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Agricultural Meteorology Division

India Meteorological Department

Shivajinagar, Pune-5

2011-12

Annual Progress Report

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Foreword

Dr. L.S. Rathore Director General of Meteorology, IMD, New Delhi Agricultural Meteorology Division, India Meteorological Department is providing various services to the farmers and other users since long. The prime object of Agricultural Meteorology Division, India Meteorological Department (IMD) is to minimize the impact of adverse weather on crops and to make use of crop-weather relationships to boost agricultural production. It is also the centre for research programmes in Agricultural Meteorology and has field units in various parts of the country. This Division caters to the needs of agriculturists and conducts research and developmental programme in the field of Agricultural Meteorology. In order to strengthen these services, the major activities performed by the Division are issuing of agromet advisory services, technical assistance to observatories, R & D activities in crop weather studies, capacity building, dissemination of agromet advisories through multi-purpose dissemination channels etc. Under the flagship programme of Government of India, Integrated Agromet Advisory Services project launched by MoES/IMD is being implemented in the country successfully in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Institutes (ICAR) institutes and IITs. From the inception of the project, commendable services are provided to the farmers which in turn increase the productivity of crops and ultimately improve the economic condition of the low and marginal farmers in the country. A number of important activities like preparation of district level weather forecast and agromet advisories, multi-channel dissemination of advisories, popularization and awareness programme, human resource development, R & D, installation of observatories and its maintenance etc. are being carried out in this project. Phenomenal achievement in dissemination of advisories under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode is achieved. Involvement of farmers with this service through organization of Farmer Awareness Programmes (FAP) is worth mentioning. In addition to this service, IMD is operating FASAL project in collaboration with Department of Agriculture (DAC), Space Application Centre (SAC) and Institute of Economic Growth (IEG). Under this project, crop yield forecast of major crops during kharif and rabi season is issued though statistical and crop growth simulation techniques. It gives me a great pleasure to present this annual report of Agrimet Division for the year 2011-12. This report provides summary of highlights on various services provided to farmers and other users in the country. I take the opportunity to thank the Ministry of Earth Sciences for necessary support and to the Vice-Chancellors, Nodal officers and Technical officers of different Agricultural Universities for successfully implementing Integrated Agromet Advisory Service project. I also appreciate the initiative taken by the Head and the officers, staff members of the Agricultural Meteorology Division, India Meteorological Department in bringing out annual report of Agrimet Division for the year 2011-12. Dr. L.S. Rathore Director General of Meteorology, India Meteorological Department, Lodhi road, New Delhi.

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T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s

No.

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Contents Page No.

1 Preparation of agromet Advisory Service (AAS) Bulletins 4

2 Dissemination of agromet advisories: 4 3 Pilot Project on Block Level Weather Forecast & Agromet

Advisory 7

4 Research & Development Project on AAS 12 5 Collaborative projects for improvement on AAS 16 6 Data management for agromet Observatories 18 7 Technical assistance to agromet observatories 18 8 Training in Agricultural Meteorology 19 9 Awareness Programmes 20

10 Meetings 23 11 Visitors at Agrimet Division 28

12 Awards 29 13 Meetings attended by officers / staff of Agrimet Division

30

14 Research papers 32 15 Future Plans

33

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Prime mandate of the Agricultural Meteorology Division, IMD, Pune is to support agriculturists, planners and all other users by providing advance information relating to weather and crop condition for “planning agricultural operations”, crop yield forecast based on meteorological data, information relating to progress of monsoon, rainfall analysis for dry land farming and technical support to Agricultural Departments, State Agricultural Universities, research institutes for establishment and smooth running of their Agromet observatories. Agrimet Division, IMD is the apex body for issuance of agromet advisories at district, state and national level. During 2011-12, this Division has carried out the following important activities under the scheme of Integrated Agromet Advisory Services. 1. Preparation of Agromet Advisory Service (AAS) Bulletins:

a) The District Level Agromet Advisory Service (AAS) Bulletins are issued by Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and IITs in different parts of country and it includes crop specific advisories for field crops, horticultural crops and livestock. At present these bulletins are issued for 563 districts of the country.

Sr.No. State Number of bulletins received

Sr.No. State

Number of

bulletins received

1 Andhra Pradesh 22 15 Manipur 9 2 Assam 23 16 Meghalaya 7 3 Arunachal Pradesh 13 17 Mizoram 8 4 Bihar 37 18 Nagaland 8 5 Chhattisgarh 18 19 Orissa 23 6 Gujarat 25 20 Punjab 17 7 Haryana 19 21 Rajasthan 32 8 Himachal Pradesh 12 22 Tamil Nadu. 30 9 Jammu & Kashmir 14 23 Tripura 4

10 Jharkhand 24 24 Uttar Pradesh 70 11 Karnataka 26 25 Uttarakhand 6 12 Kerala 14 26 West Bengal 19 13 Madhya Pradesh 50 27 New Delhi 1 14 Maharashtra 32

Total no. of bulletins issued: 563

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b) State Level AAS Bulletin is a composite of district AAS bulletins. These bulletins are jointly prepared by State Meteorological Centre of IMD, State Agricultural Department and AMFUs and mainly used by State Government functionaries. This is also useful to Fertilizer industry, Pesticide industry, Irrigation Department, Seed Corporation, Transport and other organizations which governs inputs in agriculture. This bulletin is a significant input to the State level Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) meeting. Presently, these bulletins are issued for all the States in the country.

c) National AAS Bulletins are prepared by National Agromet Advisory Service Centre, Division of Agriculture Meteorology, IMD, Pune, with inputs from various State Meteorological Centres and AMFUs . This bulletin helps identify stress on various crops for different regions of the country and suitably incorporate advisories. National Agromet Advisory Bulletin are primarily targeted for national level planners e.g. Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG), Department of Agriculture and Co-operation (DoAC) and also communicated to all the related Ministries (State & Central) Organizations, NGOs for their use.

2. Dissemination of agromet advisories:

Information on agromet advisory is disseminated through multi-modes of delivery including mass and electronic media. This includes All India Radio, Television, Print Media (local newspapers in different vernacular languages), internet (Website/Web Pages) as well as group and individual relationships through email, telephone etc. In addition to the multi-channel dissemination system mentioned above IMD has tied up with different public and private organizations, which are already working in dissemination of agricultural information to the farming community through the use of mobile technology. .

