As El Niño threatens monsoon, farmer teams promote millets, mulching and drip irrigation | India Information
With the southwest monsoon anticipated to be weak due to El Niño situations, a number of farmer-producer organisations (FPO) are selling drought-resistant crops and climate-resilient farm practices, whereas officers say the Union Ministry of Agriculture is stepping up preparations to sort out the challenges.
In accordance with officers, the ministry has ready a listing of FPOs which might be cultivating drought-resistant crops like millets and are utilizing climate-resilient farming practices, together with mulching for moisture conservation, drip irrigation, and blended cropping techniques. The ministry has been holding webinars to advertise pure farming every single day in a single state and is now planning to host a sequence of webinars within the coming days to advertise climate-resilient farm practices.
There are over 63 lakh farmers who’re members of 10,000 FPOs throughout the nation, and the ministry plans to make use of their community to achieve out to farmers to undertake climate-resilient practices, together with various crops and moisture conservation, to counter the challenges of a weak monsoon, in keeping with an official.
“One of many easiest and simplest methods to preserve soil moisture is thru mulching. By masking the soil floor with crop residues or different natural supplies, evaporation losses might be lowered considerably whereas additionally suppressing weeds and bettering soil well being,” mentioned an official.
Two torchbearers from Jharkhand
Torpa Mahila Krishi Bagwani Swawlambi Sahkari Samiti Restricted and Senem Nirem Farmer Producer Firm Restricted—two FPOs based mostly in Jharkhand—have adopted pure mulching utilizing straw and gunny luggage.
“These low-cost interventions assist retain moisture within the soil for longer intervals, enabling crops to face up to dry spells extra successfully,” mentioned the official.
Chatting with The Indian Categorical over the telephone, Etwary Devi, director of Torpa Mahila Krishi Bagwani Swawlambi Sahkari Samiti Restricted, mentioned that members of her FPO are planning to sow pulses and millets crops like ragi within the kharif season 2026.
Story continues beneath this advert
Torpa Mahila Krishi Bagwani Swawlambi Sahkari Samiti Restricted has about 4,000 farmers as members. In accordance with Devi, most of those farmers used to plant paddy throughout the kharif season, however this yr they’re planning to plant pulses, together with moon, urad, and kulthi (horse gram), and ragi, which requires much less water. They’re additionally encouraging different farmers to plant crops that require much less water, Devi mentioned, talking over the telephone from her village, Gufu, underneath the Torpa block of Khunti district.
Devi, who owns an acre of land, takes farmland on lease for cultivation, and grows horticulture crops, has been utilizing mulching for moisture conservation. Mulching, utilizing straw and previous gunny luggage, helps save water and in addition prevents weeds, she mentioned.
The transfer to shift from paddy to millet crops in Jharkhand is critical because the state is positioned within the monsoon core zone, which covers many of the rainfed agriculture areas within the nation. Other than Jharkhand, the zone consists primarily of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha.
Ministry officers mentioned that selling drought-resistant crops will help farmers cut back manufacturing dangers underneath unsure rainfall situations. Millets, specifically, are naturally resilient, require much less water, and might carry out properly in marginal environments the place different crops could battle, an official mentioned. An encouraging instance comes from MVM Baghima Palkot Farmer Producer Firm Restricted, Jharkhand, which is selling millet cultivation amongst its members, the official added.
Story continues beneath this advert
In accordance with the India Meteorological Division (IMD), the monsoon seasonal (June-September) rainfall for the nation as a complete throughout 2026 is prone to be 90 per cent of the long-period common (LPA) with a mannequin error of ± 4 per cent. The LPA of the seasonal rainfall over the nation as a complete, based mostly on information from 1971 to 2020, is 87 cm. The southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall over the monsoon core zone is most definitely to be beneath regular (<94 per cent of LPA).
