ग्रामीण कृषि मौसम सेवा GKMS-News

Agricultural Meteorology Division India Meteorological Department

Ministry of Earth Sciences Quarterly Newsletter

Volume –3, Number-1, January-March, 2015

In this issue International Activities National Activities Status of preparation of District Level AAS bulletins & its dissemination Appreciation Awareness Programme Field visit /Kisan Ghosti Kisan Mela Farmers Day Farmers Scientist Interaction Capacity Building Publications Lectures Visitors Workshop Upcoming events

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International Activities

Agrimet Division, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune in collaboration with United States Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID), Washington DC, USA jointly organized international workshop on “Improving Climate Ser-vices for Farmers in Africa and South Asia (ICSFASA)” during 2-3rd February, 2015 at Hotel Ramee Grand, Pune. Around 40 Scientists and farmers from the countries of South Asia and Africa participated in the workshop. The Workshop was the platform to ascertain the farmers’ needs in Africa and South Asia about weather and climate information for on farm decision making. The Workshop addressed the type of climate information and communication channels currently available and the constraints faced by farmers in obtaining this information. It also explored in laying the foundation to establish an effective network for farmers in Africa and South Asia to share knowledge and information on climate services and products for on-farm decision making. Review of currently available ICTs for the farmers in Africa and South Asia and enhancing such ICTs for effective dissemination of climate products and services was also addressed in the workshop. Farmers from Nepal, Ethiopia and India shared their valuable knowledge and experience thus enabling the workshop to evolve concrete recommendations. Proceeding of the Workshop is available on Agrimet Division’s website (www.imdagrimet.gov.in) by giving the following link: (http://www.imdagrimet.gov.in/sites/default/files/Final Proceeding of Workshop 2-3 February 2015.pdf)

Online training on E-agromet system was imparted to all Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) of the country during the period February to March 2015 for demonstration on generation of advisories using farmers portal through video conferencing by the officers of Agricultural Informatics Division, NIC, New Delhi.

Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet) attended the following meetings : The Annual Monsoon Review (AMR) / Annual Cyclone Review (ACR) meetings during 22 – 23rd January 2015

at RMC, Kolkata. The meeting with the delegates from Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of United Nations Organisation

(UNO) on crop yield forecasting in India on 17th February 2015 at Mausam Bhavan, New Delhi. Seventh meeting of the Technical Committee on FASAL held under the Chairmanship of Shri Joseph Abraham,

Principal Adviser, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation on 18th February 2015 at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi. Dr. N. Chattopadhyay, DDGM (Agrimet) and Dr. K. Ghosh, Scientist D attended the meeting on “Replacement of

Lysimeters with the network of Micromet Towers” on 13th March, 2015 at Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad.

Shri R. Balasubramanian, Scientist D interacted and briefed on “Agrometeorological Advisory Services in the country” to the team of Senior Executives of Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd., Mumbai and foreign delegates from China on 14th January, 2015 at Data Collection Platform(DCP) , Pashan, Pune.

Shri R. Balasubramanian, Scientist D has presented on “AAS in the context of climate change” to the scientists and officers of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and Department of Agriculture in the training course organized by the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD - MANAGE) at KVK, Babhaleshwar on 5th January, 2015.

Shri R. Balasubramanian, Scientist D participated in Farmer Awareness Programme at Department of Agronomy, Dr. B.S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli on 23rd March, 2015 and at Cotton Research Station (CRS), Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University (VNMAU), Nanded on 30th March, 2015.

Shri K. G. Kanade, S.A. and Mrs. P.S. Kulkarni, S.A. attended the Quarterly Advisory Committee meeting for rural pro-gram of ‘All India Radio’, Pune held on 2nd January, 2015 at AIR Hall, Pune. They briefed the activities of the Division and AAS bulletins for Maharashtra.

National Activities

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At present, 622 District Level Agromet Advisory Bulletins are prepared twice in a week and also disseminated to 8.54 million farmers through SMS and IVR technology under Public Private Partnership mode (Reuter Market Light, Handygo, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), Nokia, Mahindra Samriddhi, NABARD, Reliance Foundation, etc. ) including Kisan Por-tal across the country.

