Centre plans farmer outreach campaign from June on soil over El Nino worry

With concerns mounting over the possible impact of El Niño conditions and forecasts of one of the worst monsoons in the last 10 years in parts of the country during the upcoming kharif season, the Centre has decided to roll out crop-specific advisories for farmers under the nationwide “Save the Fields” campaign beginning June 1.

Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the month-long campaign would focus on helping farmers make informed decisions on crop selection, diversification, fertiliser use and water management in response to evolving weather risks.

Addressing a high-level review meeting on the campaign's preparations, Chouhan said farmers would receive practical guidance tailored to local weather, soil and market conditions. “The objective is not merely to disseminate information but to ensure that farmers receive field-level advice on what to sow, where to diversify and which alternatives are better suited in areas facing rainfall deficits or higher climatic risks,” he said.


The campaign comes at a time when policymakers are closely monitoring weather developments ahead of the sowing season. Agriculture experts have warned that an El Niño event could affect rainfall distribution across several regions, potentially impacting crop planning and farm incomes.

On Friday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) further lowered its 2026 southwest monsoon forecast to 90 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) from the earlier predicted 92 per cent of LPA, indicating that rains are likely to be ‘below normal’ over the country as a whole.

The forecast has a model error of plus or minus 4 per cent. If the forecast proves accurate, it would mean the driest monsoon in more than a decade.

The last time India got lower rainfall than what has been forecast for 2026 was in 2015, when rainfall was almost 13 per cent below normal, at 12.7 per cent lower than the LPA.

IMD said rainfall is expected to be below normal due to the development of El Niño during the monsoon season, but the Indian Ocean Dipole (another factor that impacts the Indian monsoon) is expected to remain neutral during the season.

The long-period average (LPA) of seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole, based on data from 1971 to 2020, is 87 cm.

LPA refers to the rainfall recorded over a particular region for a given interval, such as a month or season, averaged over a long period, typically 30 to 50 years.

In its second-stage forecast, IMD said no part of the country, barring north-east India, is expected to receive normal rainfall this year.

Meanwhile, agriculture ministry officials said the month-long ‘Save the Fields’ campaign would focus on encouraging farmers to adopt climate-resilient agricultural practices and avoid decisions that could increase cultivation risks in water-stressed areas.

Special emphasis will be placed on promoting crop diversification, efficient input use and conservation-oriented farming practices.

Alongside weather-linked advisories, the government plans to make balanced fertiliser use a central theme of the campaign. Chouhan directed officials to intensify efforts to reduce excessive and imbalanced application of chemical fertilisers, particularly urea, which has been identified as a major contributor to declining soil health in several regions.

Farmers will be encouraged to adopt soil test-based nutrient application, use balanced quantities of fertilisers and increase the use of green manure, organic inputs and bio-fertilisers. Demonstrations on Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) will also be organised at the field level.

“The focus should be on saving the field, reducing cultivation costs and ensuring the farmer gets the right advice at the right time,” Chouhan said.

The minister also stressed that the campaign would be implemented through a collaborative framework involving panchayats, state governments, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutions and local agriculture departments.

To strengthen outreach, more than 1,600 teams have been constituted across the country. Of these, 500 teams will operate in 100 districts identified for high fertiliser consumption. The teams will comprise scientists from KVKs, ICAR institutes and All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) centres, along with agriculture department officials. Another 1,150 multidisciplinary teams from ICAR and KVKs will work simultaneously in other regions.

The campaign will also be used to extend the reach of government programmes. Farmers will be assisted in accessing benefits under schemes such as the Kisan Credit Card programme and PM-KISAN, while awareness drives on pulses and oilseeds promotion, oil palm cultivation, the Cotton Mission, soil health management and water conservation will be integrated into the initiative.

Chouhan said the Centre would seek the participation of chief ministers, ministers, Members of Parliament, legislators and other public representatives to transform the campaign into a broader public movement.

In a related development, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the southwest monsoon has further advanced into some more parts of the southwest and southeast Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep Islands, Comorin area, the southwest, southeast, west-central and east-central Bay of Bengal, and some parts of the north-east Bay of Bengal.

It further said conditions were favourable for the further advance of the southwest monsoon into some more parts of the southwest and southeast Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep Islands, some parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, some more parts of the southwest, west-central, east-central and north-east Bay of Bengal, and the remaining parts of the southeast Bay of Bengal during the next four to five days.

IMD had earlier said that the monsoon was expected to arrive on May 26, with a model error of plus or minus four days.