The Centre told states on Monday to invoke the Essential Commodities Act to check hoarding and black marketing of food items and to take urgent steps for drought-relief.
Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar met chief ministers on the sidelines of the conference on internal security under way in the capital and discussed the threat posed by an insufficient and erratic monsoon.
He has called a meeting of state food and agriculture ministers on August 19 and 21 to discuss in detail steps to be taken to jointly tackle the drought-like situation in the country.
Nine states have already declared drought and many have started lining up for central assistance.
Pawar appealed to the chief ministers to personally monitor drought and price rise and ensure effective implementation of relief measures. He requested them to take immediate steps to protect crops. The focus should be on drinking water and fodder, he said.
“There is a shortfall of 57 lakh hectares in paddy sowing. Sugarcane and oil seeds, particularly groundnut, coverage is less. However, coarse grain coverage is marginally better than last year, mainly on account of good sowing of maize. Continuation of the prevailing climatic conditions is likely to affect production and productivity of the sown crop, thereby negatively impacting food grain availability,” Pawar said, calling for the launch of area-specific agro-climatic schemes to compensate the loss of production in Kharif season.
He also underlined the need to ensure additional flow of agricultural credit to farmers and rescheduling of crop loans.