Notable work by Meteorological Centre, Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand

Meteorological Centre (M. C.), Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand, received a letter of ap-preciation from the Director, Agriculture, Government of Uttarakhand about the timely and accurate weather forecast issued under the leadership of Shri Anand Sharma, Scientist-E. The state government of Uttarakhand ( vide its letter dated 31st March, 2015 ) has nominated Shri Anand Sharma, Scientist-E, M. C., Dehra Dun as one of the member of the Technical Task Force to advise state government for the im-plementation of World Bank Project on Multi Hazard Early Warning System and for modernization of Hydromet network in the state. Notable work by Meteorological Centre, Bhopal M. C., Bhopal received “Best Pavillion Award” at Bhopal Vigyan Mela-2015

during 20- 23rd February, 2015. Dr. Anupam Kashyapi, Scientist-E, M. C., Bhopal interviewed by Doordar-

shan, C.TV, Bansal news, Aaj Tak, AIR on “Weather forecast, cold day, fog, rainfall and agriculture on 3rd January, 2015, Climate related discussion at AIR on 16th January, 2015, interviewed by Doordarshan M.P. on extreme events and damage to agriculture on 19th March, 2015, interviewed by AIR on weather, extreme events, crop losses and prospect of summer crops on 30th March, 2015 and gave inaugural address on “Climate Change and Agri-culture” in Workshop at Bhopal on 08th January, 2015.

A Quiz competition on “Climate Knowledge for Climate Action” on the occa-sion of WMO day on 23rd March, 2015 arranged by Meteorological Centre, Bhopal. About 800 students from different colleges visited and participated in the Quiz.

AMFU, Bhawanipatna, Odisha was awarded the second prize for the stall “Awareness camp on GKMS” during the KISAN MELA on 13th February, 2015 at KVK Nuapara.

AMFU Anand, Gujarat has started providing Agromet Advisory for whole Gujarat State which is broadcasted in Krishi Samachar of Krishi Darshan Programme on DD Girnar channel of Doordarshan.

Dr. G. Sreenivas, Director & Principal Nodal Officer AMFU, Hyderabad, Telangana was awarded as best research pa-per presenter during the second International Conference on Bio-resource and Stress Management held during 7– 10th January, 2015 at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU), Hyderabad, India for the research paper on "Risk Analysis and Management Strategies to Enhance Grain Yield of Rainfed Maize Using DSSAT

V4.6 in Southern Telangana Agro Climatic Zone of Telangana State". Reliance Foundation, Tanjore in collaboration with AMFU, Karaikal & Puducherry conducted an online TV programme (Local Kamban TV) for two hours on 24th January, 2015 at Maiyladuthurai with the co-ordination from the scientist of AMFU, Karaikal, Dr. A. L. Narayanan, Nodal Officer and Dr. C. Rethinasababady. They cleared the doubts regarding the cul-tivation of rice fallow, pulses and weather implications in this region. About 25 farmers were present at the programme.

Status of preparation of District Level AAS bulletins & its dissemination

Appreciation

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AMFU, Port Blair, CIARI, Andaman and Nicobar Island organized FAP on “Weather and Agriculture Production” during 12-13th March, 2015 in order to make the farmers aware of the impact of weather on island agriculture and utility of Agromet Advisories at Harminder Bay, Little Andaman. Dr. S. Dam Roy, Principal Nodal Officer, CIARI, Dr. A.Velmurugan, Nodal Officer and Dr. T. Subramani visited the tribal village and assessed the water resources and crop condition during the dry period. A training programme was organised to appraise farmers about the climatic pattern of Little Andaman and ways to manage both flood and drought situations. 30 farmers participated in the programme.