Under the project Integrated Agromet Advisory Service (IAAS), agromet advisories are being disseminated to the farming community in India through SMS and IVR (Interactive Voice Response Technology). Under the SMS system an information platform has been created which allows the existing Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), institutes of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) etc. to provide the information in a convenient and timely manner. The advisories are crop and location specific and delivered to the farmers within actionable time. Under IVR system the information from AMFUs for each state are collected and then stored and converted into voice where the farmer would be calling and receiving the desired information. At present 3.3 million farmers have been benefited by this service. AMFUs are also disseminating agromet advisories under PPP mode.

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I. Existing system of dissemination of agromet advisories through SMS:

IMD has so far partnered with Reuter Market Light (RML), Handygo, State Department of Agriculture

(Government of Maharashtra), IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd. (IKSL) and NOKIA Life Tools.

Initiative taken by some AMFUs regarding dissemination of agromet advisory through SMS under

PPP model is as follows:

Station Name Total number of farmers

Lembuchera 265 (2 districts)

Dapoli 115 in Ratnagiri district

Hissar Approx. more than 5000 farmers and Agricultural Officer of the State

districts) Anantpur 150

Mulde 103

Ranital 500 farmers and District Collectors, Sub collectors, Dy. Director of

Agriculture, Dy. Director of Horticulture, District Fishery Officer, District

Agricultural Officer, Agriculture Technology Management Agency

(ATMA), Krishi Vidyan Kendra (KVK), Advance farmers of coming under

North Eastern Agroclimatic Zone of Orissa.

Diphu 45 to 50

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Sonitpur 25

Barapani 152

Kolasib 290

Lamplelpet 100

II. Recent initiatives in dissemination of Agromet Advisories through SMS:

In addition to existing sleuth of private partners in the dissemination of agromet advisories, collaboration with additional new private companies are envisaged for further outreach. Some of them are mentioned below: a. Reliance Foundation: Reliance Foundation has embarked upon a new initiative called Reliance Knowledge for Sustainable Development (RK4SD). RK4SD aims at capacity building of farmers, fisher folk and micro-enterprises for better livelihood security. RK4SD will provide timely advisories on climatic conditions, water and weather related risks, methods of controlling pests and diseases and sharing of better farming methods and best management practices. The collaboration between IMD and Reliance will be not only to disseminate advisories but also to guide for uplifting the economic level of low and marginal farmers with improved quality of service. b. Infronics Solutions: Infronics Solutions has developed ‘Devolved Decision Making system’ which is beneficial to government, farmers and agribusiness firms. Infronics group has 3 sectors – Infronics Systems Ltd, Biomorf and Zoraly Solutions. From this, Zoraly solutions is working in Agribusiness services like farming, dairy, post-harvest, supply chain management and marketing for the farmers. IMD and Infronics will be collaborating to communicate agricultural information to the farming community mainly on weather forecasting and advisories as per unique needs of farming community. In addition to Reliance and Infronics, the other proposed project for dissemination of agromet advisories are Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Common Service Centre (CSC), ITC e-Choupal, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, IBM, Infosys, Brand TV, Monsanto and Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI). In the XIIth Five Year Plan, it is proposed to include more number of private agencies /companies for the dissemination of agromet advisories so that the agromet SMS will reach to more number of farmers.

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3. Pilot Project on Block Level Weather Forecast & Agromet Advisory: a. Watershed organization Trust (WOTR):

India Meteorological Department and WOTR started collaborative project for the generation of short range weather forecast using the inputs from Automated Weather Stations (AWS) and its use in block level advisories. As a pilot study initially block level forecast and agromet advisories are issued for 2 specified clusters of 25 villages in Sangamner and Akole Taluka of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. IMD has started providing local specific short range weather

predictions for Sangamner and Akole clusters (WOTR’s operational area) of Ahmednagar district from April 2012. The weather predictions are used by WOTR to prepare agro advisories. WOTR’s agriculture team prepares agro advisory according to the conditions of the major crops standing in the field. The advisory is in the form of wall paper. WOTR’s field agronomists share it with the farming community at 5-6 locations in every village. Weather predictions received from IMD are shared with the community workers (Vasundhara Sevaks) via SMS, who then write the predictions on black boards in the village. There are 4 black boards put-up in every village located in such a way that maximum number of persons could able to read the contents. On receipt of sudden weather variations (mostly rainfall) predictions from IMD, WOTR’s agriculture team in field communicates such incidences with the community and guides them on appropriate steps to be taken immediately. IMD predictions are shared with AMFU, MPKV,

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Rahuri. The same is used by AMFU, Rahuri for preparing agro advisory bulletin for crops in WOTRs operational area in Sangamner and Akole clusters. Block Level Forecast prepared by NHAC, New Delhi for Sangamner and Akole cluster is as follows:

Station N DAY1 DAY2 DAY3

04-03-2012 04-04-2012 04-05-2012

R/F Max. Min. R/F Max. Min. R/F Max. Min.

Akole 0.3 37.6 22.3 0.6 37.7 21.3 0.0 37.7 19.3 Sangamner 0.1 38.2 21.9 0.5 38.6 21.6 0.0 38.8 20.2

Every week WOTRs agriculture team is preparing Krishi Sallah as follows:

b. International Water Management Institution (IWMI) for establishing Climate Smart Villages in

pilot districts of Punjab and Bihar Considering the common interest of IMD and International water Management Institution (IWMI), a pilot project is initiated jointly by IMD and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) under the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) to develop block level advisories for selected districts in Punjab and Bihar. Depending on the

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success of the proposed project of IMD/CCAFS, the block level advisory system will be made scalable for the country as a whole IWMI and IMD would like to jointly work on this pilot project, including its implementation with the objectives as follows: Objectives of the project: a) To generate technologies to provide block level weather forecast in short and medium range. b) To develop suitable mechanism for preparation and dissemination of weather forecast based

farm specific advisories at rural level. c) To strengthen agro-meteorological extension for promoting awareness amongst farmers

about weather data and agro-meteorological information usage through local level intermediaries

Agro-Met Field Units (AMFUs) located at SAUs, ICAR centres and IITs with active support from IMD are providing the forecast based crop advisory to the farmers at district level successfully during 11th Five Year Plan. IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) and few other private organizations are supporting in outreach of bulletins/information to farmers through SMS on their mobile. There is a growing concern from policy makers/ planners/ users to expand the services at block level to address the farmers need with the aim of increasing climate resilience of farming systems. Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has agreed to start block level AAS in pilot mode in selected districts in collaboration with Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and IKSL to evaluate its effectiveness. In its initial phase, villages selected for the project in two states are : Bihar - Vaishali dist. 1. Raja Pakar, Block Raja Pakar 2. Bali Bathna, Block Mahua 3. LalPokhar, Block Hazipur Punjab – Sangrur dist. 1. Kheri, Block Sangrur 2. Gaggarpur, Block Sangrur 3. Chaneri, Block Bhawanigarh

Report on IKSL activities undertaken in Climate Smart Village Projects is as follows: Sangrur (Punjab) Vaishali (U.P.)

