How were the 151 climate-vulnerable districts picked for NICRA?

The 151 district list was drawn from the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) climate-vulnerability atlas and refined against IMD's district-level long-period rainfall variability, groundwater stress indices, soil-moisture stress and historical crop yield anomalies. The districts span all major agro-climatic zones and cut across the eastern rainfed belt, the western dry zone, the central Deccan plateau, the coastal cyclone-exposed districts and the trans- and sub-Himalayan cold-stress zones. Within each vulnerable district one representative village (or a small cluster) was selected as the Climate Smart Village for on-farm demonstration; the anchoring KVK conducts baseline vulnerability assessment, introduces climate-resilient interventions across natural-resource management, crops, livestock and institutions, and tracks outcomes annually. The district list is periodically reviewed by the ICAR-CRIDA Project Coordination Cell.

What kinds of on-farm interventions does the NICRA village model demonstrate?

The Technology Demonstration Component (TDC) village model bundles four intervention groups. Natural-resource-management interventions include in-situ moisture conservation (broad-bed and furrow, ridge and furrow, contour trenches), rainwater harvesting through farm ponds and check dams, revival of traditional water-harvesting structures, groundwater recharge, and precision land-shaping. Crop-side interventions include stress-tolerant varieties (drought, flood, salinity, heat), advancing / delaying sowing windows, contingency crop plans, resource-conservation practices such as zero tillage, laser levelling and residue-based conservation agriculture. Livestock interventions include heat-stress-tolerant breeds, silage and hydroponic fodder, mineral supplementation, azolla and community feed banks. Institutional interventions include Village Climate Risk Management Committees, custom hiring centres for climate-smart implements, seed banks and fodder banks — anchored in the village SHGs and FPOs.

How does NICRA link with the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa and the agromet advisory system?

NICRA converges with the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) through the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) hosted at ICAR institutes and SAUs and the District Agromet Units (DAMUs) hosted at KVKs. AMFUs and DAMUs issue block-level, crop-stage-specific bulletins twice a week based on the medium-range weather forecast, translating rainfall probability, temperature and humidity into farmer-facing advice on sowing, irrigation, fertiliser, plant protection and harvest. NICRA's Climate Smart Villages are early adopters of these advisories and give feedback that improves the advisory content over successive seasons. The wider partnership also includes IMD's Extended Range Forecast, sub-seasonal forecasts and the Farm Advisory dashboard on mausam.imd.gov.in.

How can a State Agricultural University, KVK or FPO engage with NICRA?

State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and CAU can host Strategic Research or thematic sub-projects by responding to the periodic call for proposals issued by ICAR-CRIDA and the ICAR Council. KVKs in the 151 vulnerable districts operate the on-farm Technology Demonstration Component with an annual work plan approved by the anchoring ICAR-ATARI zonal centre. IITs, other academic institutes and SAUs can access short-duration funding through the Sponsored / Competitive Grants module. FPOs and farmer collectives cannot apply directly, but they participate as beneficiaries and implementing partners in Climate Smart Villages and often anchor the custom hiring centres and community seed / fodder banks that NICRA sets up. For agromet advisory access, farmers can subscribe to the Meghdoot app (jointly by IMD, ICAR and IITM) and the Damini lightning-alert app for on-farm risk warnings.

Where are the official sources for NICRA updates, guidelines and outputs?

The authoritative sources are the NICRA project portal at nicra-icar.in, ICAR-CRIDA at crida.in (host institute and Project Coordination Cell), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at icar.org.in, the Department of Agricultural Research & Education at dare.gov.in, and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare at agriwelfare.gov.in for the NMSA / CCSAMRA umbrella. For the weather side, mausam.imd.gov.in publishes the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa bulletins, the Meghdoot advisory app and the Extended Range Forecast. Peer-reviewed NICRA outputs are archived through ICAR-CRIDA's annual reports, the ICAR Reporter and the Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development.

NICRA Guide — National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture: ICAR-CRIDA-led Network, 151 Climate-Vulnerable Districts, District Agriculture Contingency Plans and How Farmers, KVKs and SAUs Engage

National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA)is the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's flagship network project on adapting Indian agriculture, horticulture, livestock and fisheries to a warming and increasingly variable climate. It was launched on 1 February 2011 with an initial outlay of ₹350 crore for the XI Five Year Plan period and has been continued through successive plans thereafter. The project is coordinated by ICAR-CRIDA (Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture), Hyderabad, which hosts the Project Coordination Cell, and it runs across 33+ ICAR institutes, the All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) network, State Agricultural Universities and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra system. NICRA also serves as the operational research arm of the CCSAMRA (Climate Change & Sustainable Agriculture — Monitoring, Modelling & Networking) sub-component of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). For the wider scheme portfolio see our India government schemes for farmers reference.