AMFU, Bhatinda, Punjab organized FAP on “Weather based Agromet Advisory Services for South-Western Region of Punjab” on 5th March, 2015. More than100 farm-ers from districts of the south-western zone of Punjab participated in this programme. Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director, Regional Station cum Nodal Officer highlighted the im-portance and use of weather information in agriculture in changing climatic scenario. Dr. Raj Kumar Pal, Assistant Agrometeorologist, Regional Station, Bathinda explained about the Agromet Advisory Services and their dissemination through different modes

for the farmers of the zone by the station. Dr. Sompal Singh, Associate Professor, School of Climate Change and Agricul-tural Meteorology, PAU, Ludhiana discussed the importance of timely weather advisory in agriculture to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events and elaborated the usefulness and applicability of weather forecast in different agri-cultural operations. Dr. Surender Paul, Director, M. C., Chandigarh pointed out the importance of different weather ele-ments on plant growth and differentiated between weather and climate. Different subject specialists shared their scien-tific knowledge with the farmers in the programme.

SAMC, Chandigarh participated in FAP at Gurdaspur on 3rd March, 2015 and at Bhat-inda on 5th March, 2015. Strong interaction with the farmers were made about AAS ser-vices. Around 300 farmers were participated in the program. Progressive farmers were identified to further dissemination of information to larger farming community. State Agriculture Department officials were approached to provide farmer’s data base in order to upload the same in Kisan Portal.

AMFU Gurdaspur, Punjab organized FAP on 3rd March 2015 and about 100 farmers participated in the programme. Dr. R.S.Singh, Director, PAU Regional Research Station, Gurdaspur and the Nodal Officer elaborated the importance of the awareness pro-gramme and usefulness of the Agromet Advisory Service for the farmers of the sub-mountainous region of Punjab. He emphasized on utilizing the valuable weather infor-mation and advisories provided by this service and move towards climate – smart agri-culture to curtail any loss in production due to climatic hazards and increasing effects

of climate change in recent decades. Dr. Surender Paul, Director, Meteorological Centre, IMD, Chandigarh, appealed the farmers to connect profoundly with the services provided by IMD and PAU together and get best out of these services. He further highlighted that if the farmers get timely medium range weather forecast, sizable amount of cost on inputs can be saved and crop productivity can be increased at the same time. Dr. Barun Biswas, Technical Officer, Gurdaspur, broadly discussed various activities and services provided by AMFU, Gurdaspur for the farmers of Gurdaspur, Hoshi-arpur and Pathankot districts of Punjab.

AMFU, Jagtiyal, Telangana organized FAP on 30th January, 2015. Dr. S. Laxman, Associate Director of Research, RARS, Polasa, Jagtiyal interacted with farmers to create awareness on importance Agromet Advisories among the farming community and published bou-cher on “Weather based Agromet Advisories”. Shri Trinadth Rao Pakki, Assistant Mete-orologist, IMD, Hyderabad presented on “Importance of weather forecasting in agricul-ture”. Subject experts delivered lectures on importance of weather based agro advisories and crop management strategies to be followed in major crops, pests of major crops in relation to weather parameters and its management, paddy cultivation in relation to changes in climate scenario, diseases in paddy, maize, cotton, sesame and mango in relation to weather factors,

Awareness Programme

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diseases in soybean, chilli, turmeric in relation to weather parameters and management practices, veterinary aspects in relation to weather parameters in livestock. Participants visited at Agromet observatory at the AMFU. Five ordinary rain-guages were distributed to selected farmers of Northern Telangana Zone. Also, one day training programme on “Influence of weather on crop production” organized to create awareness on the weather influence on crop production on the same day. About 78 farmers participated in the programme.

AMFU, Bhawanipatna, Odisha, organised FAP on “Role of GKMS on mitigation of weather hazards in Agriculture production” on 18th March, 2015. Shri Anshuman Nayak, Technical Officer elaborately explained activities of GKMS. Dr. Sarat Chan-dra Sahu, Director, IMD, Bhubaneswar presented the role of “Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS)” for the farming community”. Sj. Laxman Palatasingh, Deputy Director Agriculture, Kalahandi gave lecture on “Impact of adverse weather on field crops and role of GKMS in mitigation of the risks”. Other subject specialists also delivered lectures related to climate, weather GKMS and its dissemination. On this occasion one booklet in Odia named “Garmin Krishi Mausam Sewa dwara krushaka manaka nimante panipaga

bhitika krushi suchana (Agromet Advisory Bulletin for the farmers by GKMS)” was inaugurated by chief speaker Dr. S.C. Sahu, Director, MC, IMD, Bhubaneswar. Five rainguages were distributed to five progressive farmers. The farmers shared their experiences related to weather and crops. The scientists suggested precautionary measures for the weather con-dition related agricultural issues.