Mobile phone holders with IKSL SIM (1500+) segregated for dissemination of weather based crop advisories.

Meeting held at all the three selected villages

Mobile phone holders with IKSL SIM (350+) segregated for dissemination of weather based crop advisories.

Farmers meeting held at Village Rajapakar on

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on November 18, 2011 in which message delivery and helpline process was explained to and demonstrated to farmers.

SIM distribution to selected farmers initiated. Crop advisories from PAU-IMD centre

,Bhatinda yet to be received. E-mail ID, telephone number of IKSL counter part in Punjab conveyed to IFFCO Foundation , IMD and PAU Regional Station Bhatinda.

December 5, 2011 and also an interaction with Self Help Group (SHG) of Women. Use of mobile for receiving weather based crop advisories and seeking further information demonstrated to both groups.

Dissemination of messages bade on the advisories received from Dr. A. Sattar started from November 8, 2011. The information received from IMD unit is further modified to actionable advisories.

Information on ITGI product of weather insurance also delivered to listeners on 7th

December 2011 and shall be repeated periodically.

Distribution of IKSL –SIM to the farmers of three selected villages is in progress.

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4. Research & Development Project on AAS:

a. e Agromet : An IT-based Agro-meteorological Advisory System: To improve the process of preparing and disseminating agromet bulletins, India Meteorological Department has initiated a research project in collaboration with International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH), India and Agro Climate Research Center, Achraya NG Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India, to investigate the building of an IT-based agro-meteorological advisory system, called e Agromet. The main objective is to improve the efficiency of preparation and dissemination of agromet bulletins by exploiting developments in agriculture, and information and communication technologies.

Current Status of the project and Future Directions:

The prototype is built by considering rice and cotton crops and weather situations of north Telangana and south Telangana agro-climatic zones. The agromet experts have prepared the agromet advices using the prototype. The overall feeling by agromet experts is very positive. The system is very easy to use and can be deployed in any region. They can enter the agromet advisories without any difficulty. The system is able to display the similar agromet advisories. As a part of future work, efforts will be made to refine the system by considering more crops and livestock in different agro-climatic regions. It is anticipated that, for a given crop and region, after entering agromet advisories for a few years, the effort to prepare new agromet bulletin could be reduced significantly due to efficient search. It is possible to develop a system to generate automated agromet advisories for a given crop with minimum human intervention.

Internet

Agromet bulletin

advice preparation by

scientists

Agromet advice bulletin preparation and dissemination process with e Agromet system

Feedback Farmers and other

stakeholders

Weather

forecast by

IMD

eAgromet System

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b. Satellite Data Based Fusion Approach to Develop Soil Moisture Monitoring System in India The project is implemented in the Department of Electronics & Computer Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. The objectives of the project are: • To develop simple, effective and accurate model, that incorporates the vegetation effects. The

model is to be used to retrieve soil moisture. • Minimizing vegetation effects and retrieving soil moisture. • Developing few independent methodologies and compare them. • Choosing the best approach among them • Development of soil moisture monitoring system • An adaptive approach by fusing (may be) all four methods is underdeveloped where no need

of a prior information. Development of Soil Moisture Monitoring System is in progress. Results are quite promising. Efforts are being made to retrieve soil moisture in hilly region. Work is going on to tune the coefficient for retrieval of soil moisture under the crop. The development of software is also in progress. Various rigorous field surveys are proposed in coming months. In phase V and VI, work has been started on the following areas.

• Phase V: Development and testing of algorithm for soil moisture retrieval and change detection.

• Phase VI: In the last phase of investigation a vast study will be carried out along with the suggestions for the study in previous years and specification for soil moisture monitoring system will be proposed. Finally, the merits and demerits of proposed algorithm will be exposed.

• Phase V (P5): 06 months (16-21months) • Phase VI (P6): 06months (19-24 months

Different sites are Wheat,

Cauliflower,

Sugarcane, Mustard, Pea

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c. Determination of Soil Moisture over India using Space Borne Passive Microwave Sensors onboard SMOS:

The project is being executed by International Centre for Radio Science (ICRS), Jodhpur. The main objective of the project is to validate 4% accuracy of SMOS in soil moisture retrieval. Secondly, comparison of brightness temperature (BT), computed from inversion models with BT measured by SMOS. Site survey in Rajasthan has been done. Selected one site in Jodhpur-Jaisalmer-Barmer area of 100*100Km.Out of this 100x100 sq., km a 40x40 sq. km area have been selected so as to validate one pixel of the SMOS. The SMOS data for the site selected have to be procured. Registration with European Space Agency (ESA) SMOS data centre has been completed successfully. SMOS data, for the period 21st July, 2011 to 28th September, 2011, have been received. Gravimetric measurements have been done for the samples collected during trial trip (on 27th September, 2011). Papers have been communicated in International Conference on Microwaves, Antenna, Propagation and Remote Sensing (ICMARS – 2011) and also one paper in National Conference on Environmental Pollution, Restoration and Management (NCEPRM-2011). Future Directions

Soil sample collection for the rest of the site will be continued. Gravimetric measurements of these soil samples will be continued. Then this In-Situ obtained soil moisture will be compared with the soil moisture given by

SMOS & SMOS 4% accuracy in soil moisture retrieval will be validated. Also Brightness Temperature (BT) [1] will be estimated using Radiative Transfer Models, and

then this stimulated brightness temperature(BT) will be compared with brightness temperature measured by SMOS sensor (MIRAS).

