NEW DELHI: The Centre has decided to facilitate advance weather forecast for farmers. Under the new system — as part of Climate Risk Management in Agriculture — farmers will be able to get forecast on weather including monsoon conditions one month in advance. The move, which is seen as a boon for farmers, has been prompted by adverse weather conditions affecting farm production in recent years and farmers being caught unawares by climatic variations.

For instance, in the past few years a good standing crop of wheat has been damaged by increase in temperatures just prior to harvest or abrupt changes in weather have resulted in lodging (bending) of the plants. More importantly advance indications of weather conditions would allow farmers to plan their sowing so as to minimise losses. A system that can forecast weather behaviour one month in advance will also have immense significance for sectoral decision making in agriculture, water resources, power generation, health and other end-users.

Decks were cleared last week when a Cooperative Agreement was signed between six Indian Agencies for the Development and Application of Extended Range Forecast System for Climate Risk Management in Agriculture at a meeting chaired by Agriculture Secretary Radha Singh. The international-level project, to be developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, will be implemented in a mission mode. A nine-member Scientific and Technical Committee would be headed by U.C. Mohanty of the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, IIT, Delhi.

A Project Implementation Committee chaired by Agriculture Secretary will oversee the development and implementation of the project. It will also function as an arbitration committee in case of any disputes amongst the participating agencies. The Ministry of Agriculture will provide the estimated Rs. 12.75 crores required for the system over three years.

There shall be two inter-related components. One would be development of Extended Range Forecast Technology by pooling the resources, expertise and experience of various national and international agencies and its transfer to operational agencies such as the India Meteorological Department and the National Centre for Medium Range Forecasting. The other component would be application of Extended Range Forecast Technology by establishing an end-to-end Information Generation and Application System through pilot projects for application at selected sites which will be implemented with the participation of farmers and service support agencies.

While IIT would be the nodal agency for developing the project, the IMD/NCMRWF would be the operating agencies. The implementation would be by the Department of Agriculture with the help of its line agencies and other stakeholders. The other agencies associated with the ambitious project would include the Space Application Centre, the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.

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