AMFU, Udaigiri, Odisha organized FAP on “Climate Change and its impact on Agricul-ture under GKMS” on 27th March, 2015 at village Gutuguda, G. Udaigiri, Kandhamal.

Lectures related to topic were given by the expert group elaborately and assisted farmers in coping with current climatic risks by providing value-added weather services to farmers. It was briefed that farmers can adapt to climate changes to some degree by shifting planting dates, choosing varieties with different growth duration, or changing crop rotations. An early warning system should be put in place to monitor changes in pest and disease outbreaks. The overall pest control strategy should be based on integrated pest management because it takes care of multiple pests in a given climatic scenario.

AMFU, Ranital , Odisha organized FAP on “Climate change & its impact on Agriculture” on 25th March 2015. 120 farmers of different villages of Bhadrak and Balasore district partici-pated in the programme. Dr. Amaresh Khuntia, Technical Officer, highlighted the achieve-ments of AAS,Ranital in reaching the farmers in remote areas through various electronic media either directly or through partnership mode. He opined that the FAP was a step ahead in updating farmer’s knowledge on climate change and how it is affecting agriculture of the agroclimatic zone. He mentioned how the agromet advisories really benefited the farming

community of North Eastern Coastal Plain Zone of Odisha during aberrant weather conditions. He urged the progressive farmers and village leaders to take a proactive role in enrolling more number of farmers in the SMS service of AAS, Ranital. The dignitaries on the dias highlighted the climate change issues of the region and how the agriculture is badly affected by untimely rain and flood, prolonged dry spells, hailstorms, cyclones, heat waves, pest havoc and encouraged the farmers take maximum benefit of this awareness programme. The climate related awareness programme and on farm trial conducted by KVK in farmers field was well appreciated by the farming community.

AMFU, Rajouri (SKUAST- J), Jammu & Kashmir organized one day Farmer Awareness Camp cum Kisan Mela on the theme “Weather, Climate and Farmers” on 10th March, 2015 in collaboration with KVK, Rajouri More than 250 farmers participated in the programme. Dr K. S. Risam, Director Extension (SKUAST –Jammu) emphasized upon the farming com-munity to adopt improved / modern technologies like agro advisory services, SMS Farmer Portal Service, integrated pest and nutrient management, adoption of mechanized/ custom-ized farming systems, etc. to improve the livelihood of the people of the area. Dr. B. C. Sharma, Principal Nodal Officer, apprised farmers regarding the use of weather and cli-mate based agro-advisories in day to day agriculture activities and stressed upon the farm-ers to make more and more utilization of GKMS rendered by IMD. Dr. Rohit Sharma, Technical Officer advised farmers about the importance of taking cues about day to .day weather updates, which can help farmers in overcoming of planning

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their crops. An exhibition was also organized to highlight / display the technologies developed at RARS & KVK Rajouri to make farmers aware about different new technologies in agriculture. Kisan Goshti was also organized during the event in which farmers had interaction with the scientists of the university about day to day problems faced in agriculture and allied sectors. A visit to meteorological observatory at RARS, Rajouri and to the experimental fields of the Research Station was also arranged.

AMFU, Shillongani, Assam organized FAP on 20th March, 2015 on “Climate, weather and farmers”. Subject experts gave presentation on importance of weather forecasting on agricultural crop production, coordination of different agencies on weather fore-casting service for farmers, impact of climate change on agriculture, better weather/climate risk management through AAS system, future climate change and its implica-tions, climatic risk in production of different crops in Central Brahmaputra Valley Zone and ways and means to improve communication of climatic & weather infor-mation to farmers. About 85 farmers participated in the program. Nodal Officer of District Disaster Management Au-thority spoke about various schemes for the farmers to get relief under flood, drought or any other natural calamities.

