1. L.S. Rathore Integrated Agro-Meteorological Advisory Service in India
Head Agriculture Meteorology
India Meteorological Department
Ministry of Earth Sciences

2. Outline……… Conceptual Frame of AAS Operational AAS System
Agro-Met Information Dissemination
Endorsement & Appreciation
Outreach Awareness & Feedback
Capacity Building
Economic Impact
Future Plans

3. Why AAS About 75% people are dependent on Agriculture.
About 43% land is used for agricultural activity.
Agriculture continues to play a major role in Economy.
Agriculture is highly sensitive to weather & its variability.
Minor climatic variations have major impact on farm output
Over next 30 years food production needs to be doubled.
AAS Provides weather & climatic information along with farm management options
Advisories empower farmers to climate risk minimization.
Provide access to dynamic technological development

4. Variability in Weather/Climate impacting Agriculture
Increased Heat/Cold Wave
Increased variability of R/F
Increased Extremes Weather Events
Erratic Onset, advance and retrieval of Monsoon
Shift in Active/break cycles
Intensity and frequency of Monsoon lows/depressions

5. Heavy precipitation events in India have increased during last 50 years
Heavy rainfall events (>10cm)
Very heavy rainfall events (>15cm)
Light to moderate rainfall events (5-100 mm)
Source: IITM, Goswami et al. 2006; data is the frequency in each of 143 grids in the region 5

6. Information Needs of Farmers
Local agro-climate & its variability
Weather forecast
Short & Medium Range
Extended range
Seasonal Scale
Climate Prediction
Pest/disease prognosis & control measures
Advice on sowing/harvest, cultivar selection, farm input management & intercultural operations

7. Strategies to Empower Farmers for Weather Based Decision making
Generate information on
Weather & Climate (Observations & Forecast)
Impact of likely weather on crop
Impact of likely weather on P&D
Weather based input management
Weather sensitivity of farm operations
Develop decision making Tools:
Data base
Crop/Soil/P&D Modeling
Remote Sensing & GIS
Crop/Soil Monitoring, Drought Monitoring etc.
Disseminate information
Outreach, capacity building, Feedback

8. CHALLENGES Weather Forecast : Agriculture :
Skillful, Quantitative, Locale Specific, Seamless
Agriculture :
Crop/Livestock/P&D conditions assessment
Diagnose Weather Related Stress
Weather Sensitivity of Crops & Management Practices
Decision Support Tools for Translating Weather Forecast into Advisories
Advisory Dissemination, Outreach & Feedback
Synergistic Collaboration among Participating agencies

9. AAS: Evolution 1932: Division of Ag. Meteorology
1945: Farmer’s weather Bulletin
1976: Agro-Met Advisory Service (state level
1991: Medium range Wx forecast based advisories at agro-climatic zone level (127)
2007: Integrated AAS at IMD, Ministry of Earth Sciences
2008: Launched District Level Advisories
2011: Experimental Block Level Forecast

10. Operational Agro-Meteorology
Service Goal:
Locale & Crop specific Advisory & Farmer Level Outreach
TIER 1
Apex Policy Planning Body, Delhi
TIER 2
National Agromet Service HQ
Execution, Pune
TIER 3
State Agromet Centres (28)
Coordination/Monitoring
TIER 4
Agromet Field Units
Agroclimatic Zone Level (130)
TIER 5
District Level Extension and Training
Input Management as advisory~640
Network of 130 Agromet Field Units
Network of AAS units in the country

11. Integrated AAS 130 AMFUs with SAUs & ICAR
5-days Forecast + weekly outlook
District Agromet Advisory
Every Tuesday & Friday
State & National Composite bulletin
Smart Dissemination System
Feedback
Economic Impact Assessment
Monitoring (Review Meetings)
AAS awareness & user interaction programs

12. Agro Met R&D back up: ICAR
25 Centers of AICRP on Agro Meteorology
Located at SAUs with AAS of NCMRWF
R&D in Agromet
Agromet data bank & Website

13. Collaborating Agencies
Ministry Of Earth Sciences
India Meteorological Department
National Centre For Medium Range Weather Forecasting
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology
Indian Council For Agricultural Research
Department Of Agriculture & Cooperation
State Departments Of Agriculture
State Agricultural Universities And Other Universities
Ministry of Information Technology
Ministry of Science & Technology
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (AIR & TV)
Print Media
Department Of Space
Min. of Rural Development
NGOs & Private Agencies

