Almost half the country is reeling under drought or drought-like conditions with the number of affected districts rising to 246 as a poor monsoon has brought 29% less rainfall, damaging standing crop.
"Ten states have declared 246 districts as drought-affected," Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said. "It comes to about 47% of the total districts in the country. This year there is 29% less rainfall. This has affected crops in many states."
Pawar was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with state food ministers in the capital.
As the number of districts witnessing drought has been revised sharply upwards from 207 just two days ago, the government said its focus would now be on saving the standing crop and offsetting some losses in output during the coming rabi season.
"First, our top priority is to save the standing crop," he said. "For this, [all affected] states can give subsidy on diesel and power to save crops, if required.
"Punjab and Haryana have informed the Centre that paddy crop in the state will be saved," he said. But these two states have also said productivity would be lower this time due to reduced water supply.
The Centre has also asked states to lift more seeds for replanting crops, if necessary, as it has about 15 lakh tonnes of surplus stock.
These apart, the government is stressing on increasing output during the rabi season. "Our main focus will be on the rabi where there is assured water supply to the field," Pawar said. "There is substantial improvement in the water level of reservoirs during the past one and a half months."
He said states had been asked to focus on compensating the production loss during the kharif season in the rabi season.
