Agro Meteorology

Agrometeorological services programme of the Ministry has a direct impact on agricultural production.  The services are available in 550 districts.  Farmers receive advisories before various stages of farming.  Currently, about 25 lakh farmers are using this information through mobiles.  This programme would be continued to have larger coverage with improved advisories, and having closer coordination with State government authorities.

a). Objectives:

1. To improvise the existing district level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) to deliver crop and location specific AAS to farmers at block level advisories.
2. To design optimum observatory network for issuance of villagelevel advisories for implementation of crop weather insurance.
3. To establish District Agromet Units as nodal centre for catering to needs of agriculture services
4. To provide customized advisory bulletins through last mile connectivity to farmers with personalized agromet advisory services.
5. To extend the weather based advisory service to the allied areas like livestock, grazing of farm feed etc.
6. To establish appropriate dissemination and support system for weather-based crop insurance in the country.

b). Participating Institutions:

1. India Meteorological Department, New Delhi
2. Agricultural Universities

c). Implementation Plan:

District Agromet Units (DAUs) would be set up to address the objectives at block level.  It will strengthen the existing centres of (SAU’s), ICAR and KrishiVignanKendrass.  Preparation of high resolution weather forecast at block/taluka level is required. It is proposed to start issuing the forecast, particularly for the agromet service at relatively smaller areas at sub-districtt level.  Efforts are to be increased to disseminate the advisories and cover 50 percent of farming community.  Need-based agromet advisory services are to be rendered for the farmers engaged in cultivation of commercial field crops and horticultural crops involving Crop Growers Associations for important cash crops like tea, coffee, apple, mango, sugarcane, cotton, grapes, etc.  Application of Remote Sensing in AAS (crop, productivity and soil moisture status of a region under water stress, other biotic or abiotic conditions along with the possibility of forewarning pest and disease outbreak for smaller areas) is to be expanded.  Training to extension workers as well as farmers along with climate awareness programmes is also important, and should be planned.  The studies will be undertaken to observe whether weather based advisories have a positive impact on the overall yield and also how best can help in decreasing the cost of cultivation. These exercises will be carried out at all the field units and DAMU stations.

d). Deliverables:

e). Budget requirement including foreign exchange component : 265.00 Crore

(Rs. In crores)