14. Multi-model Super Ensemble Technique
Generation of Multi-Analysis Weights
Step-1
NCEP
JMA
ECMWF
NCMRWF
UKMO
Observed Gridded Field
Weight for each grid of each Model (W) 14

15. Generation of Multi-Model Forecasts
Step-2
NCEP
JMA
ECMWF
NCMRWF
UKMO
Forecast (F)= WiFi D
D= Value addition

16. AN INTEGRATED SCHEME FOR PREPARATION OF LOCATION SPECIFIC WEATHER FORECAST
Panel
Direct Model
Synoptic
Interpretation
Output Forecast
Statistical
Forecaster’s
Panel
Final Forecast

17. IMD Multi-model Ensemble (MME) based District level Forecasts
Parameters:
Rainfall
Max & Min temperature
Total cloud cover
Surface Relative Humidity
Surface Wind

18. District Level Agro-Met Advisory Service System
IMD
PREPARATION OF DISTRICT
WISE MEDIUM RANGE
WEATHER FORECAST
BY STATE MET CENTRE
Agro-climate level
agro-met data
130 AG.MET. FIELD UNITS
PREPARATION OF
DISTRICT SPECIFIC
AGRO-ADVISORIES
FOR CONCERNED
AGRO-CLIMATIC
District-wise
Agro-met data
DISTRICT LEVEL AGENCIES
(DAO/KVK/ATMA/NGOs)
DISSEMINATION OF
DISTRICT LEVEL
AGRO-ADVISORIES
Feedback analysis
FARMERS
(THROUGH MEDIA AGENCIES,
IT SERVICE, PERSONAL CONTACT)

19. Three tier Agro-met Advisory System
AMFUs issue district level advisories.
State Level Composite AAS Bulletins are prepared by State Meteorological Centre.
National Agromet Advisory Bulletins are prepared by National Agromet Advisory Service Centre, IMD, Pune .

20. Agromet Advisory Bulletins National, State and District level

21. District Agromet Advisory Bulletin
More than 550 districts are covered
Bulletin is targeted for the farmers.
This contains advisories for all the weather sensitive agricultural operations form sowing to harvest.
It includes advisories for horticultural crops and livestock also.

22. State level Composite Bulletin
This bulletin is prepared for the State level CWWG meeting.
This is also meant for other users like Fertiliser industry, Pesticide industry, Irrigation Department, Seed Corporation, Transport and other organisations which provide inputs in agriculture.

23. National Agromet Advisory Bulletin
The bulletin is primarily prepared for the Ministry of Agriculture for taking important decision in Crop Weather Watch Group (CWWG) meeting.
Besides the same is also communicated to all the related Ministries (State & Central), Organisations, NGOs for their use.

24. The monitoring system provides following products
Use of Remote Sensing
Crop condition and physiological growth processes are regularly monitored to identify crop type, crop phenology, stress etc.
The monitoring system provides following products
Core land surface variables : Albedo, LST, all sky insolation, NDVI
Derived variables: PET, AET, Soil Moisture
Remote Sensing Agencies provide these inputs to AAS system.

25. AgroMet Information Dissemination
Mass Mode of Dissemination:
Print Media: Newspaper, magazine article Electronic media: Radio, Television
Select User Group Dissemination;
Internet: Internet posting, (50 Web Sites)
Mobile Phones: SMS, IVRS (Over 2 Million Farmers)
Human face for Advisory Dissemination
Extension
Awareness Program, Farmer’s Fare

26. Forecast from IMD, New Delhi Agromet Advisory Bulletin by AMFUs
Operational communication linkage between Agromet Advisory Service Unit and end-users (farmers) for effective communication
Forecast from IMD, New Delhi
State Met Centres
Agromet Advisory Bulletin by AMFUs
Postal Contact
Personal Contact
Radio
News Papers
KVK /NGOs
State Agril. Dept.
Farmer
Television
Mobile
Website