Soil Moisture Project: (In figure, red arrows shows primary objective &blue arrows show the

secondary objective of the project)

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5. Collaborative projects for improvement on AAS: a. Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC): India Meteorological Department and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Pune signed the memorandum of understanding in the field of technology development for the applications of weather and climate information in agriculture, hydrology, aviation etc. using interdisciplinary computational technologies such as GIS, networking, Indian language software and HPC. b. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

(NABARD) IMD has taken collaborative project with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural development (NABARD) for dissemination of:

1. Need-based agro-meteorological advisory services to the farmers at the right time based on local context and culture.

Earth

SMOS

Radiative

Transfer

Model

(RTM)

In-situ

(Soil Moisture)

Comparisonn

Radiative

Transfer

Model

(RTM)

(SM) In-Situ

(SM)

SMOS

Measured

Brightness

Temperatur

e

(BT)

(BT)

SMOS

(BT) simulated

1.4 GHz

Soil

Moisture

(SM) with

4%

accuracy

Simulated

Brightness

Temperature

(BT)

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2. To bring together experts and grassroots level communities in a two-way communication with the objective of making knowledge accessible to the villages of the country. 3. Dissemination of Agromet Advisory and feedback from farmers through the involvement of Farmers’ clubs, Joint Liability Groups, Village watershed Committees.

c. Agricultural Finance Corporation Limited (AFCL): Agricultural Finance Corporation Limited proposes to establish network of Automated Weather Station across the country to fulfil the above requirements. These AWSs would be established by AFCL in partnership of Village Level Entrepreneurs of Common Services Centres scheme of Government of India and leading Telecom Tower Operators VIOM Networks. The project envisions for the following outcomes:-

• Repository of timely and accurate weather information from all the parts of the country. • Timely, accurate, and agro-geographical relevant information and advisory to farmer

community • Capacity building of farmers with respect to taking informed decision regarding crops. • Development of robust technological infrastructure and human network for achieving

agricultural prosperity and evergreen revolution. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Agricultural Finance Corporation Limited (AFCL), Dhanraj Mahal, First Floor, CSM Marg, Mumbai-400001 was signed on 15th February 2012 by Dr. N. Chattopadhyay (DDGM, Agrimet), Pune and Shri S. J. Thote, Deputy General Manager, AFCL.

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d. e-Fresh Project In order to provide related information at farm level and sharing of knowledge in operational agricultural meteorology, IMD has taken up initiative to work together withe-fresh India, Hyderabad. e-fresh India launched portal (www.efreshindia.com)which is working on Empowering Indian Agriculture sector by educating farmers with good agricultural practices and organic farming and create Market Linkages. The firm is generating the information at farm level in the villages by conducting awareness on good agricultural practices and other farm best practices including soil and water quality testing and suggesting right nutrient package. The portal contains comprehensive information on Good Agricultural Practices, Organic Farming, Crop Insurance, Government Support Schemes, Export & Import Regulations, Farm Tools and Machinery, Daily Market Prices, Information on Testing Labs, Soil Testing and Manure Testing, Videos on Good Agricultural Practices, Success Stories of Farmers. The farm level data base may be used to customize the agromet advisory more relevant to individual farmer or a group of farmers with similar farming system. Also e fresh India will undertake local customization of Agromet Advisory to make more crop specific and location specific at later stage under mutual agreement. All the IMD and AMFU's can access e-fresh portal and disseminate information on the various sections available in the portal to the farmers. To access all these information from their site, they have provided the user IDs and pass word to all AMFUs and State Met Centres so that the information will be useful for implementing in preparation bulletins by adding value to it at local level. e-Fresh portal has mobile vans supported by NABARD for dissemination of information and knowledge at important crop production centres. It has a variety of Agricultural inputs information viz. crop stage ,soil, water, fertilizer, market surveys and credit facilities which may be useful to improve Agromet Advisory Bulletins(AAB). Portal has the potential to customize the AABs according to local requirements.

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6. Data management for Agromet Observatories:

This Division has developed an “Excel based software using Visual Basics Application (VBA)” for scrutiny of Agromet Automatic Weather data and different kinds of Agromet (CWS, ET, Evapotranspiration, Soil Moisture, Dew. Scrutinized Agro-AWS data are communicated to the office of the Director General of Meteorology in prescribed format for onward transmission to Continental Tropical convergence Zone (CTCZ) on daily basis and for uploading in Divisional website for the purpose of utilisation in preparation of Agromet Advisories by the Agromet Field Units (AMFUs). Also performed scrutiny of different types of data for Crop Weather Studies data (CWS): 1007 periods for 106 stations, Soil Moisture data: 179 periods for 33 stations, Evaporation data: 284 periods for 33 stations, Dew data: 306 periods for 49 stations, Evapotranspiration data: 165 period for 23 stations received from different agromet observatories spread all over the country. Prepared ‘Metadata’ of different Agromet stations for onward transmission to HQ, New Delhi and National Data Centre, IMD, Pune.

7. Technical assistance to agromet observatories:

Officers of the Division inspected 100 Agromet, 20 Evapotranspiration (ET) and 3 Soil Moisture Observatories (SMO) observatories. Installation of instruments or regular visit was undertaken during the year. Overhauling / servicing of lysimeters at 11 ET (10 Gravimetric and 1 volumetric) stations have been made Action is in process for replacement of lysimeter at AET Ludhiana, AET Dharwad, AET. Dew gauge sets have been procured and supplied to 32 departmental Dew recording stations. Met instruments were supplied to AMFU Sindewahi., Igatpuri Pantnagar and PET Nellore have been carried out.

8. Training in Agricultural Meteorology: a. Agromet Core Course for university professors, readers, scientists from Agricultural / Agrometeorological research organizations/ ICAR Institutions was conducted from 17.8.2011 to 6.9.2011. Total 11 participants (professors/scientists) from various agricultural universities in the country attended the course. The course covered various aspects of Agricultural Meteorology including recent topics viz climate change impact on crops, crop

simulation modeling, crop yield forecasting, application of remote sensing in addition to concept and working of IAAS.

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b. 3-Weeks Agromet Observers’ Course for grass-root level Observers was conducted for two batches during 12.9.2011 to 30.9.2011 and 27.02.2012 to 16.03.2012. The participants were from different Agricultural Universities/ ICAR Institutions etc. The participants have been trained on Agrometeorological Instruments, Site Selection for installation & Observations.

c. Basic Agromet Course of three weeks was conducted from 14.11.2011 to 2.12.2011. The course covers various components of Agrometeorology particularly on Basic Agricultural Meteorology, Operational Agricultural Meteorology and General Agricultural Meteorology.

d. Training course on ‘Agrometeorology towards better advisories for serving end users requirement’ for AMFU scientists, was conducted from 31.1.2012 to 20.2.2012 at CTI, Pashan by the Agricultural Meteorology Division. 17 trainees from different Agrometeorological Field units (AMFUs) located in different agroclimatic zones participated in the course.

e. Shri. Jacob Thampan, S.A and Shri. R.A. Pednekar, S.A both attended the training on “Retrieving of

soil moisture by using satellite images” at Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, IIT, Roorkie, Uttarakhand from 12 - 24 January 2012. They were trained on how to retrieve soil moisture using MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro Radiometer), data and PALSAR (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar) data.

f. In order to develop capacity building in modeling for

crop yield forecast for 41 the SRFs at RMCs/MCs and AMFUs, the training programmes have been organised on “Crop Yield Forecasting using statistical and crop

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simulation models” in two batches in the month of August and September 2011. g. 10 Scientists and officers from IMD and AMFUs had participated in the training on “Cropping

System Model and Application in land Recourse Management” at ICRISAT, Hyderabad during 5-9 December 2011. Prior to this training, these officers had been trained on use of Crop Growth Simulation Model for Crop Yield Forecasting during 2-4 November 2011 at Agrimet Division, Pune.

