Keralam to set up a State-level unit with KSDMA and NABARD to track El Nino's effect on farming

27 October 2026

The Keralam government will form a State-level monitoring unit to assess how climate trends such as El Nino affect agriculture and to coordinate preventive measures. The unit will bring together several departments and agencies, including the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The decision was taken at a ministerial meeting chaired by Agriculture Minister T. Siddique, which also resolved to draw up short-term and long-term plans to reduce the impact of climate change and to use existing funding sources better through improved coordination. The State has recorded a 28 per cent rainfall deficit, with temperatures rising by up to two degrees Celsius in some areas. The action plan gives priority to conserving water resources, restoring streams and ponds, promoting drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting, building water storage wells, increasing green cover on farmland and retaining soil moisture.