District-level yield efficiency maps for seven important rainfed crops were developed based on climate, soil and irrigated area parameters. Out of 85 cotton-growing districts (Districts with >10000 ha) the yield efficiency of 14 districts were found less than 50 per cent indicating the scope for doubling the yield in these districts.

An improved version (v2) of the Yield Gap Decision Support System (DSS) has been made available at http://www.icar-crida.res.in:8129/. This DSS provides statistics on natural resources and socio-economic features to find responsible factors for the low yield efficiency of the target district besides the extent of use of High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) and fertiliser nutrients.

The district-based contingency plans (DACP) were prepared for 648 districts in the country and hosted on ICAR/DAC websites (http://agricoop.nic.in/acp.html, https://www.icar-crida.res.in/) and circulated to all state agriculture departments. During the year 2021, 67 plans have been updated with the support from SAUs thus totalling the updated DACPs to 502.

Groundwater recharge prospect was estimated qualitatively at the district level based on the weekly rainfall of kharif 2021. Groundwater recharge possibility is extremely low whenever scanty rainfall is received in more than 65 per cent of weeks or deficit rainfall is received in more than 80 per cent of weeks on a cumulative basis.