At a glance

Project type: ICAR network project under DARE, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare — coordinated by ICAR-CRIDA Hyderabad.
Launched: 1 February 2011.
Initial outlay: ₹350 crore for the XI Plan; continued through the XII Plan and subsequent finance-commission cycles.
Four modules: Strategic Research, Technology Demonstration, Sponsored / Competitive Grants, Capacity Building.
Technology Demonstration Component: 151 climate-vulnerable districts, one Climate Smart Village per district anchored by a Krishi Vigyan Kendra.
Contingency planning: District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) prepared and periodically updated for 650+ districts.
Portals: nicra-icar.in (project), crida.in (coordinating institute), icar.org.in (ICAR HQ), mausam.imd.gov.in (agromet advisory partner).
Convergence: operationalises CCSAMRA under NMSA; feeds into PMFBY, Per Drop More Crop / PMKSY, PKVY, NMNF, Soil Health Card, Crop Residue Management and the ATMA extension network.

Why NICRA — the climate-risk backdrop

Roughly 51%of India's net sown area is rainfed and produces about 40% of the country's foodgrain, most of its coarse cereals, pulses, cotton, groundnut and about two-thirds of its livestock. Climate variability shows up in this rainfed belt first — as delayed and weak monsoon onsets, extended mid-season dry spells, erratic terminal rains, unseasonal heavy rainfall, heat stress on wheat during grain-filling, cold waves in the northern plains, cyclonic surges on the coasts and glacier-fed river anomalies in the Himalayan belt. NICRA was designed to build the research pipeline, the on-farm demonstration base and the extension muscle to adapt Indian agriculture to this reality — and to mitigate its GHG footprint where technically feasible (methane from paddy, enteric fermentation from cattle, N₂O from fertiliser use, and soil-carbon sequestration through conservation agriculture and soil-health interventions).

The four modules of NICRA

1. Strategic Research

Strategic Research is the science backbone of NICRA. It funds thematic research across natural resources, crops, horticulture, livestock, fisheries and poultry at 33+ ICAR institutes and AICRP centres. Themes include downscaled climate scenarios and district-level vulnerability atlases, drought / flood / heat / cold / salinity tolerance in staple crops, phenological shifts in horticulture and plantation crops, conservation agriculture and residue management (see our Crop Residue Management guide), soil carbon and greenhouse-gas fluxes from Indian cropping systems, heat-stress tolerance in dairy and small-ruminant breeds, and climate-linked pest and disease dynamics. Outputs feed into national breeding programmes and into the practice bundles demonstrated in the Technology Demonstration villages.

2. Technology Demonstration Component (TDC)

The Technology Demonstration Component takes proven practices to farmers' fields in the 151 climate-vulnerable districts through a village-cluster (Climate Smart Village) model. Within each vulnerable district one representative village (or small cluster) is anchored by the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra, which conducts a baseline vulnerability assessment, introduces climate-resilient interventions across natural-resource management, crops, livestock and village institutions, and tracks outcomes annually. The intervention bundle is designed with the anchoring ICAR-ATARI (Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute) zonal centre and adapted to the local agro-climate.

3. Sponsored / Competitive Grants

Short-duration research at State Agricultural Universities (see our universities and research institutes directory), Central Agricultural University, IITs, ICMR institutes and other academic partners is funded through the Sponsored / Competitive Grants module. Calls are typically issued for emerging climate-resilience gaps identified in the strategic-research review — for example crop-specific heat-stress transcriptomics, dairy-cattle heat-stress mitigation, salt-tolerant aquaculture, agromet-index insurance and machine-learning-based district contingency planning. Grants are competitively awarded by the ICAR-CRIDA Project Coordination Cell.

4. Capacity Building

Capacity Building trains ICAR scientists, SAU faculty, KVK subject-matter specialists, State Agriculture Department officers, NGO field staff and farmer leaders on climate-resilience science, district contingency planning, agromet advisories, resource-conservation practices and the village-cluster demonstration model. Training is delivered through the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), the anchoring ICAR-ATARIs and the KVK network itself — the same network that delivers extension under ATMA.

