Gramin Krishi Mausam

Sewa: Achievements and

Future Plan

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay

Deputy Director General of Meteorology (Agrimet), Agricultural Meteorology Division, IMD, Pune

E-mail: nabansu.nc@gmail.com

Procedures in place for GKMS

Data collection, quality control and continuity

Analysis and model runs

Interpretation of products

Formulation of information and advisory

Dissemination

Training and research

Feedback

Interdisciplinary communication (tri-partite dialogue and

collaboration)

Evaluation (Economic) of services

Basic Philosophy & Primary

Requirements in GKMS

Issues to Improve Agromet

Services

Know the farming systems & their

potential

Be culturally sensitive & Win trust of

farmers

Develop alternatives / options / choices

Demonstrate how climate / weather info

helps make good decisions

Identify weather sensitive farm

activities/operations

Use seasonal calendar to identify

farm activities

Use matrix to identify critical

decisions and relevant climate

parameters

Hands‐on learning – role plays to

illustrate long‐term rainfall

Formulation of information and advisory

Advisories based on weather/climate &

cropping information.

Climate predictions and meteorological

forecasts with added value for agriculture.

Monitoring and early warning services

connected to climate.

Products of agroclimatological characterization;

Development & validation of adaptation

strategies.

Quality of Bulletin

Accuracy: The information should seek to address or

solve an issue or problem based on sound science.

Robustness: The method or product should be versatile

to operate under a variety of conditions.

Clarity and be meaningful:. The information should be

easily understandable by the user.

Timeliness. The information can be created and

provided in a reasonable time frame.

Environmental soundness. The information encourages

environmentally friendly procedures.

Economic viability. The information can be

economically justified.

State-wise district level AAS

Bulletin -608 Bulletins Target is to issue 615

district wise bulletins

Disseminating agromet

advisories to 7.07 millions

farmers under PPP mode

State Name Total State Name Total

Andaman and

Nicobar 3

Madhya

Pradesh 50

Andhra Pradesh 22 Maharashtra 32

Arunachal

Pradesh 14 Manipur 9

Assam 26 Meghalaya 7

Bihar 38 Mizoram 8

Chhattisgarh 25 Nagaland 11

Delhi 1 Orissa 21

Gujarat 26 Punjab 21

Haryana 21 Rajasthan 33

Himachal

Pradesh 12

Tamil Nadu &

Puducherry 34

Jammu and

Kashmir 21 Tripura 8

Jharkhand 24 Uttar Pradesh 67

Karnataka 30 Uttarakhand 11

Kerala 14 West Bengal 18

Why are Farmers Vulnerable?

Shocks or extreme events Floods, droughts, cyclones

Seasons are different Delayed start of rainy season

Extreme temperatures

Other trends or changes Technology advances

June Rainfall -43%

National AAS Bulletin based on Extended Range Weather

Forecast for seasonal outlook in operational mode

EXAMPLE OF PLANTING DATE

GUIDE

CROP = SORGHUM

CROP CYCLE LENGTH : 120 DAYS

DO NOT PLANT BEFORE 1 JUNE

BETWEEN 1 AND 10 JUNE IF THERE IS A CUMULATIVE 10 - DAY

RAINFALL OF 40 MM;

BETWEEN 11 AND 20 JUNE IF THERE IS A CUMULATIVE 10 - DAY

RAINFALL OF 20 MM;

BETWEEN 21 AND 30 JUNE IF THERE IS A CUMULATIVE 10 - DAY

RAINFALL OF 10 MM

BETWEEN 1 AND 10 JULY EVEN IF DRY, BUT PREFERABLY AFTER RAIN;

PLANT AFTER THIS PERIOD, IT IS RECOMMANDED TO PLANT A VARIETY

WITH A SHORTER CYCLE

Seasonal forecast for AAS Kharif Rabi

Monthly and Cumulative Standardized

Precipitation Index (SPI) (Drought monitoring

index) maps are generated for Climate

monitoring over India

Drought Monitoring

….Central and

Northern parts of the

country have

suffered large

deficits even till

August

Need to incorporate in AMFU Bulletins

Need of dissemination of agromet

advisories under extreme events

Cyclone HUDHUD

Cyclone Nilofar

Cyclone Phailin

NOKIA, Reuter Market Light, Reliance

Foundation, IKSL has taken initiatives in

such events. Advisories also sent by

AMFUs through Kisan Portal also.