AMFU, Sonitpur, Assam, B. N. College of Agriculture, Assam Agriculture University (AAU) organized FAP on 21st February, 2015. Total of 71 numbers of farmers including small tea growers and farmer cum entrepreneurs from different districts of Assam par-ticipated in the awareness programme. Dr. Prasanta Neog, Nodal Officer, GKMS, Sonitpur pointed out that better weather/climate risk management in agriculture can be achieve through implementation of real time contingency crop plan, growing of alternate crop and crop diversification, rain water harvesting and use, strengthening and upgrading traditional farming system etc. for which characterization of weather of the place and

accurate and timely weather forecast is very important. Dr. Rupa Jaggi, Director, RMC, Guwahati talked about the role of RMC, Guwahati in delivering weather as well as Agrometeorological Services in NE India. Dr. Y. S. Ramakrishna, Ex Director, CRIDA mentioned that Agromet Advisory Services have the important role to play in increasing crop produc-tivity and building climate resilient agriculture. In presidential address, Dr. T.C. Baruah, Associate Dean, B.N. College of Agriculture emphasized the importance of weather and agromet services about for successful crops production in the present situation of increasing weather variability and climate change. In the interaction session five numbers of rain-gauge were distributed among the five progressive farmers. Farmer shared their experiences during farmers-scientists interaction.

AMFU, Jorhat, Assam organized FAP on “Weather, climate and farmers” on 30th

March, 2015 at Atapam village of Baghchung block, Jorhat to create awareness among farmers about weather, climate and climate resilient crop management strate-gies as well as the role of GKMS in this aspect. About 105 farmers participated in the FAP. Invited dignitaries gave lecture on basics of weather and climate as well as cli-mate change and its possible impact on agriculture and various climate resilient agri-cultural practices to be adopted by the farmers. Shri Sunit Das, Scientist D, RMC, Gu-wahati presented various aspects of weather forecasting techniques used by IMD. Farmers-Scientist interaction programme was also organized in which various field problems of the farmers were ad-dressed by the scientists of AAU.

AMFU, Bangalore, Karnataka organised FAP on “Climate change and its impact on agriculture” on 14th March, 2015 at KVK, Magadi, Ramanagara. Dr. L. Kulkarni, Sub-ject matter specialist, KVK, Magadi told that the challenges of vagaries of weather farmers have to be accepted by adopting suitable strategies to overcome climate change, need for water use efficiency, sustainable agriculture, importance of mixed cropping etc. Dr. H. S. Shivaramu, Nodal Officer, Professor and Head, Department of Agrometeorology explained in detail about the climate resilient agriculture and its adaptation to realize the potential yield for food security and the responsibility of the farmers in the process. The use of available rainwater in efficient manner by different water conservation structures like farm ponds, nala bunds etc., by taking an example of success story of Kuttanagere watershed was demonstrated. In farmers-scientists interaction

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Shri. Puttappa, progressive farmer, explained the importance of changing the cropping pattern under changing rainfall pattern and changing climate.

AMFU, Brahmavar, Karnataka organised FAP on “Climate change and its influence on agriculture” on 17th January, 2015. About 78 farmers from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts participated in the programme. On this occasion two folders namely Climate and Agriculture (Kannada version) and Climate Change and its impact on Agriculture (Kannada version) were released during the FAP. Dr. K.V.Sudhir Kamath, Senior Farm Su-perintendent, ZAHRS, Brahmavar elucidated the importance of Awareness Programme to farming community. He also briefed dissemination of Agromet Advisory bulletins, role and its importance. Dr. M. Hanumanthappa, Associate Director of Research presided over the function and briefed about the topic on climate change and its impact on agriculture to the audience. He also informed that this type of programs are organized to create an awareness in the minds of farming community about the climate changes and its impact on agriculture and the Agro Advisories to be followed by the farming community to overcome the adverse effect of climate change on agriculture in view of realizing the potential yield of the crops. Dr. S. Shridhara, Prin-cipal Nodal Officer, UAHS, Shimoga. briefed about the importance of climate in relation to agriculture and horticulture crops and how best the farmers should use it for improve or increase in crop yields.

