Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that immediately after the IMD’s monsoon forecasts in April, 2015 Government of India, in collaboration with State Governments, responded rapidly with a multi-pronged approach to mitigate the effects of the drought.
The country has experienced two successive years of poor rains.The Minister outlined various measures taken by the Government.
The Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), in collaboration with the State Agricultural Universities, prepared a Contingency Plan for 600 Districts to implement location specific interventions to sustain agriculture production, Singh added.
“Weekly video conferences with State Governments to discuss rainfall patterns, supply of seeds, the impact of drought and other related issues were held. Weekly meetings of the Crop Weather Watch Group were also held. Adequate quantities of drought resistant seeds and seeds of low water intensive crops were made available”, he underlined.
The States took various measures like in-situ soil and moisture conservation, micro-irrigation and ground water re-charge. These steps ensured that in spite of two successive droughts, the overall agriculture production has not dipped and food stocks are adequate, Radha Mohan said with an air of satisfaction.