How districts and Climate Smart Villages are picked

The 151-district list was drawn from the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) climate-vulnerability atlas and refined against IMD's district-level long-period rainfall variability, groundwater stress indices, soil-moisture stress and historical crop-yield anomalies. The districts span all major agro-climatic zones — the eastern rainfed belt of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, eastern UP and eastern MP; the western dry zone of Rajasthan and Gujarat; the central Deccan plateau of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh; the coastal cyclone-exposed districts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat; and the trans- and sub-Himalayan cold-stress zones of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. Within each district, a representative Climate Smart Village is selected through participatory rural appraisal by the anchoring KVK and monitored annually against crop, livestock, water and household-income indicators.

On-farm intervention bundles

Natural-resource management: in-situ moisture conservation (broad-bed and furrow, ridge and furrow, contour trenches), rainwater harvesting through farm ponds and check dams, revival of traditional water-harvesting structures, groundwater recharge, precision land-shaping, and micro-irrigation adoption under Per Drop More Crop / PMKSY.
Crops: stress-tolerant varieties (drought, flood, salinity, heat), advancing / delaying sowing windows, contingency crop plans, resource-conservation practices such as zero tillage, laser levelling and residue-based conservation agriculture — see our Crop Residue Management guide.
Livestock and fisheries: heat-stress-tolerant breeds, silage and hydroponic fodder, mineral supplementation, azolla, community feed banks, water quality management in aquaculture ponds.
Institutions: Village Climate Risk Management Committees, custom hiring centres for climate-smart implements, village seed banks, community fodder banks — usually anchored on SHGs and FPOs.
Insurance and finance: awareness and enrolment support for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the weather-based crop insurance component, because insurance is the risk-financing layer that sits above the adaptation layer.

District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs)

District Agriculture Contingency Plans are ready-reckoners for what farmers and the State Agriculture Department should do under abnormal weather scenarios — early / late / weak monsoon onset, mid-season drought, terminal drought, unusual heavy rainfall and floods, heat waves, cold waves and cyclones. Each plan spells out contingency crops and varieties, sowing-window adjustments, alternate cropping systems, moisture-conservation interventions, plant protection measures and livestock advisories for the specific soil and climate mosaic of that district. ICAR-CRIDA under NICRA has prepared and periodically updates DACPs for 650+ districts. State-level Real-Time Contingency Planning cells anchored by 121+ KVKs in highly vulnerable districts put these plans into action each season, triggered by the IMD monsoon forecast, the Extended Range Forecast and the district-level agromet advisories issued through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa.

Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) — the agromet advisory backbone

NICRA converges with IMD's Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) through the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) hosted at ICAR institutes and SAUs, and the District Agromet Units (DAMUs) hosted at KVKs. AMFUs and DAMUs issue block-level, crop-stage-specific bulletins twice a week — Tuesday and Friday — based on the five-day medium-range weather forecast. Bulletins translate rainfall probability, temperature, humidity, wind and cloud forecasts into farmer-facing advice on sowing, irrigation scheduling, fertiliser and plant-protection application timing, and harvest and post-harvest handling. Farmers can also subscribe directly to the Meghdoot app (jointly by IMD, ICAR and IITM Pune) for a mobile-first advisory, and the Damini app for real-time lightning alerts.

Convergence — NICRA in the wider scheme portfolio

NMSA / CCSAMRA: NICRA is the operational research arm of the CCSAMRA sub-component, which funds the agromet and climate-resilience research network through ICAR.
PMFBY: NICRA-village data on realised weather anomalies and yield losses supports crop insurance product design, agromet indices and claims settlement science.
Per Drop More Crop / PMKSY: micro-irrigation adoption in NICRA villages is co-funded through the PDMC component of PMKSY.
PKVY and NMNF: organic and natural-farming interventions in Climate Smart Villages draw on PKVY 20-hectare cluster support and NMNF cattle-based natural-farming inputs.
Soil Health Card: 12-parameter soil-test-based advisories are the base layer for NICRA's crop and nutrient-management recommendations.
Crop Residue Management:conservation-agriculture bundles in NICRA villages align with the CRM sub-mission's Happy Seeder, Super SMS and mulch-management support.
ATMA extension: district ATMA cells and the block-level BTM / ATM cadre operationalise NICRA-derived recommendations at village level.
Krishi Vigyan Kendras: the KVK network is the single most important delivery arm of NICRA on the ground — every Technology Demonstration village is anchored by a KVK.

