Lok Sabha Question No. 4160 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-19
Subject: Climate Resilient Seeds and Irrigation
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS' WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & FARMERS' WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4160

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19 TH  AUGUST, 2025

## CLIMATE RESILIENT SEEDS AND IRRIGATION

4160. ADV GOWAAL KAGADA PADAVI:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS' WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether agricultural zones are being remapped based on climate resilience, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of schemes in place to support farmers adapting to erratic rainfall;
- (c) whether there is funding for climate-resilient seed varieties and irrigation, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether district level disaster mitigation plans are being integrated with farming needs; and
- (e) the steps taken to educate farmers on climate-smart agriculture?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण राǛ मंũी (SHRI  RAM NATH THAKUR)

(a) to (c): Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is implementing a project, National Innovations  in  Climate  Resilient  Agriculture  (NICRA)  that  studies  the  impact  of  climate change on agriculture including crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries. It also develops and  promotes  climate  resilient  technologies,  which  helps  the  regions  prone  to  extreme weather  conditions  like  droughts,  floods,  frost,  heat  waves,  etc.  Under  NICRA,  risk  and vulnerability assessment of agriculture to climate change has been carried out at district-level for  651  predominantly  agricultural  districts  as  per  Intergovernmental  Panel  on  Climate Change (IPCC) protocols. Out of 310 districts identified as vulnerable, 109  districts have been categorized as 'very high' and 201 districts as 'highly' vulnerable. Further to address the impact of climate change, ICAR has released 2900 varieties during last 10 years (20142024). Out of these 2661 varieties are tolerant to one or more biotic and/or abiotic stresses.

Government of India is implementing Sub Mission on Seeds and Planting Materials (SMSP) from the year 2014-15 to promote production and multiplication of quality seeds of agricultural crops to make availability of required quantities of seed to farmers across the country.  During  2024-25,  an  amount  of  Rs.  270.90  crore  was  allocated  under  the  seed scheme of SMSP (now merged with NFSNM) wherein   an amount of Rs. 206.86 crore had been released to the States/UTs out of which 141.46 crore has been provided under Seed Village Programme. Government is also implementing Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) in which financial assistance @ 55% for small and marginal farmers and @ 45% for other farmers for installation drip and sprinkler irrigation systems. Since 2015-16, the Central Government has released a total financial assistance of ₹24,789.16 crore, covering an area of 102.56 lakh hectares under micro-irrigation as on 30.06.2025.

(d) & (e): ICAR also has prepared District Agriculture Contingency Plans for these 651 districts to address weather aberrations and recommended location specific climate resilient crops and varieties and management practices.  For enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of farmers to climate variability, the concept of 'Climate Resilient Villages' (CRVs) has been initiated under NICRA. Location-specific climate resilient technologies have been demonstrated in 448 CRVs of 151 climatically vulnerable districts covering 28 states / UTs for adoption by farmers. Climate resilient technologies such as system of rice intensification, aerobic  rice,  direct  seeding  of  rice,  zero  till  wheat  sowing,  cultivation  of  climate  resilient varieties tolerant to extreme  weather  conditions  such  as  drought  and  heat;  in-situ incorporation  of  rice  residues;  etc.  have  been  developed  and  demonstrated.  Capacity building  for  establishing  village  level  seed  banks  and  community  nurseries  is  being undertaken under NICRA project that enable availability of seeds in the adopted villages. Drought  and  flood  tolerant  climate-resilient  varieties  of  rice,  wheat,  soybean,  mustard, chickpea, sorghum, gram, and foxtail millet were demonstrated in several NICRA villages. Besides, training programmes are   conducted under Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) on various issues of agricultural practices including the awareness of using quality seeds among the farmers.

*****