VII^th Annual Review Meeting of Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa, (Rural agricultural weather forecast) was held at Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT) in joint association with Indian Meterological Dept, Govt of India, New Delhi.

UT has been provided with an official press note by the concerned department of MPUAT. We are publishing the same, as received:

District-level weather forecast is provided to 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at the State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), Institutes of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), IITs, etc.

There is a need for further improvement in these services particularly of preparing the weather forecast at a level smaller than a district, extending the temporal range of weather forecast and also aggressive extension, outreach & agromet advisory dissemination system.

This idea led to the establishment of Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa in the country under 12th Five Year Plan.

The main objective was to improve the existing District level Agromet Advisory Services (AAS) during 12th Five Year Plan and to deliver crop and location specific AAS to farmers at block level with village level out reach.

In order to operate at block level, there is a strong need to set an operational unit at District level. Hence, it is proposed to set up District Agromet Units (DAMUs) in the country.

Dedicated staff, along with the required infrastructure, will be needed at these centres.

These stations may be co-located with existing Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) which are operating through State Agriculture Universities, ICAR Institutions and NGOs etc. and are funded and technically guided by ICAR.

There are a few bottlenecks in the existing services like optimum observations, seamless weather forecast, manpower and permanency of staff in AMFUs, real-time information flow particularly crop & pest/disease information, establishment of connectivity, outreach/extension mechanism, R & D support for Agrometeorology etc.

Dissemination of right information at right time to each and every farmer of the country is a challenging job.

The proposed projects for dissemination of agromet advisory bulletin is envisaged via IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd., Reutor Market Light (RML), MahaAgri, Vritti Solutions, Handygo, Common Service Centres (CSC), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), NOKIA, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), ITC e–Choupal etc.

Inclusion of these services will allow large fraction of farmers in the country to reap the benefit.

Moreover, Agrimet Division, IMD is establishing linkages with the State level ICTs like Kisan Kerala, e-livestock , etc. All FM channels of AIR and now casting centres of Doordarshan under Prasar Bharati may also be included.

Regular feedback from farmers, State Agricultural Departments and Agricultural Universities / ICAR and other related Institutes would be collected and processed for further improvement of services. Feedback information would also be collected from Regional and Narrowcasting stations of DD, AIR, and FM channels, KVKs, ATMA, CSCs, NGOs, VRCs and VKCs and also through Kisan Melas.

The District Agrometeorological Units may be set up at KVKs through provision of grant-in-aid on the same pattern as is being done for AMFUs under the existing memorandum of understanding with the collaborating universities/institutions. The GIA covers expenditure on salary of one Technical Officer, Travel, Infrastructure etc. The main functions of the District Agromet Units (DAMUs) will be as under:

1. Receive weather forecast from IMD and prepare Agromet Advisory bulletins at block levels. For this DAMU will be guided by AMFU.

2. Disseminate Agromet advisory bulletins through print media, radio, Television and other possible mechanisms.

3. Assess users’ requirements and impact of AAS.

4. Participate / operate Agri-clinics or such mechanism (Kisan Call Centers).

5. Participate in farmers fair and organize awareness activities to popularize AAS.

6. Maintain agro-met observatory, record observation, dispatch and store data.

7. Prepare local climatological information & data base. Receive current weather observations and agricultural data from districts.

8. Identify weather sensitivity of crops, animals, pests & diseases and management practices.

9. Prepare annual reports and submit the same to designated authorities

10. Collect feedback information from Regional and Narrowcasting stations of DD, AIR, and FM channels, KVKs, ATMA, CSCs, NGOs,

Project implementation will involve recruitment of manpower at DMAU, procurement of capital equipments, modernization of Agromet Observatory, R&D, economic assessment, setting of lysimeters and also specialized observation system at Central Agromet Observatory. The Financial requirement to implement blocks level agromet advisories and setting up of district level Agrometeorological Units is as under:

Total budgetary support required for implementation of the project “Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa” for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012- 2017) will be Rs. 266.02 Crores