AMFU, Anand, Gujarat organized FAP on "Effect of Climate Change on Agriculture" at KVK, Sankheda, Dist. Chota Udaipur, Gujarat on 22nd January, 2015. 120 farmers partici-pated in the programme. Farmers were familiarized about Agromet Advisory Service and climate change. Subject specialists discussed about issues related crop and advisory on crop specific problems was suggested.

AMFU, Hisar, Haryana organised one day FAP on “Application of Weather forecasting in Agriculture” on 19th March, 2015 at College of Agriculture. Around 108 farmers and of-ficers of Agriculture Department attended the programme. Shri S. C. Bhan, Scientist E, IMD, New Delhi delivered the lecture on “Services of IMD for farming community”. He also described in detail about weather forecasting system in India for crop planning and day-to-day fieldwork. Dr. Raj Singh Professor & Head cum Principal Nodal Officer pre-sented on “Observation of weather parameters and their use in weather forecasting”. Dr. M. L. Khichar, Nodal Officer delivered the lecture on “Use of ICT in dissemination of Weather based agro-advisories to farmers”. Dr. Anil Kumar, Assistant Scientist cum Technical Officer delivered the lecture on “Importance of weather pa-rameters in agriculture”. Other dignitaries delivered lectures on related subjects and encouraged the farmers to use the SMS of weather forecast to minimise farm losses through proper management of agricultural operations. Package & Practices of Kharif crops in Hindi and four bulletins were given to all the farmers along with registration kit.

AMFU, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh conducted FAP on “Vatavaran aadhaarita panta-lasagu-rytula avagaahana” at Regional Agricultural Research Station, on 30th March, 2015. 105 farmers from Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts participated in the programme. The farmers were informed about importance of weather and its impact on the agricultural crops and its management. Dr. K. Seetharam, Scientist-E, RMC, IMD, Hyderabad gave lec-ture on “Understanding weather and weather forecasting”. Dr E. Narayana, Nodal Officer, Associate Director of Research, RARS, Lam gave a lecture on “Weather and Agriculture”. Lectures on “Management of major pests on crops in relation to weather” and “Agro mete-

orology towards better advisories for serving end users requirement with respective to agriculture” were given by honourable dignitaries. Telugu literature were distributed to the farmer participants along with stationary kit. Participants visited AMFU unit and au-tomatic weather station maintained at RARS, Lam. Five raingauges were distributed to the farmers.

AMFU, Ranchi, Jharkhand organized FAP on “Climate Change and Agriculture” on 20th March, 2015 at BAU, Ranchi. Basic idea of climate and agriculture and role of GKMS

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project was elaborately explained to participants by Dr. A. Wadood, Nodal Officer. Soil conservation and water harvesting, change in different Agronomical practices were discussed with farmers. Shri. Sanjiv Kumar, Technical Officer, GKMS ex-plained activities of the AMFU. A questionnaire in Hindi was circulated among the farmers to evaluate their knowledge regarding whether and climate change etc. Farmers also visited Meteorological Observatory at AMFU, Ranchi..

AMFU, Jharnapani, Nagaland, ICAR, conducted FAP on 17th March, 2015 at Dimapur district and second FAP at Sechu Zubza village, Kohima district on 23rd March, 2015. Alto-gether 83 participants from different villages were involved in the session. Importance of Agromet Advisory, production technology of important horticultural, field crops with refer-ence to changes in weather parameters, impact of climate on crop disease, pest incidence and its management, livestock production management and soil health with regard to