9. Awareness Programmes: a. Farmers’ Awareness Programme:

Effective approaches for delivery of climate and weather information to farmers through participatory, cross-disciplinary approach is being carried out through organizing farmer’s awareness programs. In order to improve the linkage with the AAS system and develop a local (village) level rain measuring network, 5 raingauges were distributed to the selected group of progressive farmers during the meeting who were trained to record and report the rainfall observation to

the concerned AMFUs who in turn communicate the data to IMD. During this year 35 AMFUs namely Bhairaich, Bhatinda, Jharnapani, Modipuram, Allahabad, Ambikapur, Anand, Bikaner, Bhawanipatna, Darisai, Dumka, Ranchi, Jagdalpur, Ambalavayal, Naganahalli, Sehore, Seobagh, Ranichauri, Kolasib, Bidar, Kumarakom, Naveli, Pillicode, Gossaigaon, Sabour, Sindewahi, Sriganganagar, Kalimpong, Kaul, Dharwad, Pundibari, Targhadia, Junagadh, Raichur and Ooty have organized such programmes. So far such meetings have been organized at 94 locations in the country under the IAAS project. b. Field Visit at Sakurde village near Pune:

A team led by Dr.N.Chattopadhyay, Head (Agrimet) visited Sakurde village on 10th October 2011 about 50 km from Pune. Shri. Ajay Mittal from TCS, Mumbai, participated in this visit. Shri. S.V. Jadhav, Technical Officer from AMFU, Pune also participated.

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Dr.N. Chattopadhyay and Shri. M. G. Ghanekar explained the purpose of the visit and the details regarding Agromet Advisory Services prepared on real time basis, their means of dissemination, their usefulness to farmers, present activities of Agrimet Division, training programmes, future planning and proposed collaborative project to dissemination of Agricultural Advisories by advanced technology tools etc. Farmers explained how agromet advisories are useful for their day-to-day farming operations which they get from local newspaper, DD Sahyadri Programme – Krishivarta and AIR programme for farmers. They were curious to know how to get Agromet Advisory through SMS and wanted to register their names for this facility.

Shri Mittal demonstrated the role of TCS in giving the SMS service wherein the farmers could send the actual photograph of a particular pest to an expert and get remedial measures within 24 hours by SMS. Dr. N. Chattopadhyay has desired that the village can be model village and the success will be the impetus to the forthcoming ‘Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa’ project.

c. Kisan Mela at Indore:

Shri Jacob Thampan, S. A. and Shri Sanatan Das, A. M. II. Of Agrimet Division, Pune and Dr. Sanjay Sharma, Nodal Officer from AMFU, Indore participated in Krishi Vikas 2012, Indore organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held during 16 – 18th February 2012 at Agricultural College Ground, Indore to create awareness among the farmers about agromet advisory service. d. Science Exhibition at Khodad, Narayangaon:

Shri J.P. Sable, S. A. and Shri R. A. Pednekar, S. A. of Agrimet Division, Pune participated in the exhibition on the occasion of Science Day on 28 & 29th Feb.2012 at GMRT (Gaint Metre wave Radio Telescope), Khodad, Narayangaon, Pune.

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e. Agromet Brochure Agricultural Meteorology Division in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Indian Institute of Technology published Agromet Brochure (multi-lingual) highlighting the activities of the Agrimet Division particularly different areas of Integrated Agromet Advisory Services launched by IMD/Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) for the benefit of the Indian farmers. For general awareness and easier access to the services of IMD, the brochures were circulated to the concerned organizations/institutes and all other organization directly and indirectly related to the agricultural services in the country. In this financial year agromet brochures were prepared in four languages namely Kannada, Telgu, Malyalam and Bengali. 10. Meetings: a. Annual Review Meeting at Lembuchera, Agartala

IMD and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Complex for NEH Region, Lembucherra, Agartala organised 5th Annual Review Meeting (ARM) of IAAS at Agartala, Tripura, during 18-20 October 2011 to review the annual progress of all the 130 AMFUs and 23 SAMCs and plan for future course of action. Scientists from most of the RMCs and MCs of IMD participated in the meeting.

The Hon’ble Minister for Science & Technology of the State was the Chief Guest. The aims and objectives to organise the meeting was to discuss different operational aspects of IAAS launched by the MoES/ IMD. Extensive discussion was made to integrate the skills of operational, experimental and theoretical aspects of agricultural meteorology and their possible development for the purpose of making the agriculture production system in the country more robust. A good number of deliberations in the subject by the eminent scientists as well as project directors of different Government and Private Companies were also arranged. Representatives from different Organisations like State Agricultural Universities, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Ministry of Agriculture (State & Centre), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Private Companies also participated in this meeting. In addition, distinguished personalities in the area of agriculture/ meteorology were invited to give valuable suggestions and guide in achieving the target under IAAS project. Major recommendations of ARM are as follows:

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Recommendations of the meeting 1. In the next phase of the 11th Five Year Plan, there is need to focus on consolidation and

improvement of Agromet Advisory Services. There is need to improve the content of the agromet advisories. Besides issuing advisories for cereal crops, include advisories on poultry, livestock, and horticultural crop also.

2. There is need to improve the observatories and weather forecast. A comprehensive approach for revised error structure should be prepared looking at the threshold of the weather parameters required in the preparation of advisories.

3. Special emphasis may be given to provide location specific weather forecast for high value crops.

4. IMD may start issuing block level forecast on experimental basis in selected districts in the country.

5. Establishment of one AMFU in Sikkim should be taken up on priority basis. 6. There is need to create consortium at state level to further strengthen the agromet services. 7. In view of getting the crop state and stage information along with pest and disease status on

real time basis and also improvement of dissemination of advisories, strengthening of linkages is needed with different extension agencies like KVK, ATMA, CSC and other NGOs.

8. There is need to incorporate satellite data in the operational AAS. 9. Special emphasis should be given to use the R& D products in agromet advisories. 10. For dissemination of advisories to more no. of farmers and to increase the outreach, Public-

Private Partnership should be given more emphasis. More efforts should be required to increase the number of subscribers through establishment of PPP mode. There is need for more collaboration for the public and private players in dissemination and also on development of personalized AAS.

