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| WEATHER FORECASTING AT FARMERS’ DOORSTEP | | MEGHDOOT AND DAMINI | | Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
Weather is a ‘Sine Qua Non’ for the whole agricultural production process. It has a profound influence on crop growth and development, insect pest and diseases, on water use and finally on yield of crops. Weather aberrations may cause physical damage to crops and soil erosion. The quality of crop produced right from sowing to harvesting and then to storage and marketing depends on weather. Bad weather may affect the quality of produce during transport, and the viability and vigour of seeds and planting material during storage. It will not be wrong to say that there is no aspect of crop culture that is immune to the impact of weather. Susceptibility to weather induced stresses and affliction by pests and diseases varies among crops, among different varieties within the same crop, and among different growth stages within the same crop variety.
Occurrences of erratic weather are beyond human control. It is possible, however, to adapt to or mitigate the effects of adverse weather, if a forecast of the expected weather can be obtained in time. Weather forecasting is a prediction on conditions of atmosphere depending on location and time. Every area will have their different predictions related to the condition of weather which makes pretty easy for the farmers to know how and what to do when. The relationship between weather and agriculture has, therefore, necessitated the need for accurate prediction of the weather; to enable farmers to make an informed decision that will not bring losses to them. Agro meteorology as a discipline of agriculture is concerned with the prime objective of minimizing the impact of adverse weather on crops and to make use of crop-weather relationships to boost agricultural production. Now, various technologies readily available and accessible have been developed by which special weather forecasting mechanisms are available. The farmers can get all the updates just with a click on a smart phone. The Indian Meteorological Department, Pune has a well established Agricultural Meteorology Division that since its inception supports and participates in multi-disciplinary activities in this field. It is also the centre for research programmes in agricultural meteorology and has field units in various parts of the country. Besides, forecasts and advisories for farmers are issued by IMD's Forecasting Offices located at different state capitals. Recently two mobile apps ‘Meghdoot’ and ‘Damini’ have been launched for providing weather related information to the farming community.
MEGHDOOT: Meghdoot means ‘rain’. This another weather related app is a joint initiative of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) to bring high resolution weather forecast based agro advisories to farmers in vernacular. Meghdoot will provide location, and crop and livestock-specific weather-based agro advisories to farmers in local languages. While launching the app, the minister for Earth Science, Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that Meghdoot app provides forecast to farmers relating to temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind speed and direction, which play critical roles in agricultural operations and how to take care of the crops and livestock. The Agro-Met Field Units (AMFU) issue contextualized district and crop wise advisories every Tuesday and Friday. The App allows farmers and interested users to access these advisories in a user friendly manner. The advisories are also issued in vernacular wherever available. Apart from the crop advisory, the app also makes available observed weather and weather forecast. The app has been integrated with Whatsapp and Face book as well to help farmers share information among themselves
DAMINI: Damini means ‘lightning’ and lightning is a phenomenon that has not only fascinated, but also scared mankind. Over the recent years lightning has been identified as the single most killer over India compared to all other natural disasters. There is an increasing trend in death. Recent data suggests, lightning alone account for about 2000 to 2500 deaths every year in India. Thunderstorms and lightning being the quickly evolving meteorological phenomenon, the exact forecast of these events is a challenge. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune, an autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences has installed a Lightning Location Network with about 48 sensors over various parts of the country and these censors are connected to central processing unit at IITM, Pune. This network provides exact information about lightning strikes and movement of thunderstorm path. The network is being expanded with addition of more sensors to increase accuracy and reliability. Using this network, by ESSO-IITM has developed a mobile app, DAMINI. This app gives exact location of current lightning strikes, probable locations of impending lightning and movement and direction of thunderstorm. Whenever a person is within 20-km radius of the lightning event, the app will send warning, the alert will be sent 30 minutes to 45 minutes before the event and this will help people get to safer locations. DAMINI also lists precautionary steps to be taken during lightning and some general information on lightning. This app can be downloaded from the Google Play store free of cost. IITM took two months to develop this app and has handed it over to the respective state governments.
Scientists believe that besides the farming community, the apps will be most effective when disaster management teams in every district actively engage in information dissemination. All the users have to do is to register their name and location so that they can get area specific information. Lat few years have witnessed many different mobile apps being developed by different agencies. The government’s Kisan Suvidha app provides information on weather, market prices, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and agricultural machinery. On the other hand, Pusa Krishi Mobile App disseminates information about the latest technologies developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute. These apps are providing latest information to the farming community and also helping them in decision making. |
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