Lok Sabha Question No. 5387 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Weather based Agro Advisory Services
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5387

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 5 TH  APRIL, 2023

## WEATHER BASED AGRO ADVISORY SERVICES

## 5387.  SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  Weather  based  Agro  Advisory  Services  operational  in  the  country,  State/UTwise;
- (b) the challenges in this respect and the proposed measures to be taken in this regard; and
- (c) the benefits realised thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) India  Meteorological  Department  (IMD)  runs  an  operational  Agrometeorological  Advisory Services (AAS) viz. , Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme for the benefit of farming community in the country. Under the scheme, medium range weather forecast at district and block level for next five days is generated and based on the forecast, 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agricultural Universities  (SAUs),  institutes  of  Indian  Council  of Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  and  Indian  Institute  of  Technology  (IIT)  etc.  and  District Agromet Units (DAMUs) at Krishi Vigyan Kendras  (KVKs) under  ICAR network prepare Agromet Advisories on every Tuesday and Friday for the districts under their jurisdiction and for the blocks of the district of their location and communicate to the farmers to take decision on day-to-day agricultural operations.

Presently  agromet  advisories  are  being  prepared  on  every  Tuesday  and  Friday  for  all  the agriculturally  important  districts  (~700)  and  around  3100  blocks  by  130  AMFUs  and  199 DAMUs. State/UT-wise details on districts and blocks covered are given in Annexure I.

- (b) Weather  plays  a  crucial  role  in  agriculture  and  changes  in  weather  patterns  can  have  a significant impact on crop yields. Weather-based crop advisory services can provide real-time information  about  weather  patterns,  crop  health  and  appropriate  measures  to  the  farmers enabling them to make informed decisions about various crop management practices leading to higher yields and increased income. In order to cater the need of the farming community, District level AAS was initiated in collaboration with ICAR and SAUs through the network of 130  AMFUs  located  across  the  country  with  an  aim  of  providing  more  relevant  weather information  and  location  and  crop  specific  advisories.  After  successful  implementation  of district level AAS, with the introduction of upgraded high-resolution models, the service has further  extended  to  the  block  level  with  the  establishment  of  DAMUs  in  the  premises  of KVKs of ICAR. AAS rendered by IMD is a step towards weather-based crop and livestock management  strategies  and  operations  dedicated  to  enhancing  crop  production  and  food security besides reducing crop damage and loss due to unusual weather.

Along with the biweekly bulletins, daily weather forecast and nowcast information are also disseminated to the farmers by Regional Meteorological Centres (RMCs) and Meteorological Centres (MCs) of IMD. Impact based forecast (IBFs) for agriculture are also being prepared by  AMFUs  and  DAMUs  based  on  the  severe  weather  warnings  for  different  districts  of various  States  and  UTs  across  the  country  issued  by  National  Weather  Forecasting  Centre (NWFC), New Delhi and RMCs and MCs of IMD.

Agromet  Advisories  are  disseminated  to  the  farmers  through  multichannel  dissemination system like print and electronic media, Door Darshan, radio, internet etc. including SMS using mobile phones through Kisan Portal and also through private companies under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

Farmers  access  the  weather  information  including  alerts  and  related  agromet  advisories specific  to  their  districts  through  the  mobile  App viz. ,  'Meghdoot' launched by Ministry of Earth  Sciences,  Government  of  India.  These  weather  details  are  also  accessible  by  farmers through  another  App  'Kisan  Suvidha',  launched  by  Ministry  of  Agriculture  &  Farmers Welfare.

Social media like 'WhatsApp' is also used for quicker dissemination of weather forecast and agromet advisories. WhatsApp groups of farmers have been created by various AMFUs and DAMUs to disseminate agromet services. State Agriculture Department officials of District and Block level are also included in these WhatsApp groups.

IMD  is  also  taking  continuous  efforts  to  popularize  the  services  among  the  farming community  by  organising  Farmers'  Awareness  Programmes  (FAPs)  in  collaboration  with AMFUs  and  DAMUs  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  IMD  along  with  the  experts  from AMFUs and DAMUs also participate in Kisan Melas, Farmers' Day etc. to create awareness about the services, so that more farmers get benefitted.

- (c) To  assess  the  economic  impact  of  weather  forecast-based  advisories,  multiple  studies  were conducted  by  an  independent  third-party  organization  viz.,  National  Council  of  Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 2009, 2015 and also recently in 2020.

The recent study of 2020 concluded that 98% of surveyed farmers (3,965 farmers across 121 districts of 11 states of India) made modifications to at least one of nine practices based on weather advisories. Average annual income of farming households increased from 1.98 Lakh, which  adopted  no  modifications  to  Rs  3.02  Lakh  which  adopted  all  the  9  practices.  An additional annual income was estimated of Rs. 12,500 per agricultural household belonging to Below Poverty Line category in rain-fed areas, while total income gain was estimated at Rs. 13,331  crore  per  annum  in  rain-fed  districts.  An  investment  of  Rs  1000  crores  will  yield economic benefits of about Rs 50000 crores over a reiod of 5 years.

## Annexure I

State/Ut-wise number of districts and blocks covered under GKMS

| S. No.   | State/UT                   |   Number of districts | Number of blocks   |
|----------|----------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 1        | Andamanand Nicobar Islands |                     3 | 9                  |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh             |                    13 | 166                |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh          |                    20 | 15                 |
| 4        | Assam                      |                    33 | 103                |
| 5        | Bihar                      |                    38 | 210                |
| 6        | Chhattisgarh               |                    27 | 67                 |
| 7        | Delhi                      |                     4 | 1                  |
| 8        | Goa                        |                     2 | 5                  |
| 9        | Gujarat                    |                    33 | 177                |
| 10       | Haryana                    |                    22 | 103                |
| 11       | Himachal Pradesh           |                    12 | 32                 |
| 12       | Jammu and Kashmir          |                    22 | 116                |
| 13       | Jharkhand                  |                    24 | 97                 |
| 14       | Karnataka                  |                    30 | 137                |
| 15       | Kerala                     |                    14 | 99                 |
| 16       | Lakshadweep                |                     1 | --                 |
| 17       | Madhya Pradesh             |                    51 | 153                |
| 18       | Maharashtra                |                    34 | 216                |
| 19       | Manipur                    |                    16 | 4                  |
| 20       | Meghalaya                  |                    11 | 6                  |
| 21       | Mizoram                    |                     8 | 5                  |
| 22       | Nagaland                   |                    11 | 18                 |
| 23       | Odisha                     |                    30 | 226                |
| 24       | Puducherry                 |                     2 | 6                  |
| 25       | Punjab                     |                    22 | 78                 |
| 26       | Rajasthan                  |                    33 | 171                |
| 27       | Sikkim                     |                     4 | 19                 |
| 28       | Tamil Nadu                 |                    32 | 223                |
| 29       | Telangana                  |                    30 | 89                 |
| 30       | Tripura                    |                     8 | 17                 |
| 31       | Uttar Pradesh              |                    75 | 303                |
| 32       | Uttarakhand                |                    13 | 244                |
| 33       | West Bengal                |                    22 | 41                 |
|          | Total                      |                   700 | 3156               |

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