Kharif season: India has sufficient seed stocks, ready for El Nino

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that India has a surplus of seed stocks for the upcoming Kharif season and is fully prepared to handle any crisis arising from El Nino, with over 11% more seeds available than required.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday highlighted that India has sufficient seed stocks for the upcoming Kharif season and is ready to tackle any crisis arising from El Nino. At a press conference during the National Agriculture Conference at the National Agricultural Science Complex, addressing the gathering of state agriculture ministers, ICAR scientists, agricultural university representatives and progressive farmers at Subramanyam Hall, Chouhan said the "whole team of agriculture of India" had assembled to review Kharif preparedness.

Kharif Preparedness on Seed Availability

"For the harvest of Kharif, we have 173 lakh quintals of seeds available because we need 173 lakh quintals and we have 192 lakh quintals available. More than 11% seeds are available today," he said. To ensure seeds reach farmers on time, states have been asked to pick up stocks as per their needs.

Even in the case of unforeseen gaps, the Centre has made provisions. "We have considered this and 1,74,000 quintals of seeds have been made. So if such a situation arises that a specific seed is required, then we have taken complete preparation for that. So the availability of seeds will not be a problem in the future," Chouhan said, signaling readiness for any disruption, including El Nino effects.

Digital and Financial Support for Farmers

The minister also highlighted progress on farmer ID, with 9.76 lakh IDs created so far. "The benefit of this farmer ID will be that different farmers will not need different papers for different schemes... on that basis, we will be able to distribute the manure," he said.

On credit, he noted regional disparities with average loan size at ₹1.32 lakh nationally but only ₹63,000 in eastern states. "We will be able to, in those states, provide a sufficient amount of loans for the farmers so that they can be able to produce good crops," he said. Tenant farmers were also discussed. "There are many tenant farmers who do not have their own land, but they take the land on lease... so they too have different schemes and methods, so we will work on that," Chouhan added.

Improving Crop Insurance and Input Quality

On the PM Fasal Bima Yojana, he said delays in state premium deposits were impacting farmers. It was decided that if insurance companies or states delay beyond 21 days after treatment, farmers will get 12% interest. "Overall, we are saying that the premium should be deposited on time so that they get the benefits on time," he said.

Chouhan flagged fake pesticides as a "big problem" and said states agreed on stricter action and NABL accreditation of labs. He also pushed for timely procurement under PM-Asha and faster development of short-duration crop varieties for different agro-climatic zones.

New Agricultural Campaigns and Road Map

The "Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan" will be state-led, with ICAR scientists and KVKs joining. A month-long "Khet Bachao" campaign from June 1 will promote soil health card-based balanced fertiliser use and natural farming.

Push for Natural Farming

"Approximately 20 lakh hectares... natural agriculture is still happening. More than 8 lakh farmers have registered," he said, urging ministers to adopt natural farming on one-fourth of their own land to inspire others.

"All the important issues like this need to be addressed by the KVK. The FTO movement needs to be run more vigorously," Chouhan said, adding that an agricultural roads map for each state is being prepared with ICAR and state scientists to match varieties to soil and climate. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)