- Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS) being rendered for the benefit of farmers in the country under the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme
- The scheme is under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
- It aims is to provide accurate crop specific advisories to the farmers.
- The scheme is implemented by India Meteorological Department in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities /Indian Council of Agricultural Research etc.
- It issues crop and location specific weather based agro advisories for the benefit of farming community.
- Under this, district level weather forecast for next 5-days in respect of rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and clouds, weekly cumulative rainfall forecast and Crop specific advisories are provided to farmers.
- GKMS of IMD has been successful in providing crop specific advisories to farmers through different print/visual/Radio/ IT based media including short message service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) facilitating appropriate field level actions.
- Based on the weather forecast, Agromet Advisories are prepared in collaboration with 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) and communicated to the farming community.
- The Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS) under the GKMS is operated to prepare biweekly weather based bulletins.
- AAS rendered by IMD is a step to weather-based crop and livestock management strategies and operations dedicated to enhancing crop production besides reducing crop damage and loss due to extreme weather events.
- The GKMS of IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific agro meteorological advisories in vernacular languages to about 22 million farmers in the country.
- GKMS also addresses climate change issue by giving 2 updates on weather in a week.
Other steps taken by govt. to address climate change:
- NAPCC: The Government of India is implementing several programmes and schemes through relevant Ministries and States including the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
- Flood Forecasting on International & Interstate Rivers is formulated and issued by the Central Water Commission (CWC) as short-range forecasting and five day’s advance flood advisory.
- Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa(GKMS): India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences in collaboration with Indian Council of Agriculture Research(ICAR) and other institutions is rendering District/Block level Agrometeorological Advisory Services(AAS) for the benefit of farmers in the country under the scheme Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa(GKMS).
- Per Drop More Crop scheme: The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is implementing the Per Drop More Crop scheme. It mainly focuses on water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation (Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation System).
- Rainfed Area Development(RAD) Programme under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture(NMSA): It focuses on Integrated Farming System (IFS) for enhancing productivity and minimizing risks associated with climatic variability. Under this system, crops/cropping system is integrated with activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agroforestry, apiculture etc. This will enable farmers in maximizing farm returns for sustaining livelihood, and also to mitigate the impacts of drought, flood or other extreme weather events.
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management project(ICZMP): The government of India has implemented ICZMP that has contributed, inter-alia, mapping of hazard line, Eco-sensitive Area, Sediment cell for the entire coastline of India.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Agriculture
- India Meteorological Department (IMD) provides direct services to the farming community.
- Set up in 1932, the Division of Agricultural Meteorology has its office in Pune.
- It was established to minimize the impact of adverse weather on crops.
- IMD also provides information to take advantage of favorable weather conditions that may result in a boost in agricultural yield.
Services of the Division can be listed as follows:
- Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva
- Dissemination of Agromet Advisories
- Feedback & Awareness of Agromet Service
- Training Programme to AMFUs (Agro-Meteorological Field Units)
