Agri. scientists suggest raising alternative crops in case of dry spells beyond July 15
HYDERABAD The State government is taking all measures to help farmers face the drought-like conditions in the wake of onset of El Nino conditions resulting
HYDERABAD The State government is taking all measures to help farmers face the drought-like conditions in the wake of onset of El Nino conditions resulting in scanty rainfall, Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao said. Taking into account the long dry spells due to the impact of El Nino, the authorities of the Agriculture department have prepared district-specific contingency plans based on the prolonged dry spells till July 15, July 30 and August 15. The Minister reviewed the situation arising out of the drought-like conditions in International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) at Patancheru near here on Monday. Officials/scientists of the Agriculture department, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), ICRISAT, Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) and agri-allied departments participated in the meeting.
Initially, the scientists of participating institutions explained the action plans prepared by them to face the El Nino conditions from the point of view of agriculture. They submitted reports on crop varieties that could withstand the drought conditions and measures needed to protect the regular crops raised already. The Minister instructed the authorities of the agriculture and allied departments to implement the action plans recommended by various institutions and also spread the information among farmers about the crop management methods suggested by scientists in the wake of El Nino conditions. Director of Agriculture B. Gopi explained that the department/government had estimated the requirement of drought-resistant crop seeds at 16.3 lakh quintals in case of dry spell continuing up to July 15, another 13.82 lakh quintals in the event of dry spell prolonging till July 30 and an additional 12.7 lakh quintals in case of delay of rains till August 15.
Later, the officials of irrigation, groundwater and other departments explained the availability of water in reservoirs and groundwater tables as of Monday (July 13). The Minister suggested the authorities help farmers face the El Nino conditions with the Dynamic District Specific Response (DSR) system. Highlighting the necessity of mandal-wise weekly bulletins on weather conditions, groundwater and surface water (reservoirs) availability (weekly agro-weather bulletins), the Minister said they would help implement the contingency crop plans better. He suggested the farmers who had already transplanted paddy to follow alternate wetting and drying (AWD) method to maximise utility of the available water and the farmers who were yet to raise nurseries to follow dry-direct seeded rice (DDSR) method.
The BriefWire