Amidst the ongoing heatwave and with the monsoons approaching, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has rolled out a comprehensive plan to safeguard the state’s crops.

The state government is ensuring that the farmers do not have to face any adverse situation due to seasonal changes and they get the benefit of all the Central and State schemes, official sources said here on Friday.

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Advisories are being issued on the basis of technical recommendations given by the Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) in 27 highly sensitive, 13 sensitive and 35 normal districts of the state in terms of floods.

In light of the heatwave affecting the crops, the Chief Secretary has issued an advisory to Regional Agricultural Officers to protect crops from this seasonal outbreak. The directions are being implemented on the basis of recommendations of a weather based state level agriculture advisory group (Crop Weather Watch Group).

The advisory encompasses various measures, including ensuring proper water drainage and moisture levels in paddy nurseries, employing mulching techniques, use of sprinkler and drip irrigation, regular light irrigation, and use of organic fertilizers and contour trench method, including groundwater and rainwater conservation.

With the monsoon expected to be active soon in the state, a comprehensive strategy is being implemented to safeguard crops from potential floods.

The plan includes prioritising flood-resistant paddy varieties such as Swarna Sub-1, Sambha Masuri Sub-1, IR-64 Sub-1, and NDR-99301111, as well as implementing Sanda method and transplanting rice from mid-June to early July.

Efforts are underway to ensure comprehensive coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, with a focus on insuring crops at the gram panchayat level and extending insurance benefits to farmers. At the same time, the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme has also been started for the benefit of the farmers.

In this process, banana, chilli and betel leaf have been given priority as insured Kharif crops and tomato, capsicum, green peas and mango have been given priority as Rabi crops. The last date for getting crop-wise insurance is June 30 for banana and betel, July 31 for chili, November 30 for tomato, bell pepper, and green pea, and December 15 for mango.