Farmers across Kerala can look forward to more focussed weather advisory services to help them improve crop yield and minimise the losses caused by natural disasters.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is working on an integrated programme to update its agrometeorological services and reach out to farmers with new communication channels. The project also seeks to augment the weather monitoring infrastructure in the State.
The Integrated Agromet Advisory Services (IAAS) programme is part of a national strategy to enable farmers to cope with regional variations in weather and climate and help sustain crop productivity.
Under the proposal, the District Agromet Advisory Service (DAAS) launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2008 will be replaced with block-level information.
Talking to The Hindu , K. Santhosh, Director, Met Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, said the integrated project was aimed at improving the quality and reach of agromet services to farmers.
Discussions
The IMD has initiated discussions with mobile service providers in Kerala to launch IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) and voice SMS-based agromet advisory service.
“The high market penetration of mobile handsets in Kerala justifies the use of this medium to disseminate information to the farming community,” Mr. Santhosh said.
Simultaneously, the IMD is working with the Union Department of Information Technology to set up a network of Common Service Centres (CSC), akin to the Akshaya citizen service centres in Kerala. The CSCs will be ICT-enabled kiosks equipped with personal computers and basic support equipment such as printer and scanner.
The IMD is also augmenting its State-wide network of 13 automatic weather stations with automatic rain gauges (ARGs), two in each district. The ARG network is expected to become operational by the end of the month.
“The rise in extreme weather conditions and localised weather patterns underline the need for a more focussed approach to forecast,” Mr. Santhosh said.
The IAAS involves a multi-centric approach using meteorological (weather observing and forecasting), agricultural (identifying weather-sensitive stress and preparing suitable advisory using weather forecast), extension (two-way communication with user), and communication (media, Information Technology, Telecom) agencies.
The medium-range weather forecast generated by the IMD will be fine-tuned with inputs from local weather monitoring stations, remote sensing data, and historical climate data before being supplied to Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) functioning under the Kerala Agricultural University.
Quantitative forecasts
The IMD currently issues quantitative forecasts for seven weather parameters, namely rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures, wind speed and direction, relative humidity and cloudiness, and weekly cumulative rainfall. The forecast is issued every Tuesday and Friday.
Experts at the AMFUs will interpret the meteorological information and use it to prepare an agro advisory for conventional crops as well as horticulture, fisheries, poultry, and livestock management.
