Meeting on Enhancing the Preparedness for Agriculture Contingencies during Kharif - 2019 Held in Pune

The ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture had organized the “State Level Interface Meeting on Enhancing the Preparedness for Agriculture Contingencies during Kharif - 2019 for Maharashtra” at Pune.

The Meeting was jointly organized by the Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra.

Shri Suhas Diwase, IAS, Commissioner, Agriculture; Joint Directors of Agriculture of different Divisions; District Agriculture Officers; representatives of Director, Mahabeej & State Agricultural Universities and Scientists from ICAR-CRIDA attended the meeting.

The rainfall scenario at District and Tehsil level, progress of sowings of different crops in different Districts, unsown area, crop growth conditions, advisories to be given for unsown areas, forecast of monsoon for the months of August and September were thoroughly discussed during the meeting. Based on the detailed deliberations, the following recommendations were made:

Recommendations

In Tehsils where the rainfall received till date is less than 150 mm or in shallow soils, the sowing of cotton to be dissuaded.

The Pearl Millet, Sunflower, intercrops of Soybean+ Pigeon pea are recommended in unsown areas.  

A close monitoring of sown crops for their growth condition is needed to suggest appropriate technological interventions.

The In-situ moisture conservation methods need to be promoted on large scale in all the Districts.

The soil moisture status to be monitored at Sub-District level by utilizing the information on rainfall, temperature data available at the Tehsil level.

 The dry spells information to be generated on daily basis and disseminated to the field functionaries.

The geo-tagging of water bodies in various villages to be done for making the use of the stored water to provide the supplemental irrigation during the mid-season drought, if any.