NRAA chief calls for easier access to quality data on rainfed farming

Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar, CEO of the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), called for standardised, easily accessible data to help improve the impact of government schemes in rainfed farming regions, addressing a national consultation on 8 July 2026 at the NASC Complex, PUSA, New Delhi, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said.

Dr. Kumar said various government schemes implemented at the grassroots level would have greater impact if related base data were available, and that the efficiency of ongoing schemes could also be improved using performance data from earlier programmes. He said the consultation was intended to help NRAA understand data needs at the grassroots level and give state functionaries a platform to access the data required for effective project planning.

The one-day consultation, titled “Quality Data Generation and Dissemination for Efficient Project Planning and Implementation in Rainfed Areas of India,” featured two technical sessions. The first covered data collection and dissemination challenges, with presentations from IMD, NBSSLUP, BISA-IARI, IWMI, MNCFC and CRIDA on the datasets they maintain.

The second session focused on data requirements for project planning and bottlenecks in data acquisition, with participants from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar raising their concerns on data accessibility.

The ministry said quality, reliable data on rainfall, soils, land use, water resources, crop performance and climate risks forms the foundation for effective planning and evaluation of development work in rainfed areas.