Need more and more involvement

under such events.

Estimation of Soil Moisture based on Satellite Data

Technology developed by ICRS, Jodhpur is being

operationilized in Agrimet Division, IMD,Pune for estimation of

soil moisture for the states Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh.

Maps have been generated on experimental mode in near real

time using satellite data viz. soil moisture and brightness

temperature data received from SMOS, NDVI values from MODIS

and LST values from SSMIS sensors

Gujarat

Madhya Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh Need to incorporate in AMFU Bulletins

Proposed micromet tower for measurement of

Evapotranspiration

Remote Sensing & GIS in AAS

Remote sensing based products can assist in selecting sowing/harvesting time, scheduling irrigation, nutrient

management, pests and diseases management, intercultural operations, beside defining the initial condition of

the atmosphere for Numerical Weather Prediction models.

The areas where Remote sensing products will be useful are the following:

Soil (Moisture, temperature, Nutrient, Erosion)

Crop (Coverage, vigor, yield assessment)

Crop sowing/Harvesting Time

Forest Status Monitoring & Forest Fire

Biotic & Abiotic Stresses On Crops

Pest Disease Surveillance

Analysis of agrometeorological information using GIS is useful to find

Potentiality of the area for a particular crop

Expected crop yield

Estimation of crop suitability, integrating factors affecting them under GIS environment

Evaluate risks and suggest alternative crops or cropping system for an area.

Tools used and the products eminating from them, must be supported by a physical and computing infrastructure

that allows for software development and use, and an accessible web platform. These must also be managed by

competent IT personnel.

It is proposed to make arrangements for

Agromet data collection on line.

Existing agromet observatories will be

modernised.

Basic and derived Agromet Parameters and crop

information including remote sensing data will

be collected on line.

This data centre will be linked with the National

Data Centre of IMD located at Pune.

Agromet Data Centre

Pilot projects under Dissemination

Mahindra and

Mahindra

Maharashtra

Central Silk Board,

Bangaluru,

Karnataka

CAB

International ,

New Delhi

Reliance

Foundation

Pune and Parbhani Ananthpur Hassan,

Chickmangalore

and Kodagu

Five states

All the crops Sericulture Coffee growers Interactive voice

Response

technology

Dissemination of Agromet Advisory

1. SMS / IVRS to relatively much larger number of farmers.

2. Modernize Agrimet website to make interactive

3. Multi Platform backend: Web based and frontend.

4. Multi Linkages among Agri Experts, Knowledge Institutions,

Services Providers, etc.

5. ICT based agricultural information dissemination models.

6. Media Lab Asia : An Interactive Information Dissemination System

(IIDS)

7. Agrimet Domain linked to websites of other Ministries viz: Rural,

Panchayati Raj etc.

Critical issues of Farmer’s portal All the AMFUs have to

take active initiative to

send SMS through

Kisan Portal

11 AMFUs have not

registered under the

portal

SAMCs should utilize

the portal for frequent

dissemination of

weather to the farming

community

Mobile phone application for early

warning in agriculture

A few relevant aspects for the type

of applications in agriculture:

for advice, education, and

awareness,

to farmers about good

practices, crop varieties, and pest

or disease management;

for pest and disease outbreak

warning,

to facilitate communication

between the supplier and the user

of the agrometeorological

products;

to contribute to the

improvement of the users’

performance;

to lead to objective and high

quality decisions.

Awareness / Review Programmes Farmer Awareness programme State Level Review meeting

AMFU Jhabua, Raipur, Portblair, Anathapuram,

Chennai, Hyderabad, Aduthurai, New Delhi conducted

farmer awareness programme from June to August

2014. Five rainguages were distributed to progressive

farmers in the programme. In addition, some private

companies like Reliance Foundation, Mahindra

Samriddhi are organising such programmes.

