VIJAYAWADA: Facing a severe 51 per cent rainfall deficit driven by an ongoing El Niño, the Andhra Pradesh Department of Agriculture has deployed a comprehensive four-pronged contingency strategy to safeguard the Kharif 2026 season.
Framed under the plot-level ‘Rythanna Meakosam’ initiative, the state is combining dynamic risk grading, targeted crop advisories, satellite tracking, and allied sector interventions to mitigate widespread drought conditions across all 28 districts.
According to data released by the agriculture department, the impact of El Niño in Andhra Pradesh is vastly outstripping the national trend.
Between June 1 and August 25, 2026, while India experienced a 13 per cent overall rainfall shortfall, Andhra Pradesh recorded a staggering 51 per cent deficit—nearly four times the national average.
All 28 districts in the state are currently rainfall-deficient, with 25 categorised under ‘deficit’ and three suffering under ‘severe deficit’ conditions.
Rather than waiting for official El Niño confirmations, the Agriculture Department initiated consultations with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and CRIDA as early as February 2026.
Based on predictive models that mirrored the severe 1997–98 El Niño event, authorities categorised all 8,489 Rythu Seva Kendras (RSKs) into dynamic risk tiers.
Currently, 1,357 RSKs are classified as high-risk zones, while 2,077 are classified as medium-risk, enabling hyper-local planning.
The state’s contingency measures move away from blanket policies, relying instead on a four-tiered structural framework conditioned by localised water availability.
Water release schedules were advanced in water-assured zones like the Godavari Delta and Somasila-Kandaleru ayacut.
In water-deficit areas, authorities are promoting low-water-consuming crops, natural farming practices, and Pre-Monsoon Dry Sowing (PMDS).
The strategy is rounded out by protective measures for allied sectors—such as livestock and horticulture—and expanded crop insurance enrollments to insulate farmers financially.
Launched statewide on August 7, 2026, the ‘Rythanna Meakosam’ campaign marks a fundamental shift from aggregate area-level reporting to plot-by-plot field verification across 18,513 villages.
Out of a targeted 2.74 crore agricultural plots, field staff have already surveyed 2.66 crore plots (96.91 per cent) to log real-time crop status into the e-Crop database. Out of 14.39 lakh acres assessed for crop health, 1.10 lakh acres (7.63 per cent) are experiencing moisture stress, wilting, or drying, with Kurnool (83,036 acres) and Nandyal (20,624 acres) emerging as the hardest-hit districts.
To counter these field conditions, the state is implementing life-saving protective irrigation, anti-transpirant sprays, mulching, and short-duration crop alternatives.
Under natural farming initiatives, PMDS and seed pelleting coverage targets were expanded by 92 per cent over last year, already reaching 16.32 lakh farmers across 18.20 lakh acres using a standardised 15-species seed mix.
The rollout is further supported by digital integration, including the APAIMS 2.0 mobile application and satellite-based crop health modelling. At the same time, crop insurance coverage under PMFBY and RWBCIS was scaled up to 16.39 lakh hectares in Kharif 2026—more than double the 7.83 lakh hectares covered in Kharif 2025—ranking AP fifth globally in insured acreage.
Total sown area for Kharif 2026 stands at 20.35 lakh hectares compared to 25.63 lakh hectares last year, reflecting a planned shift toward pulses rather than an unmanaged decline.