27. Dissemination Through Mobile Phones State Govt. Maharashtra
Reuter Market Light
Handygo
Nokia
IFFCO
Vritti Solution
State Govt. Maharashtra
Total Statewise
Years →
2010
April
2011
Andhra Pradesh -
45000
57961
61298
106298
Bihar
6219
200329
Gujarat
16144
34451
400
50000
6145
46336
22689
130787
Haryana
20556
23154
700
100000
101699
32458
122955
155612
Himachal
17994
8178
Karnataka
40000
49327
60815
100815
Kerala
25000
44377
16210
41210
Madhya Pradesh
35000
39910
84466
119466
Maharashtra
119116
142780
500
80000
45902
35345
2300
3200
26000
193818
287325
Orissa
8276
73729
Punjab
43334
54260
750
27439
24392
71523
113652
Rajasthan
77162
94963
129963
Tamilnadu
68422
34005
84005
Uttar Pradesh
105000
353205
279768
384768
West Bengal
104
1625
5981
27599
6785
29224
Total
199254
256270
3050
500000
910019
Total SMS send by Agromet Field Units Dapoli, Hissar, Ranital, Anantpur, Lembucherea, Mulde
14633

28. Endorsements & Appreciations
“ It is a Great Idea .. Do it Across the World. Great Work .. Keep It Up”
Barak Obama,
President, U.S.A
Nov 7, 2010, Maharashtra

29. “Today, India is a leader in using technology to empower farmers, like those I met yesterday who get free updates on market and weather conditions on their cell phones”
Barak Obama,
President, U.S.A
Nov.8, 2010, Joint Session of Parliament, New Delhi

30. Farmer Awareness Programme
Farmer’s Awareness Programme on
Weather, Climate and Farmers
Awareness programme was organized at 50 locations in 2009.
The objective of the programme is to make farmers more self-reliant in dealing with weather and climate information and to increase the interaction between farmers and AAS providing agencies i.e. IMD, SAUs, ICAR etc.
The program will be organised in 80 stations by the end of 2010.

31. Brochure for Awareness
Brochure in different languages are prepared and ready for circulation among the users
Hindi
Assamees
Gujarati
Manipuri
English
Nepali
Oriya
Punjabi
Tamil
Marathi

32. Hosting of interactive website
A new interactive website launched on to provide required information on AAS

33. Capacity Building Meteorologists (Forecaster) NWP
Interpretation of model out put for Preparation of location specific weather forecast
Agrometeorologists
Agromet Core Course
Agromet Observers Course
Meteorologists Grade II Training Course
Familiarization Training
Refresher Course
Basic Agromet Course
On the Job Training
AMFU Technical Officer Training
Extension Officials
Farmers

34. Linkages at District Level
130 AMFU (one in ~ 5 Districts)
589 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (Farmer’s Science Centres) in 640 Districts
Transfer of recommended technologies from NARS
Impart skills through orientation programs to rural masses
Organize vocational trainings, demonstrate latest technologies and its refinement in farmers’ field conditions
Organize demonstrations to generate awareness & feedback
Agro Technology Management Agencies (ATMA)
District Agriculture/Horticulture Offices
Common Service Centres (Village Level)
Local Media

35. Feedback Issues & Mechanism
Feedback Collected on;
Quality of Forecast & relevance of Advisories
Farmer get information from Whom & How?
Problem solving through interactive mode
Answering questions of common interest through bulletins
Accessibility to information via ICT
Accessibility to Experts
Mode of Feedback Collection;
Through Personal Contact & Internet
Through Media Agencies
Prepare Questionnaire
Surveys
Farmers Meeting/Kisan Mela

36. Economic Impact Two studies conducted
In general reduced cost of cultivation
Fruit crops cost of cultivation marginally increased but production also increased
Selecting sowing, irrigation & Pesticide application are major determinants
It is also observed that the yield increased by almost 10-25% in most of the crops with maximum increase in the fruit crops
Limited awareness among users.

37. Future Plan Establishment of District Agro-Meteorological Units
Densify observational network (~33,000 AWS)
Forecast at high resolution & Improvement for extreme weather
Develop forewarning system for P&D
Improved Dissemination
Service to Crop Growers Association
Application of Remote Sensing in AAS
Establishment of Connectivity
Training (Farmer, Extension Specialist, Scientists)
Economic impact assessment
Weather Based Crop Insurance

38. Thank you