The resurgence of the monsoon in September, when it should normally have been on its way out, has lessened the concern about drought. But these rains have come so late in the season that wiping out the anticipated deficit in kharif output needs well-considered measures for this purpose. The strategy mooted by the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), therefore, needs to be implemented meticulously. The plan involves maximising the yields of standing crops, especially in areas which have received good rainfall, and compensatory crop production in the pre-rabi and rabi seasons to make up for the kharif shortfall. More importantly, it envisages measures for conserving rainwater for subsequent use in irrigation and other purposes. The underlying objective, obviously, is to convert the challenge of mitigating the adverse impact of erratic rainfall into an opportunity to boost overall farm production, besides putting in place the infrastructure for rainwater harvesting.
The need is to ensure that farmers can apply inputs, notably fertiliser and supplementary irrigation, in the standing crops and guard them from the pests and diseases that appear in a humid atmosphere. This would help get bigger harvests. For compensatory crop production, the NRAA has recommended growing toria (an oilseed), which can be sown even in this late season, to partly offset the likely shortfall in groundnut output. Crops like jowar and bajra can be grown for use as green fodder to tide over the expected paucity of animal feed. The government has adequate stocks of rice and the expected shortfall in output is, therefore, not very worrisome. Still, it is possible to offset the likely shortfall by promoting paddy cultivation in the Boro (post-kharif) season in the eastern states of West Bengal, Assam and Orissa, where groundwater is plentiful. The productivity of Boro rice is generally twice or thrice the normal kharif crop. Besides, the area under rabi rice can also be expanded.
The most significant opportunity provided by the late rains is to increase rabi plantings by taking advantage of the added soil moisture. Timely sowing, moreover, will help rabi crops, notably wheat, escape the yield-depressing stress caused by any sudden and premature rise in temperature in March — a phenomenon linked with climate change. Fortunately, the agriculture ministry has moved quickly to initiate measures to cope with deficient rainfall. It is planning to dispatch teams of officials to all the affected districts to help the local administration in preparing area-specific plans of action. At the core of the action should be the digging of ponds and tanks to store rainwater, as this will drought-proof agriculture in vulnerable areas. Going by the NRAA’s reckoning, even late and deficient rainfall often provides between 11 and 37 per cent spare water which generally flows out unused. This can be stored either in the underground aquifer through water recharging, or in surface ponds and tanks. It is action on such fronts that will help the country sustain agricultural growth even in adverse circumstances.