The Union government has drawn up contingency plans to facilitate sowing in the current rabi season in as many as 225 districts across the country that have been affected by this year's erratic monsoon, which followed the El Niño weather pattern, IANS reported from New Delhi on Saturday, November 7.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

The plans follow the sowing shortfall Awaaz Punjab reported earlier this week: rabi crops, including wheat, had been sown on around 3.8 million hectares as of October 30 — about 46 per cent less than in the same period last year.

225districts covered by contingency plans
3.8 million hectaresrabi area sown as of October 30
46%sowing lag versus last year

"We are taking contingency planning to a new level with the development of a dynamic dashboard that will integrate the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) weekly forecasts, data on water bodies and other relevant information to help officials make decisions based on local conditions," Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General M. L. Jat told journalists, according to IANS.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz

Jat said a district initially identified as vulnerable to drought could move out of that category if it received adequate rainfall in the coming days, so the assessment should be revised using updated IMD forecasts and rainfall data, including projections for the following 15 days. The proposed dashboard would allow users to access information at the district level.

The ICAR chief said the dashboard would cover the entire country, rather than only the 225 districts identified for contingency planning, and ICAR eventually plans to link it with the AgriStack initiative so data from different agricultural sources can be brought together in one place.

Source: Nav18

What happens next: district officials are expected to work off the revised, forecast-based vulnerability lists as the rabi sowing window advances, with the dashboard intended to flag where contingency seed and input support is needed most urgently.