RMC Chennai,LUCKNOW

conducted state level review

meeting on 22 Feb 2014 with

a theme “Role of AMFUs in shaping up IAAS in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry”. DGM and other High level dignitaries from IMD and Technical and Nodal officers from AMFUs participated in the meeting. State Level Review

meeting

Farmer Awareness programme

Target is to conduct Farmer Awareness Programmes at

remaining AMFU locations upto March 2015

Blocks covered under Pilot Mode State District Block State District Block

Andaman and Nicobar N&M Andaman 3 Andhra Pradesh Karimnagar 57

Arunachal Pradesh West Siang 18 Assam Jorhat 8

Bihar Samstipur 20 Chandigarh Chandigarh 1

Chattisgarh Raipur 4 Dadra & Nagar Haveli Silvasa 1

Daman-Diu Diu 1 Delhi West Delhi 1

Goa North-Goa 6 Gujrat Anand 8

Haryana Ambala

Hissar

6

9

Himachal Pradesh Shimla 10

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu 8 Jharkhand Dhanbad 8

Karnataka Dharwad 5 Kerala Trissur 16

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep 9 Madhya Pradesh Seoni 8

Maharashtra Satara 11 Manipur Imphal-East 3

Meghalaya Ri-bhoi 3 Mizoram Kolasib 2

Nagaland Dimapur 4 Odisha Khordha 10

Pondicherry Pondicherry 6 Punjab Kapurthala 5

Rajasthan Jaipur 13 Sikkim East-District 9

TamilNadu Dindigul 14 Tripura West-Tripura 6

Uttar Pradesh Meerut 12 Uttar Pradesh Varanasi 8

Uttrakhand Udamsingh Nagar 7 West-Bengal Bankura 22

Establishment of District AgroMet Units (DAMUs)

In collaboration with ICAR, 240 DAMUs to be set

up in phased manner at Krishi Vigyan kendra

(KVKs) by strengthening the existing

infrastructure.

The expert group of agriculture scientists

available at KVK will be involved in preparation

of Agromet Advisory.

Engage farmers in developing

advisories Use farmer developed decision trees with weather forecast info as triggers;

b) Discuss what added value they need as well as T & rain;

c) Add this info with the choices to weather forecasts;

d) Use crop model outputs to give gradients and range of coping strategies

according to different conditions e.g.

i. Cultivar choice

ii. Planting dates

iii. Plant population

iv. Fertilizer amounts & application timing

e) Brainstorm & discuss options for presentation & dissemination

methods; &

f) Meet other farmer groups to test various interventions ‐

Engage in discussion & questioning.

Block level forecast-Pilot study

Watershed organisation Trust

Capacity building

AMFU Training

Course

DLWF

Training

AMFU Training Course DLWF Training Telefarm advisors training

Training course on

“Agrometeorology towards

better advisories for serving

end uses requirements” was

organised from 26th

November to 16th December

2013

A training programme on

“Improvement of District

Level Weather Forecast

(DLWF) for Agromet

Advisory Services” was

organized at Regional

Meteorological Centre

Kolkata during 4th and 5th

December, 2013.

Organised training for

Telefarm Advisors of IFFCO

during 10-14 March 2014 to

„Application of Weather

Based Agrometeorological

Advisories

Customized Training Course Organised training on

„Agrometeorology towards

better Advisories for serving

end users requirement‟ jointly

organised by the Agricultural

Meteorology Division and

German International

Cooperation ( GIZ ) from 25-

29 August 2014.

Telefarm training

36

Proposed Programme on Capacity building for:

SAUS

KVK – ATMA

Local level leaders

Local extension team

Farmers

Input dealers

Marketing chains

APMC retail marketing- wholesalers

Training

Climatological Analyses particularly of raninfall and temperature

Weather forecasting and services specific to agriculture

Micro-meteorology

Crop water use and irrigation management

Crop simulation modelling

Role of Meteorology in Crop protection, including pests and

diseases modelling

Weather, Climate and Livestock, poultry and fish production

Climate Change and Agriculture

Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing in

Agrometeorology

Training for Extension Officer

Agriculture Extension Officers have been providing important

advice and support for farmers.

However, it was found that most of these officers are ill-equipped to

provide important advice with respect to weather and climate

issues .

In an era of changing climate and increased weather and climate

risks, advice on these issues is becoming increasingly important.

Extension Officers must therefore be made better equipped

through training in relevant aspects of agrometeorology.

