Skip to content

AP State Drought Mitigation Cell Photo: Anil Sharma · Pexels License · source ↗

AP State Drought Mitigation Cell

The State Drought Mitigation Cell (SDMC) is the dedicated unit within the Andhra Pradesh Department of Agriculture & Cooperation that coordinates drought declaration, real-time monitoring and contingency response across the Rayalaseema and South Coast districts. It was constituted under the 2016 Drought Management Manual issued by the Government of India and is operationalised through the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA).

Overview

Anantapur, Kurnool, Chittoor, YSR Kadapa and Sri Sathya Sai districts in the Rayalaseema region report below-normal rainfall in roughly one out of every two to three years. The SDMC consolidates inputs from the IMD, APSDMA, ANGRAU agro-met units, ground-truthing teams and remote-sensing imagery (NDVI, soil moisture from APSAC) to formulate the mandal-wise drought declaration that triggers downstream relief.

Scope of functions

  • Monitoring: weekly rainfall, sowing progress, reservoir levels and groundwater monitored via the Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Information & Management System (APWRIMS).
  • Contingency cropping: in dialogue with ANGRAU and ICAR-CRIDA, the cell issues alternative cropping advisories (short-duration groundnut, Korralu, Tongani, redgram intercrops) when sowing is delayed.
  • Declaration: mandals crossing trigger thresholds on the Manual for Drought Management indices (Standardised Precipitation Index, Vegetation Condition Index, Moisture Adequacy Index) are recommended to GoAP for drought notification.
  • Relief: after notification, the cell coordinates input subsidy, fodder camps, drinking-water tankering and crop loan rescheduling with line departments.

Implementation

The SDMC works through District Drought Mitigation Officers (typically the Joint Director of Agriculture) and is linked at village level to Rythu Bharosa Kendras (Rbk Rythu Bharosa Kendra Anantapur), which serve as the first-mile relief delivery point. Long-term mitigation is dovetailed with watershed programmes such as Neeru Meeru (Neeru Meeru Watershed Ap) and the Watershed Development Component of PMKSY (Watershed Development Component Pmksy Wdc).

How farmers engage

Farmers do not apply to the SDMC directly. Crop loss surveys are conducted through Village Revenue Officers and Agriculture Extension Officers. Once the mandal is notified, eligible cultivators are added to the input-subsidy roll via their RBK (Drought Relief Input Subsidy Ap) and payments are made through DBT to Aadhaar-seeded accounts. Crop insurance under PMFBY (Pmfby Crop Insurance) runs in parallel and is triggered by yield data, not by the SDMC declaration.

See also: Drought relief input subsidy (AP), Neeru Meeru watershed programme, Rythu Bharosa Kendra (RBK) - Anantapur, PMFBY crop insurance.

Sources

  1. Manual for Drought Management 2016. Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Government of India.
  2. Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority. Government of Andhra Pradesh.