible on digital platforms such as e-Gramswaraj (https://egramswaraj.gov.in/), the Meri Panchayat app, e-Manchitra of MoPR, and Mausamgram of IMD, Ministry of Earth Science.
For drought monitoring, the Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare (DA&FW) has developed a Geoportal in collaboration with the Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO. This Geoportal hosts data of multiple drought indicators related to rainfall, soil moisture, remote sensing-based crop conditions, water storages etc.
This portal is a single window digital platform which provides drought indicators and enables various stakeholders towards easy, timely and objective assessment of the drought situation at the district or tehsil level. It also helps in identifying potential drought conditions enabling timely interventions to support effective drought management strategies.