Also critical is that the awareness training continue for farmers in

the interpretation of weather and climate information, as this would

boost decision-making at the level of the unit of production

Climate field school-experience

from INDONESIA

Participation in Kisan Melas

‘Krishi Vasant 2014’, country’s biggest National Agriculture fair cum exhibition was

organized at Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur during 9th to 13th

February, 2014, a joint effort by Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, Government

of Maharashtra and Confederation of Indian Industry.

Farmers’ feedback Shri Narayan Bhai Chawda (Krishi Pandit),

Village–Gomchi, Raipur

Since 1992, I have been getting these weather-

based agro-advisories regularly on the evening

of every Tuesday and Friday. Although, we have

been involved in agriculture since last 30 to 35

years, these agro-advisories are certainly playing

very important role in planning our agriculture

activities. Vegetables and the cereals are the

major crops grown in my agriculture farm.

Shri Jayant Bhai Taunk, Village-Doma, Raipur

Weather forecasts and agro-advisories

issued by the university are definitely

playing an important role and I am

very much dependent on AAS bulletins

for scheduling different agricultural

operations like fertilizer application,

spraying of weedicides and pesticides,

drip irrigation etc. I am very much

interested in satellite pictures. It would

be better if these pictures appear in

local Newspapers every day.

Feedback

User feedback is always an important indicator of the usefulness of

products and services. It is important to know what is working and

what s not, what improvements can be made, the gaps to be filled,

and equally importantly if the necessary messages are reaching

intended targets.

Feedback can be acquired through the following examples:

Forums for farmers that would include Agrometeorological

Services personnel, policy makers, Agriculture Extension Services

and University scientists and researchers;

Using technology though Listserves, web blogs and e-forums, on-

line or paper surveys, e-mails

Feedback

The feedback from the farmers can be extremely useful

for the following:

Quality and relevance of Advisories.

Whom farmers should contact for information and how

should the contact be made.

Problem solving through interactive mode.

Answering questions of common interest through

bulletins.

Accessibility to information via internet, ICT.

Accessibility to Experts & video Conferencing.

For instance,

studies showed

that the effective

use of this

information has

reduced the re-

sowing rate by 35%

and increased crop

yields by 20% to

25% on average,

compared to “non-

agromet” farms in

Africa.

10-25% economic benefit

obtained by the Indian farmers

Economic Assessment

User requirement The types of economic decision which require

agrometeorological products can be categorized according

to three time scales:

Long-term planning for agricultural development (rational

allocation of land, choice of crops, selection of species and

varieties).

Medium-term planning for the next season (choice of farming

area, crop varieties, etc.);

Short-term decisions regarding imminent farming operations

(choice of optimal sowing and harvest dates, dates and

quantities for fertilization, dates and quantities for irrigation,

etc.).

Economic Assessment

Service requirement To establish the worthiness of the service: Economic

impact has to be carried out in order to know its

potential benefits.

Service credibility:- Credibility is always closely linked

to forecast verification. Hence economic impact studies

need to be carried out to establish credibility in the eyes

of the potential users if optimum benefits are to be

derived from the marketing of the service.

Service accountability or justification: Assessment of

the service helps justifying the costs and the ongoing

need and existence of such a service.

Immediate Attention

Development of mechanism to provide Agromet advisories in

district level AAS bulletin based on the Severe Weather Warning of

IMD.

Development of WEB-GIS interface for display of AAS bulletins in

BHUVAN portal of Dept. of Space (DoS) and other related

Government websites.

Adoption of research projects keeping in view the operation

fulfilment of the objectives of GKMS project.

Development of methodology for climate risk management in

collaboration with CRIDA

Establishment of mechanism for immediate updating of the

Agromet advisories, even in daily time scale, based on the

emerging weather situation, to fulfill the requirement of Kisan

Channel.

Fixing the mandate of conducting minimum one workshop per year

by each AMFU

• Crop water management and its efficient use

• Development of integrated crop / pest

management and knowledge on response

farming strategies.

• Crop pest/disease/climate dynamics, animal and

climate relationships

• Crop Weather models: Statistical modelling of

crop weather relationship and Dynamic

simulation modelling of crop weather

interactions. Spatial crop yield forecasting.

Crop simulation models, decision support

system, expert system

• Early Warning and Monitoring of Drought

monitoring

• impact of climate change/variability and matters

of climate forecasting and prediction: Preparing

the farmers with coping strategies to meet

climate change

• Weather basedplanning and management to

enhance the agricultural productivity of the

country.