change in environmental factors were apprised to the farmers by the scientists of ICAR, Jharnapani, Subject Matter Spe-cialists from KVK Dimapur and Assistant Professor from SASRD, Nagaland University. Joint Director, ICAR Nagaland Centre, Dr. Bidyut C. Deka while addressing the farmers highlighted the importance of Integrated Agromet Advisories for farm operations and how they can improve up on their farming systems with these advisories and increase their income. Ms. Imtisenla Walling, Technical Officer, AMFU Jharnapani apprised the participants on crop production technology and Agromet Advisory in depth. Also effect of climate change on livestock and its mitigation measures and impact of climate on crop disease were elaborately discussed by subject experts. Field visit was made to the neighbouring farmers field and the farmers were told about good crop management practices as well as animal hygiene and husbandry.

AMFU, Dapoli, Maharashtra, organized FAP on “Weather Forecast Based Agro – Advi-sory” at Department of Agronomy, Dr. B. S. Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli on 23rd March, 2015. Prof. V. G. Chavan, Nodal Officer explain the effect of changing climate on field crops, the importance of Agro- Advisory on the basis of weather forecast. Dr. Balasubramanian, Scientist D, IMD, Pune emphasized the need of reg-istration by individual farmer on implementry farmers SMS system under mKisan Sewa (Farmer Portal). Other dignito-ries presented on climate change in agriculture and livestock management for adoption of various farming system as well as cropping system under sustainability agricultural production in future, importance of weather forecast based agro-advisory, crop planning for kharif season konkan region, management of mango and cashew crops, integrated pest man-agement of mango and cashew crops, integrated disease management of mango and cashew crops, seed treatments of

different field crops, integrated weed management under different field crops, During farmer and scientist interaction the farmers discussed difficulties they faced during the year due to change in weather condition. AMFU, Parbhani, Maharashtra organized FAP on “Impact of Climate Change on Agricul-ture” on 30th March 2015 at Cotton Research Station, Nanded. 150 farmers from eight dis-tricts of Marathwada region participated in the programme. Prof. Pralhad Jaybhaye, Prin-

cipal Nodal Officer, GKMS explained acute need to understand the change in climate and how to mitigate its effect for ag-riculture. Shri. R. Balasubramanian, Scientist D, IMD Pune explained about the GKMS work at national and state level. During the ceremonial programme a edited and complied book “Agromet advisory” was released by the Dr. B. Ven-kateshvarlu Hon. Vice Chancellor, VNMKV, Parbhani and Shri. Kedar Salunke Patil, Executive member, VNMKV, Parbhani. The experts gave small tips to save their animals from weather calamities and how to manage the heat stress in animal. Another expert focused on the microclimatic condition responsible for increasing or decreasing pest and diseases during season to season and also directed to adopt the technologies to mitigate the climate change to give the sustainability in ru-ral farming community. The progressive and awarded farmers contributed their innovative works at rural level done to mitigate the unseasonal rain and hailstorm.

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AMFU, Akola, Maharashtra organized FAP on 26th March, 2015 at Department of Agron-omy, Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. 73 farmers participated in the pro-gramme. Dr. S. S. Wanjari, Principal Nodal Officer emphasized the need to make aware the farmers regarding changing weather cycle and adoption of revised strategies to cope with these natural changes and to sustain the productivity at farm level. . Dr. D. M. Mankar, Di-rector of Research, accented the need for common management of farm at the village level so that the severity of uncertain rain can be counter parted by controlling weeds, insects and

pests collectively at village or group of village level. Dr. Bhale, Chairman and Head, Department of Agronomy and Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, reiterated to undertake the common programme on in-situ moisture management and use of mulches, intercropping systems at village level to clash the frequent occurrence of early and mid-late drought. Five raingauges were distributed to progressive farmers. Three special lectures on crop management under scenario of pest, diseases and horticulture crops were presented by the experts.

