In a decisive move to strengthen India’s agricultural resilience against climate-induced disasters, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (DA&FW), in partnership with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), convened a high-level brainstorming workshop at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi. The workshop brought together policymakers, scientists, and field experts to reimagine how India manages droughts, pest outbreaks, cold waves, frosts, and hailstorms—hazards that increasingly threaten the nation’s food security.

DA&FW, the nodal agency for coordinating natural calamity management in agriculture, has tasked NIDM with revising the Drought Manual 2020 and drafting comprehensive guidelines for pest attacks, cold waves/frosts, and hailstorms. This revision responds to mounting state government requests and the pressing need to align disaster preparedness with cutting-edge technologies and evolving climate realities.

Speaking at the event, Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, DA&FW, emphasized the importance of holistic disaster management: “Risk assessment, risk mitigation, awareness, and rehabilitation must move hand in hand. Our aim is to embed these principles into a forward-looking framework that safeguards India’s farmers and strengthens agricultural sustainability.”

The four technical sessions that anchored the workshop underscored this agenda. The session on drought management highlighted the need to embed remote sensing, satellite analytics, and AI-driven models to deliver more accurate, real-time drought monitoring. The deliberations on pest attacks drew attention to the rising frequency of outbreaks, recommending a national surveillance and early-warning system that could deliver actionable advisories directly to farmers. Discussions on cold waves and frost stressed the importance of strengthening state-level action plans and promoting the use of cold-tolerant crop varieties, while the hailstorm session focused on shifting toward impact-based forecasts and widening the safety net of crop insurance for vulnerable regions.

The deliberations included contributions from leading institutions such as IMD, PPQS, DARE, CRIDA, MNCFC, NHB, NRAA, and CAZRI, alongside state-level representatives. By convening this platform, the Ministry has set the stage for an integrated, technology-driven agricultural risk management framework. The forthcoming revisions and guidelines are expected to form the backbone of India’s strategy to protect its farmers from the intensifying impacts of climate volatility.