11. AMFU, Lembucherra may extend their expertise and software to other AMFUs of North eastern States for dissemination of advisories through SMS.

12. Awareness programmes are needed to be conducted on regular basis for popularization of the Agromet Advisory Service among the farming community. Farmers’ Awareness programme may be organised at AMFU level twice a year to initiate massive awareness programme among the user community.

13. Special attention should be given on on-line feedback mechanism. 14. Special programme on capacity building of rural communities for coping strategies under

extreme weather conditions should be taken up in collaboration with participatory organizations.

15. Economic assessment of agromet advisories in quantitative terms should be carried out to understand the real value of the service.

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16. It is essential and mandatory to send UC/SE and Annual Progress Report in time and in prescribed format for release of funds under Grant-In-Aid to AMFUs.

b. State level Review Meeting on Agromet Advisory Service

Under the project “Integrated Agromet Advisory Services in the country”, India Meteorological Department in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities/ICAR institute/IITs organizes Annual Review Meeting (ARM) every year to take the stock of work performed by all the tiers at national, state and district level during the preceding year and also the work to be done for the current / next year. So far four such meetings were held from the inception of the project. The project is being implemented successfully

and one of the credential of the project is that today 3 millions farmers are getting agromet advisories directly though mobile service (SMS). Though ambitious, still it is proposed to reach to the farmers in 6 lakh villages in the country. This target only be fulfilled by the joint efforts of all engaged in agriculture service and also the media and other disseminating agencies. As the volume of work has increased in many folds in recent years particularly in terms of dissemination of agromet advisories through mobile in the form of SMS/IVR and other, it was recommended in last ARM held at Hyderabad that the review meeting may be held in regionwise or statewise. In view of that, it is proposed to have a State meeting involving all Stake holders, media and other line Departments to discuss the related issues from preparation of quality of agromet advisory to dissemination not only on conventional crops but also the new sectors like horticulture, fisheries, poultry and live stock etc. Objective of the meeting were:

Creation of State level Consortium on AAS involving KVK, ATMA, NGO and other Stake holders

Generation of quality of forecast and weather observation as per the user requirement. Strengthening of dissemination of agromet advisories through multipurpose channels. Popularization of Agromet Advisory Service. Development of Feedback mechanism. Issuance of advisories for new sectors like horticulture, fisheries, poultry and livestock. Also the expected outcomes of the meeting are as follows: Through the joint collaborative efforts agromet advisories would be prepared as per the

requirements of the farmers and self-styled mechanism would be developed for dissemination of

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advisories on real time and ultimately these services would greatly contribute higher productivity and production of crops and in turn improve the economic condition of the farmers of the country. So far such meetings have been organized at 6 State Meteorological Centres at Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati and Lucknow. DDGM/Director In-Charge of RMC/MC and Officers In-Charge and Staff members of State Agromet Centre, Principal Nodal Officers, Nodal Officers and Technical Officers of Agromet Field Units, Director of Agriculture, Director of Horticulture, Director of Extension, representatives from KVK, ATMA, Kisan Call Centre, State Remote Sensing Agency, NOKIA, IFFCO, Other disseminating agencies at the State level, AIR/Doordarshan and Media/ local Newspapers participated in the meeting. Lead farmers from various districts of the State also participated in the meeting and spoke about the uses of Agromet Advisories to them. c. Annual Review Meeting on Forecasting Agricultural Output Using Space, Agrometeorology and

Land Based Observations (FASAL) India Meteorological Department has organised the second “Annual Review Meeting on FASAL” was organised at YASHADA, Pune during 1-2 August 2011 to formulate the methodology to conduct field experiments and also plan for the development of the models (statistical and crop growth simulation) at district / state / national level crop yield forecasting for Kharif 2011. Officers from SAMCs of IMD and

Principal Nodal Officers, Nodal Officers and Technical Officers from AMFUs and experts in the field of crop yield forecasting participated in the meeting. Dr.J.S.Parihar, Deputy Director (EPSA) and OS, SAC, Ahmedabad, was the Chief Guest of the inaugural session. Other dignitaries attended the meeting are Dr. Dalip Singh, Additional Statistical Advisor, NCFC, DAC, New Delhi, Dr. Ranjana Agarwal, Head, Forecasting Division, IASRI, New Delhi, Dr. A. B. Mazumdar, DDGM (WF) & LACD ADGM (R), IMD, Pune, Dr. Swati Sardesai Scientist G & DDG, NIC, Pune, Dr. R.P.Samui, former DDGM (Agrimet), IMD, Pune.

Recommendations of the meeting for FASAL 1. All the meteorological data should be provided to the concerned AMFUs working under FASAL project

for estimation of crop yield. These data will be provided matching with the available crop data. 2. Crop data (latest up to 2009-10) required under this project should be collected from diverse sources.

DAC should provide the districtwise crop yield data for last 30 years. 3. In addition to archived data, IMD should also provide current year as well as recent daily

meteorological data.

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4. A core committee comprising the scientists of IMD, SAC and State Agricultural Universities should be constituted to explore the use of satellite derived weather parameters and subsequently other parameters in crop yield forecasting models.

5. Correct planning and correct statistical approach should be taken to develop yield forecast. IASRI may be consulted in this regard.

6. In depth hands on module training on both statistical and crop growth simulation should be provided to all concerned in FASAL project. Training to the Senior Research Fellows on statistical methods should be explored by IMD. Besides, SRFs at RMCs/MCs may be sent to the Nodal Officers of AMFUs who are already trained in crop growth simulation models.

7. All the centres under this project should develop and issue crop yield forecast initially using statistical model and subsequently by crop growth simulation model.

8. All the in-charges at RMCs/MCs should be informed to grant the tour programme to the SRFs for visits to the State Agricultural Universities for consulting the experts as well as for collection of relevant data required for crop yield modeling.

9. All the AMFUs should send the UC/SE, demand for this year in prescribed format to ASC, IMD, New Delhi with a copy to DDGM (Agrimet), IMD, Pune immediately.

10. ISARI may be requested to make available manuals and software pertaining to statistical models for crop yield forecasting.

11. All the centres should generate the crop yield forecast as per date fixed by DAC. 12. Based on the statement of actual expenditure, demand, DAC should release the fund and subsequently

IMD should send the funds immediately to the different centres working under FASAL project. Special care should be taken by both DAC & IMD so that salary to SRFs can be paid without any break.

13. All the IMD centres should be given the computer at the earliest and required funds. Approval should be provided to the AMFUs to purchase the computer.