How to engage with NICRA

Farmers in NICRA villages: approach the anchoring KVK for participation in Climate Smart Village demonstrations, custom hiring centre access, seed / fodder bank membership and agromet advisories.
Farmers outside NICRA villages: subscribe to the Meghdoot and Damini apps, follow the GKMS block-level bulletins on mausam.imd.gov.in and access the DACP contingency crop bundle through the district agriculture office or the nearest KVK.
KVKs:engage through the ICAR-ATARI zonal centre with an annual work plan aligned to NICRA's TDC and Capacity Building modules.
State Agricultural Universities and ICAR institutes: respond to the periodic calls for Strategic Research and Sponsored / Competitive Grants proposals issued by ICAR-CRIDA — see our universities and research institutes directory.
State governments: coordinate with the ICAR-CRIDA Project Coordination Cell for state-specific DACP updates, Real-Time Contingency Planning cells and heat-wave / cold-wave advisory protocols.

Frequently asked questions

What is NICRA and which agency runs it?: NICRA — National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture — is a network project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. It was launched on 1 February 2011 with an initial outlay of ₹350 crore for the XI Five Year Plan period and has been continued through successive plans and finance commission cycles thereafter. The project is coordinated by ICAR-CRIDA (Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture), Hyderabad, in collaboration with the wider ICAR institute and All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) network and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) system. NICRA is also the operational research arm of the CCSAMRA (Climate Change & Sustainable Agriculture — Monitoring, Modelling & Networking) sub-component of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
What are the four functional modules of NICRA?: NICRA is organised around four modules that run in parallel. Strategic Research covers thematic research across natural resources, crops, horticulture, livestock, fisheries and poultry — hosted by 33+ ICAR institutes and AICRP centres — on climatic risk assessment, drought / flood / heat / cold / cyclone tolerance, GHG emissions from paddy and enteric fermentation, resource-conservation technologies and climate-smart cropping systems. Technology Demonstration takes proven practices to farmers' fields through a village-cluster (Climate Smart Village) model in the initial set of 151 climate-vulnerable districts, one village per district, anchored by the local KVK. Sponsored / Competitive Grants fund short-duration research at State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), CAU, IITs and other partners on emerging climate-resilience gaps. Capacity Building funds training of scientists, extension staff, KVK subject-matter specialists, State Agriculture Department officers and farmer leaders on climate-resilience science, agromet advisories and contingency planning.
How were the 151 climate-vulnerable districts picked for NICRA?: The 151 district list was drawn from the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) climate-vulnerability atlas and refined against IMD's district-level long-period rainfall variability, groundwater stress indices, soil-moisture stress and historical crop yield anomalies. The districts span all major agro-climatic zones and cut across the eastern rainfed belt, the western dry zone, the central Deccan plateau, the coastal cyclone-exposed districts and the trans- and sub-Himalayan cold-stress zones. Within each vulnerable district one representative village (or a small cluster) was selected as the Climate Smart Village for on-farm demonstration; the anchoring KVK conducts baseline vulnerability assessment, introduces climate-resilient interventions across natural-resource management, crops, livestock and institutions, and tracks outcomes annually. The district list is periodically reviewed by the ICAR-CRIDA Project Coordination Cell.
What kinds of on-farm interventions does the NICRA village model demonstrate?: The Technology Demonstration Component (TDC) village model bundles four intervention groups. Natural-resource-management interventions include in-situ moisture conservation (broad-bed and furrow, ridge and furrow, contour trenches), rainwater harvesting through farm ponds and check dams, revival of traditional water-harvesting structures, groundwater recharge, and precision land-shaping. Crop-side interventions include stress-tolerant varieties (drought, flood, salinity, heat), advancing / delaying sowing windows, contingency crop plans, resource-conservation practices such as zero tillage, laser levelling and residue-based conservation agriculture. Livestock interventions include heat-stress-tolerant breeds, silage and hydroponic fodder, mineral supplementation, azolla and community feed banks. Institutional interventions include Village Climate Risk Management Committees, custom hiring centres for climate-smart implements, seed banks and fodder banks — anchored in the village SHGs and FPOs.
What are District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) and how does NICRA relate to them?: District Agriculture Contingency Plans (DACPs) are district-level ready-reckoners that lay out what farmers and the State Agriculture Department should do under abnormal weather scenarios — early / late / weak monsoon onset, mid-season drought, terminal drought, unusual heavy rainfall and floods, heat waves, cold waves and cyclones. Each plan spells out contingency crops and varieties, sowing-window adjustments, alternate cropping systems, moisture-conservation interventions, plant protection measures and livestock advisories for the specific soil and climate mosaic of that district. ICAR-CRIDA under NICRA has prepared and periodically updates DACPs for 650+ districts. State-level Real-Time Contingency Planning cells anchored by 121+ KVKs put these plans into action each season based on the IMD monsoon forecast, the Extended Range Forecast and the district-level agromet advisories issued through the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa.
How does NICRA link with the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa and the agromet advisory system?: NICRA converges with the India Meteorological Department (IMD)'s Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) through the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) hosted at ICAR institutes and SAUs and the District Agromet Units (DAMUs) hosted at KVKs. AMFUs and DAMUs issue block-level, crop-stage-specific bulletins twice a week based on the medium-range weather forecast, translating rainfall probability, temperature and humidity into farmer-facing advice on sowing, irrigation, fertiliser, plant protection and harvest. NICRA's Climate Smart Villages are early adopters of these advisories and give feedback that improves the advisory content over successive seasons. The wider partnership also includes IMD's Extended Range Forecast, sub-seasonal forecasts and the Farm Advisory dashboard on mausam.imd.gov.in.
How can a State Agricultural University, KVK or FPO engage with NICRA?: State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and CAU can host Strategic Research or thematic sub-projects by responding to the periodic call for proposals issued by ICAR-CRIDA and the ICAR Council. KVKs in the 151 vulnerable districts operate the on-farm Technology Demonstration Component with an annual work plan approved by the anchoring ICAR-ATARI zonal centre. IITs, other academic institutes and SAUs can access short-duration funding through the Sponsored / Competitive Grants module. FPOs and farmer collectives cannot apply directly, but they participate as beneficiaries and implementing partners in Climate Smart Villages and often anchor the custom hiring centres and community seed / fodder banks that NICRA sets up. For agromet advisory access, farmers can subscribe to the Meghdoot app (jointly by IMD, ICAR and IITM) and the Damini lightning-alert app for on-farm risk warnings.
Where are the official sources for NICRA updates, guidelines and outputs?: The authoritative sources are the NICRA project portal at nicra-icar.in, ICAR-CRIDA at crida.in (host institute and Project Coordination Cell), the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at icar.org.in, the Department of Agricultural Research & Education at dare.gov.in, and the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare at agriwelfare.gov.in for the NMSA / CCSAMRA umbrella. For the weather side, mausam.imd.gov.in publishes the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa bulletins, the Meghdoot advisory app and the Extended Range Forecast. Peer-reviewed NICRA outputs are archived through ICAR-CRIDA's annual reports, the ICAR Reporter and the Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development.

