New Delhi:The National Agricultural Research System (NARS) including ICAR Institutes and State/Central Agricultural Universities (CAU/SAU) has developed 2900 varieties of different crops during 2014-2024, out of which 2661 varieties are climate resilient.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Bhagirath Choudhary informed on Tuesday in Lok Sabha, "During this period, 63 field crop varieties have been developed for Kerala state, comprising of 23 of cereals, 2 of oilseeds; 10 of pulses; 15 of forage crops and 13 of sugarcane of which 58 are climate resilient."
The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) of the Central government has been implemented since 2015-16 which focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at the farm level through micro irrigation systems like drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. The PDMC was implemented as a component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) during 2015-16 to 2021-22 and under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) from 2022-23 onwards, the minister said.
The various components of this scheme help in water saving as well as reduced fertilizer usage through fertigation, labour expenses, other input costs and overall income enhancement of the farmers. The government provides financial assistance 55 per cent to the small and marginal farmers and 45 per cent to other farmers for installation of drip and sprinkler systems under the PDMC, Choudhary said.
"To help the farmers for taking decisions on day-to-day agricultural operations for reduction of crop damage and loss due to extreme weather as well as taking advantages of benevolent weather conditions, India Meteorological Department runs a scheme - Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) to render weather forecast based operational Agrometeorological Advisory Services in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research, State Agriculture Universities and other institutions for the benefit of farming community," he said.
"Under this scheme, presently 130 Agromet Field Units, located at SAUs, institutes of ICAR and Indian Institute of Technology are operational across the country. Along with the biweekly bulletins, daily weather forecast and now cast information are also disseminated to the farmers by Regional Meteorological Centers and Meteorological Centers of IMD," the minister added.
"Out of the 130 AMFUs, 5 AMFUs viz. Ambalavayal, Pillicode, Thrissur, Vellayani and Kumarakomare preparing the district-level AAS bulletins for all agriculturally important districts of Kerala. These units are also involved in the dissemination of AAS to the farmers through multichannel dissemination systems like print and electronic media, Door Darshan, radio, internet etc. including SMS using mobile phones through the Kisan Portal and also through private companies under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. SMS-based alerts and warnings along with suitable remedial measures are being sent during extreme weather events like cyclones, deep depression etc. through the Kisan Portal," he said.
"Farmers access weather information including alerts and related agromet advisories specific to their districts through the mobile app, 'Meghdoot' and 'Mausam' launched by the Central government. To extend real-time weather updates to farmers for taking appropriate decisions on farm operations, AMFUs also use social media platforms. In Kerala, these services have been integrated in the Agriculture Information Management System (AIMS), Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Kerala government. About 40 lakh farmers are accessing the information in English and regional language from this platform," Choudhary added.
