Met Department to be Modernized to Provide Agrometic Services to all the 600 Districts in the Country

The Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Kapil Sibal has said the Meteorological Department will be modernized to provide agrometic services to all the 600 districts in the country. Disclosing this at a Press Conference in New Delhi today the Minister said presently 107 universities are being provided weather related advisories to help farmers for planning their agriculture related activities. He said greater connectivity is needed to extend the facility to all the districts.

Shri Sibal said that an International Workshop on Coping with Agrometeorological Risks and Uncertainties: – Challenges and opportunities and 14th session of the Commission for Agriculture Meteorology (CagM) will be held from 25th October to 3 November 2006 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, India.

The specific discussions in the conference will be made on the following issues:

• Identification and assessment of the components of farmers' coping strategies with risks in different regions of the world.
• Inadequate attention to agroclimatic characteristics of a location.
• Lack of timely information on weather and climate risks and uncertainties.
• Lack of crop diversification.
• Major challenges to the coping strategies.
• Preparedness and response of the above strategies.
• Training of intermediaries between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and farmers.
• Review of the opportunities for farmers to mitigate risks and uncertainties in different parts of the world.
• Provision of on-farm examples of appropriate coping strategies for minimizing agro meteorological risks and uncertainties and of sustainable agriculture.
• Review, through appropriate case studies, of the use of crop insurance strategies and schemes to reduce the vulnerability of the farming communities to agrometeorological risks.

The 14th session of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will review ongoing activities and will establish priorities and strategies to carry out work relating to the above objectives for the next four years. All the crucial aspects of Agricultural Meteorology will be discussed during the meeting of the Commission for providing better services to the farming community, Shri Sibal said.

In many parts of the world the uncertainty over weather and climate is one of the major factors of risk for agricultural production. It is not just the occurrence of extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, cyclonic storms, heat waves and strong winds etc, but also anomalous climatic conditions persisting for longer periods that lead to loss in productivity. Management of agricultural risks is even more important from India’s point of view where about 60% of the net cultivated area is dependent on the vagaries of rainfall. Improved climate knowledge and technology, which includes development of monitoring systems and response mechanisms to adverse weather conditions, can reduce the uncertainties in agrometeorological risks. Thus, if agricultural is to remain sustainable over a period of time then there is need to integrate monitoring, assessments, mitigation and adaptation into a single unified system of operations.

Long range Forecasts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) commencing as early as the nineteenth century, were dedicated to the purpose of agriculture. Specific Farmers’ Weather Bulletins were issued by IMD since 1945 and specialized agrometeorological services were commenced in 1977. At present advisories to the farmers and the State Agricultural Officials are provided from more than 125 centers across the country and also disseminated through the print and electronic media.

World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), of which IMD is a founder member, is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations. The Organisation comprises of the Congress, the Executive Council and six Regional Associations. The Commission for Agriculture Meteorology (CAgM) situated at the WMO secretariat in Geneva is one of the eight technical commissions of the WMO and it deals with meteorological aspects of agriculture such as drought, desertification, agro meteorological forecasts and warnings etc. CAgM has an important role to play in view of the fact that economies of developing countries are greatly dependant on agriculture.

Source : Press Information Bureau
Date : October 23, 2006