Centre readies contingency plan for 225 districts amid weak rabi sowing

ICAR is developing a dynamic dashboard integrating weather forecasts, water data and district-level information to support contingency planning and farm advisories across India

With rabi sowing remaining sluggish after an uneven monsoon, the government has drawn up contingency plans for 225 districts, an unusual step for the season.  However, it remains hopeful that sowing will pick up over the next month and a half.

 

“We are taking contingency planning to a new level. We have been working on this since the last season and want to develop a dynamic dashboard. The proposed dashboard would allow users to access information at the district level. It would integrate the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) weekly forecasts, data on water bodies and other relevant information to help officials make decisions based on local conditions,” Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General ML Jat told reporters.

  

As of October 30, 2026, rabi crops had been sown in around 3.8 million hectares, which was almost 46 per cent less than the same period last year. 

 

Jat,meanwhile, said the dashboard being developed by ICAR would cover the entire country, rather than just the 225 districts identified for contingency planning. He said the platform would not be restricted to contingency planning. It would also provide advisories for normal agricultural conditions, helping farmers and officials decide what action to take in different circumstances.

 

Work on the dashboard began as part of efforts to make contingency plans more accessible and dynamic.

 

Jat said ICAR ultimately intended to integrate the dashboard with the AgriStack initiative so that information from different agricultural sources could be brought together.

 

“I think it will be a very useful tool. Ultimately, we have to link it with AgriStack, because all these things need to be integrated,” he said.

 

He said a district initially identified as vulnerable to drought could move out of that category if it received adequate rainfall in the coming days. The assessment should therefore be revised using updated IMD forecasts and rainfall data, including projections for the following 15 days.

 

Jat said ICAR had also constituted a task force to examine opportunities to increase the cultivation of oilseeds and pulses in rice-fallow areas.

 

He said these areas offered considerable scope for crop diversification.

 

“In places where residual soil moisture was insufficient for wheat, farmers could consider growing suitable oilseed and pulse crops instead,” Jat said.

 

He also said a separate soil health policy was expected to be introduced in the next two to four months.