• Utilisation of agro-climatic information for

Agromet Advisories

• Develop and use of modern tools in

agrometeorology like GIS, remote sensing and

• Dry farming research

New R & D projects received under GKMS

In all around 12

proposal

received,

evaluation of

these project

proposals is in

progress

Work shop

Media workshop Satellite Meteorology

A workshop was organized for media

personnel to understand the complexities and

limitations of weather processes and

usefulness of weather infor-mation for the

purpose of agriculture, s, concepts and

definitions on 28th March 2014

A workshop was organized on

Applications of satellite information in

Operational Agromet Advisory Service

on 27th March 2014

Media workshop Satellite

New technologies

incorporated in Agromet Services

Alert for Fisherman

Alert System

Enhancing ICT through different modern modes of

communication is based on:

Establishing or enhancing two-way dialogue between providers

of products and services and the farmers to ensure that user

requirements are understood and met (e.g. via RCOFs); face-

to-face interaction is critical;

Developing a range of climate information and products and

delivery mechanisms to suit the capacities of the broad range of

farmers – many do not have Internet, some are illiterate, e.g. –

ensure the information is user-friendly;

Encouraging Public--‐private partnerships; helps create demand

and reduce costs;

Providing multiple Channels of communication; greater

involvement of private partners in the extension system.

Providing Interactive portals (in regional languages)

Making Multimodel Support: Audio, Video, Image, Text

Multi Platform Backend : Web based and frontend: Mobile

interface

Domain: Agriculture, Horticulture, Livestock and Fisheries

Establishing Multi Linkages: Agri Experts, Knowledge

Institutions, Services Providers (Financial / input etc)

Personalized Information in appropriate mode

The availability of Farm and Farmer Database including soil,

water, nutrients, GIS parameters etc.

Dissemination of model outputs via ICT

Creating an Interactive Information Dissemination System

(IIDS): Using Web, IVRS and Mobile technology

Integrated Cropping Calendar

Figure 1. Development process of Integrated Cropping Calendar Information System

The information system can

assist in:

Determining planting time of

crop for each planting season

(first crop, second crop and

third crop).

Determining cropping pattern,

crop rotation and technology

recommendation of each sub-

district.

Predicting potential planting

area to support cropping

systems and crop production

management.

Reducing the risk of decline and

failure of production and losses

to farmers due to drought,

floods and pest attacks.

CROP ZONING

CROP SUITABILITY

RISK MANAGEMENT

IRRIGATION REQUIREMENTS

PRESERVE WATER RESOURCES

CROP PLANTING AND

HARVESTING

PEST MANAGEMENT

PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS

METAGRI Project;

ANADIA Project;

IWMI Project;

CCAFS Project;

CIWARA Project

59

Range of climate risk

management services for

smallholders –tools,

technologies

Integrated water resource

management

Integrated networks &

services

Early Warning and disaster

risk management

Climate modeling, weather

information and

environmental monitoring

Key Gaps in Agriculture

Climate Services

CREAM (Centre for Research and Excellence in

Agrometeorology )

The objectives of the centre would be:

1) To help farmers cope with climate risks and

uncertainties.

2) To help reduce the vulnerability of agroecosystems to

climate variability and change:

3) To help achieve greater efficiency in natural resource

use in agriculture:

4) To produce bi Weekly Crop and Weather Bulletin for

India:

5) To establish a World Class Training Programme in

Agricultural Meteorology:

6) To organize periodic Symposia/Conferences on

Agrometeorological Research and Applications:

Global Framework of Climate Services (GFCS)

OBSNL. NETWORK

S

DATA & COMMUNICATION

CLIM. PRODUCT

S

CLIMATE MONITORIN

G

CLIMATE INFO

CAPACITY BUILDING

GFCS

• Development of training course

modules

Data Acquisition and Quality Control

Techniques

Climate analysis Tools

Climate Prediction Tools

Climate System Processes

Map tools and GIS applications

• On the job training (week to

month)

• Long Term Training for

Meteorological Technicians and

Meteorologists

• Research Program

apprenticeships / fellowships

• University affiliated courses

Thank you!