AMFU, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh organized FAP on “Krishi Me Mausam Ki Upyogita, Krishi me Mausam ka Praphawa, Krishi me Mausam ka Mahatwa” on 30th March, 2015. Prof. (Dr.) Wil-son Kispotta, Director Extension, SHIATS, stressed on role of farming community in needs mor-al, physical and economical inspirational support to increase our agricultural production con-tributing to gross national economy which is possible only by adopting proper agronomic measures according to climatic conditions. Prof. (Dr.) S.B.Lal, Pro- Vice Chancellor (Administration) SHIATS and Nodal Officer of Agro-Advisory services in his presidential ad-dress appreciated the commendable efforts by the farmers of eastern U.P to restore and stabilize sustainable crop produc-tion inspite of global climate changes. Dr. B. Mehera, Associate Dean outlined a brief sketch of various modes of AAS in providing weekly weather forecast and appropriate crop schedule and its protection from disease and pests.. At the end, farmers visited the agrometereological data station unit, school of forestry and environment to understand the function of various instruments in data formulation.

AMFU, Bharatpur, Rajasthan organized FAP on “Weather, Climate and Farmers in the Present Changing Climate Scenario” on 7th January, 2015 at ICAR-Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur. More than 60 farmers attended the pro-gramme. Dr. Basant Kandpal delivered a lecture on use of weekly forecast advisory to plan field operations viz. sowing/planting, inter-cultural operations, irrigation, fertiliz-er application, use of agro-chemicals and harvesting of the crops. He further explained the conductive environmental conditions for the spread of diseases and pest especially in rapeseed-mustard. He also acquainted the participants on raingauge and thermom-

eter (maximum and minimum), their installation, recording, documenting and interpreting the current and past data. Invited dignitaries enriched the farmers regarding effect of cold and frost on crops and its management, insurance schemes of state and central government available to farmers of the region and other related subjects. Farmers and scien-tists interaction was conducted.

AMFU, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, organized FAP on “Role of Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa in weather based agriculture” on 29th January 2015. One hundred farmers from Chittoor, Kadapa and Nellore districts of southern zone participated in the programme. Dr.T. Prathima, Nodal Officer explained role of GKMS and activities of the AMFU. She request-ed the farmers to utilize these services in their daily agricultural operation and requested to provide mobile numbers of neighbouring farmers too, so that they have opportunity of providing of AAS services through SMS on mobiles. Honourable guest delivered lecture on related to subject. On this occasion one brochure in Telugu named “Vaatavarana aadharitha Pantala Yajamanyam”

was prepared and released for the use of farmers, along with pamphlet on weather based agro-advisories for different crops in southern zone of Andhra Pradesh. AMFU, Thrissur, Kerala organized FAP on “Climate change and agriculture “ on 21st March, 2015. Four lectures were delivered in the programme viz. Climate change and ag-riculture, organic control measures of diseases in vegetables, eco friendly pest control measures in vegetables and organic farming. About 105 farmers participated in the pro-gramme. The lead farmers were honoured and were given mango seedlings in FAP.

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AMFU, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh organized one day FAP on “Climate, Weather Fore-casts and Farmers” on 27th March, 2015 at Department of Agronomy CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur. 203 farmers were participated in the pro-gramme. Dr. R. S. Rana, Nodal Officer explained GKMS role in Agriculture including its reliability and application /benefits in the region. In addition, topics on meteorological observations and its relevance to farm management, GKMS role in Agriculture including its reliability and application /benefits in the region., GKMS as adaptation and mitigation options for farmers, weather and climate for crop management, management and pro-duction of vegetables and fruits, livestock ,insect pest based on medium range weather forecast and AAS were also discussed. An exhibition was also arranged in which various weather instruments were dis-played and farmers were shown three films: Voices from field of India and Malli – The film screened by University of Co-lumbia and screened in Senegal Workshop during 10-12th December, 2012, two 10 minutes film screen by Dr. Chatto-padhyay, DDGM, Pune on Maharashtra farmers and weather conditions, one film of Al gore on climate change in Hindi and weeping apple tree showing the inclement weather and apple production in H.P. Also a quiz competitions and farm-ers-scientists were organized during the programme.

AMFU, Rorkee, Uttarakhand organized FAP on “Krishi Mausam Sewa Aur Eske Labh” on 24th January, 2015 at Bullawala village, