As El Niño threatens monsoon, farmer groups promote millets, mulching and drip irrigation

📌 Summary:

• Southwest Monsoon 2026 expected to be weak due to developing El Niño conditions over the equatorial Pacific

• Several Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) are promoting drought-resistant crops (millets) and climate-resilient practices: mulching for soil-moisture conservation, drip irrigation, mixed cropping systems

• Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has compiled a list of FPOs cultivating drought-resistant crops and adopting climate-resilient practices

• Ministry is running daily state-wise webinars to promote natural farming; further webinars planned to push climate-resilient farm practices ahead of kharif

• Backdrop: El Niño-affected monsoons historically cause deficient rainfall over central and southern India → kharif yield losses → food-price spikes → rural distress; ~52% of India's farmland is rain-fed

• Wider links: International Year of Millets 2023 push (Shree Anna), NMNF (National Mission on Natural Farming), PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Per Drop More Crop component, NICRA (National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture)

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Agriculture (climate-resilient farming, FPOs, irrigation efficiency, cropping pattern); GS1 — Geography (El Niño/ENSO, monsoon variability); GS3 — Disaster Management (drought preparedness).

📝 Prelims Facts:

• El Niño: anomalous warming of equatorial Pacific (Niño 3.4 region SST anomaly ≥+0.5°C for 5 overlapping 3-month periods); typically suppresses Indian monsoon
• IOD (Indian Ocean Dipole) and MJO modulate monsoon along with ENSO
• FPO scheme: Central Sector Scheme for "Formation and Promotion of 10,000 FPOs" (launched 2020) — operationalised through NABARD, SFAC, NCDC
• Millets included under PDS through state choice; ICAR-IIMR (Hyderabad) is nodal millet research institute
• Drip irrigation: water-use efficiency up to ~90% vs. flood irrigation (~30-40%)

🔑 Key Term: Climate-Resilient Agriculture (CRA) — farming systems that withstand climatic shocks (drought, heat, flood) using drought-tolerant crops, soil-moisture conservation, water-efficient irrigation, mixed cropping, and integrated pest management, with the aim of sustaining yields under climate variability.