14. IMD and the AMFUs should immediate recruit the SRFs under FASAL project. 15. Efforts should be made to collaborate with NIC & CDAC for their help in both development and issue of

crop yield forecast. India Meteorological Department has also organised Annual Review Meeting of FASAL on “Assessment of Kharif2011 and Planning for Rabi 2011-12 during 1-2 March 2012 jointly by India Meteorological Department and BHU to assess the forecast methodology used for kharif 2011and rabi2011-12 crop yield, addressing data gap (spatial and temporal) and development/refinement of the models (statistical and crop growth simulation) at district / state / national level crop yield forecasting.

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Under FASAL project crop yield forecasting is being developed by both statistical and crop growth simulation models. d. First crop yield forecast (kg/ha) (F3) for 17 states and eight major crops ( rice, groundnut, maize,

jute, ragi, bajra, cotton and sorghum) in 150 districts the country has been prepared during kharif season 2011

e. Second crop yield forecast (kg/ha) (F3) for 17 states and 9 major crops (rice, groundnut, maize, jute, ragi, bajra, cotton, sorghum and sugarcane) in 239 districts in the country has been prepared during kharif season 2011.

11. Visitors at Agrimet Division: a. Visit of Mr. Jarraud, Secretary General, WMO in Agrimet Division, Pune on 21.2.2012.

Mr. Jarraud, Secretary General, WMO, Geneva, Switzerland visited Agrimet Division, Pune on 21.2.2012. Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet) introduced him to the officers and staff of the Division and explained various activities particularly on the operational agromet services to the farming community in the country. He had narrated how the medium range weather forecast is generated and agromet advisories are generated to take advantage of ensuing weather. Mr. Jarraud had also appreciated the value of the service and wished to continue the same with enthusiasm.

b. A team of international reinsurers visited to Agrimet Division, Pune on 5th March 2012. The

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delegates were Mr. Marc Tueller, Novae Syndicate, Switzerland, Mr. Dominic Oldridge, Renaissance Syndicates, United Kingdom, Mr. Salaheddine Dhouib, Liberty Syndicates France, Ms. OlenaSosenko, Scor Re, France, Mr. Ellis Simon Guy Carpenter, United Kingdom, Mr. Timothy Gregory Guy Carpenter, United Kingdom, Mr. P. P. Rao, Mr. J. B. Boda, India, Mr. Rohit A. Boda, Mr. Ajay Singhal, Agriculture Insurance Company, India, Mr. D. G. Halve, Agriculture Insurance Company, India, Mr. Deepak Patil, Agriculture Insurance Company, India. Shri S. Krishnaiah, ADGM(R) presented on various activities of IMD and Shri Manish Ranalkar presented on AWS and its sensors and AWS network in India. Dr. N. Chattopadhyay presented on ’Role of IMD in Agromet Services in India’. All the delegates visited to AWS Lab, Pashan and CAgMO, Pune.

12. Awards 1. Smt. Swati Vijay Chandras, Scientific Assistant,

Agrimet Division, Pune was given “The Best Employee Award in Group B” for the year, 2010-11 by Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh, Honurable Minister for Department of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences on the Foundation Day on 27.7.2011 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

2. Dr. K. Ghosh, Scientist D, Shri M.G. Ghanekar A.M.I, Shri M.R. Badwaik, S.A. and Shri B.U. More, M.A., Agrimet Division, Pune were awarded as ‘Best Employee’ in respective cadres for excellence for outstanding performance on the occasion of “137th IMD Foundation Day” celebrated on 25th January, 2012.

13. Meetings attended by officers / staff of Agrimet Division Sr.No. Meeting/Workshop Officers Attended

1 Plan Review Meeting at New Delhi during 4 - 6 April, 2011. Dr. R.P. Samui, DDGM (Agrimet)

2 Second South Asian Climate Outlook forum (SASCOF) during 13-15 April, 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhayay, Scientist-E

3 First Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting at National Institute of Biotic Management at Barmati on 20 April 2011.

Dr. R.P. Samui, DDGM (Agrimet)

4

Workshop on “Technique for combining seasonal forecast and crop model in agriculture risk management” by CAS, IIT, New Delhi during 25th April to 3 May, 2011.

Dr. K.Ghosh, Scientist-D

5 39th Joint Agresco meeting at Mahatma Phule Krishi Dr. R.P.Samui DDGM (Agrimet)

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Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Maharashtra during 29-31 May 2011.

and Shri S.S. Shinde (A.M.I)

6

Meeting of the steering committee on implementation of project ‘e Agromet’ : ICT Enabled Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory System’ held on 18 June, 2011 at IIIT, Hyderabad.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet)

7 Meeting on Collaboration between IMD and WoTR in regard to generation of Agromet advisories on 5 July 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet), Dr. Mario Rohrer, Climatologist, METEODAT, Switzerland, Dr. Urs.Steinegger, Hydrologist, METEODAT, Switzerland, Mr. Crispino Lobo, Managing Trustee, WoTR,Mr. Vivek Rishi, WOTR, Pune.

8 Plan Review & Annual Action Plan Meeting at New Delhi during 11 - 13 July, 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet)

9 Training on Experiential Learning Tools (ETL) from 18-22 July 2011.

Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

10 Meeting at National Conference ESTSD-2011 at Arupadai Veedu Institute of Technology, TLDU on 19 August 2011.

Dr. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

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Meeting of Agricultural Advisory Committee for narrowcasting in Krishidarshan programme of Doordarshan, Pune held on 30 August 2011 at ‘Keshar Nursery’, Ganeshgaonphata, Taluka Malshiras, Dist. Sholapur.

Dr. M. Rajavel, Scientist-C and Shri. K.G. Kanade, S.A

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International Conference on “Inclusive Growth through Mobile Applications” at M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai during 15-17 September, 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, Scientist-E

13 Meeting of “Mega Science Data Collection” on 27 September 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, Scientist-E

14 State Level Annual Review Meeting on AAS held at RMC, Chennai on 12 October 2011.

Shri R Balasubramanian, Scientist-C

15 Discussions at DGM’s office regarding DPR and EFC Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, Scientist-E

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of Climate services and plan scheme of the Division during 31 October – 4 November, 2011.

16 Seminar on Polar Meteorology held on 8 November, 2011 at New Delhi. Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

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Imparted training in the “Four days preparatory workshop to technical officers on use of crop simulation” at Agromet Field Unit, Jaipur from 14-17 November, 2011.

