Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said the impact of the emergence of El Nino is unlikely to be severe on the country’s foodgrain production in 2014-15.

“It is too early to say. I had discussions with officials of the Indian Meterological Department. A clearer picture will emerge in mid-April,” Pawar told presspersons on sidelines of the Kharif 2014 campaign.

El Nino, a weather pattern, is caused by rising temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that creates drought-like conditions in India. Global weather bodies recently predicted the occurrence of El Nino this year.

“We had seen a similar situation in 2009. It will not be as severe as to affect foodgrain production. We are keeping a close watch,” Pawar said.

On the early warnings of the emergence of El Nino, the Agriculture Department has started preparing contingency plans to meet possible dry spells. “The contingency plans for 449 districts in 23 States have already been prepared,” said J S Sandhu, Agriculture Commissioner. Besides procuring seeds for short duration crops and making them available to farmers, the Government is also asking States to promote the concept of raising community nurseries of rice to deal with the situation, he added.

India is expected to harvest a record foodgrain output of 263.2 million tonnes in the current year. The South-West monsoon is considered the lifeline of the country’s agriculture as two-thirds of the rainfall is received during the four-month period starting June. About 60 per cent of the net sown area in the country is rain-dependent and contributes to about 40 per cent of the foodgrain output.

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