For the deep-dive on the coordinating institute behind NICRA — its 1970 AICRPDA origin, the 1985 CRIDA formation, the AICRPDA / AICRPAM 25-centre networks, the Hayathnagar Research Farm and the full District Agriculture Contingency Plan corpus — see our ICAR-CRIDA (Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture) deep-dive. For CAZRI, CRIDA's sister ICAR institute that implements NICRA Climate Resilient Villages specifically across India's hot Thar Desert and cold arid Ladakh zones, and coordinates the All India Coordinated Research Project on Agroforestry (AICRPAF), see our ICAR-CAZRI (Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur) deep-dive.

Official sources

NICRA project portal — nicra-icar.in (village outputs, DACPs, annual reports).
ICAR-CRIDA Hyderabad (coordinating institute) — crida.in — see our CRIDA deep-dive.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research — icar.org.in.
Department of Agricultural Research & Education — dare.gov.in.
Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare — agriwelfare.gov.in (NMSA / CCSAMRA umbrella).
India Meteorological Department — mausam.imd.gov.in (Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa, Meghdoot, Damini, Extended Range Forecast).
National Rainfed Area Authority — nraa.gov.in (climate-vulnerability atlas, rainfed area strategy).

This page is for general guidance. For the latest NICRA district list, Climate Smart Village outputs, District Agriculture Contingency Plans and Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa bulletins, please refer directly to nicra-icar.in, crida.in and mausam.imd.gov.in.