Shri. R. Balasubramanian, Scientist-C

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Second Eastern Africa Regional Training on Severe Weather Forecasting and Warning Services” Workshop on Public Weather Service at Arusha, Tanzania from 28 November 2011 to 02 December 2011.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, Scientist-E

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Meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee for narrowcasting of Krishidarshanprogrammeof Doordarshan Kendra, Kothrud, Pune on 2 December 2011.

Shri. K.G. Kanade, S.A. and Smt. P.S. Kulkarni, S.A.

20 Participated in Cropping system models at ICRISAT,Hyderabad, during 5-9 December 2011. Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

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National Seminar on “Agrometeorological Research and Services to Combat Climate Change Challenges” organised by Association of Agrometeorologist & Bidhan Chandra KrishiViswavidyalaya at Kalyani on 10 December 2011.

Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

22 Annual Cyclone / Monsoon / Technical Review meetings (ACR/AMR/ATR) at New Delhi during 4-6 January, 2012.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay DDGM (Agrimet)

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WMO Technical – Planning Workshop on ‘SWFDP (Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project) Development for the Bay of Bengal Region (RA II – South Asia)’ held at IMD, New Delhi during 23 -27 January, 2012.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay DDGM (Agrimet)

24 Participated in the ‘AgMIP South Asia Workshop’ at ICRISAT, Hyderabad during 20 -24 February, 2012.

Dr. K. Ghosh, Scientist-D

25 Visited Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam Dr. K. Ghosh, Scientist-D and

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and RMC Kolkata from 1- 9 February, 2012 for co-ordinating crop yield forecasting during rabi 2011-12 under FASAL scheme.

Shri R. Balasubramanian, Scientist-C

26 Annual Review Meeting on ‘FASAL’ project held at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi during 1-2 March 2012.

Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E and Dr. K. Ghosh, Scientist-D

27 State Annual Review meeting (ARM) of Odisha held at Bhubaneshwar on 14th March 2012.

Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

28 25th session of Panel discussion of executive council of WMO in connection with Education and Training at National Meteorological Training Institute, Pashan, Pune from 26-30 March 2012.

Dr. A. Kashyapi, Scientist-E

14. Research Papers Sr.No. Name of Paper Author Publication 1 Comparative study of contribution of

consumptive use of water for moongbean and groundnut crops at various phenophases in different locations– towards sustainable agricultural development”

A. Kashyapi, R.S. Bhagwat and S. Daniel

Oral presentation in National Conference on Environmental science & Technologies for Sustainable Development (ESTSD-2011

2 Northeast Monsoon Rainfall and Agricultural Production in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh : I- Rainfall Variability and its Significance in Agricultural Production

R.P. Samui, M. V. Kamble and J.P. Sabale

Accepted for publication in Mausam

3 Northeast Monsoon Rainfall and Agricultural Production in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh : II-Dry and Wet spell and its Impact on Cropping Pattern

R.P.Samui, R. Balasubramanian and M. V. Kamble.

Accepted for publication in Mausam

4 Soil Moisture Index as a tool in monitoring Agricultural Drought in semi arid regions of India

R.P. Samui, Gracy John, S.P. Ransure and M.A. Pachankar .

Accepted for publication in Mausam

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5 Comparative study of growing degree days and its contribution at various growth stages of wheat and maize crops in Jammu and Kashmir State

A. Kashyapi, Anita S. Bahot and R.S. Bhagwat

Jammu & Kashmir Agricultural Science Congress

6 Factors affecting the trends in evaporation during different crop growing seasons over India

R.P. Samui, G. John, S.P. Ransure and M.A. Pachankar

‘Mausam’ July, 2011, Vol. no.62.

7 Monthly climatic water balance at selected locations in India

I.J. Verma, A.L. Koppar, R. Balasubramanian, V.N. Jadhav and R.S. Erande.

Mausam, Vol. 63, No. 1

8 Comparative study on water and heat unit requirement of Finger millet (ELUSINE CORACANA G.) in different agroclimatic region

I.J. Verma, H.P. Das, R. Balasubramanian, V.N. Jadhav.

Mausam, Vol. 63, No. 1

9 Asian monsoon in a changing climate – Does it have impact on kharif season agriculture?” in the International Conference OCHAMP – 2012 (Opportunities and Challenges in monsoon prediction in a changing climate) at IITM, Pune.

A. Kashyapi, Deepa A. Kulkarni, Anita S. Bahot and Archana P. Hage

Published in the proceedings

15. Future Plans

At present weather forecast and agromet advisories are developed at district level. Efforts would be made to development of precise and accurate weather forecast at block level in addition to extended range weather forecast at fortnight, month and seasonal scale for its application in agriculture.

Agromet advisories for new sectors like horticultural crops, livestock and wasteland and forest fires, postharvest would be initiated.

Emphasis will be given for the development of a mechanism by which a farmer should be able to contact with the agricultural scientist through internet, telephone, video conference etc. and to get agro meteorological advice on his specific problem.

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Tie up will be made with the existing crop growers associations for high value crops like tea, coffee, apple, mango, sugarcane, cotton etc. to develop suitable crop-specific advisories and also to build up a mechanism to disseminate the information to the targeted growers.

Dissemination of the advisories will be done using multi-channel systems like Common Service Centre of Department of Information Technology, Virtual Academy / Virtual Universities / NGOs, Kisan Call Centres /KisanMelas/ KrishiVigyan Kendra (KVK) / ICAR and other related Institutes / Agricultural Universities/ Extension network of State / Central Agriculture Department.

Appropriate training will be provided to farmers through capsule courses and also Extensive training for farmers will be provided through State Agricultural University/State Department of Agriculture with active support from IMD.

To launch spoken web service for the farming communities so that they can ask questions and get answers of their queries related to agriculture and weather.

To establish a Centre for Research and Excellence in Agrometeorology (CREAM) in IMD with its counterpart at National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management (NIAM), Deemed University, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Baramati, Malegaon, Maharashtra which will primarily look after the application of R & D in agrometeorology in operational agrometeorological services rendered by IMD. Objectives of the Centre For Research and Excellence in Agrometeorology (CREAM) are:

To help farmers to cope with climate risks and uncertainties: To help reduce the vulnerability of agro ecosystems to climate variability and change To quantify greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture sector: To help achieve greater efficiency in natural resource use in agriculture To produce bi Weekly Crop and Weather Bulletin for India To establish a World Class Training Programme in Agricultural Meteorology To organize periodic Symposia/Conferences on Agrometeorological Research and Applications

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Editorial Team:

Dr.L.S.Rathore, Dr.N.Chattopadhyay,

Smt. S.V.Chandras, Smt. V.R.Choudhari

Published by

Agricultural Meteorology Division,

India Meteorological Department

Pune 411 005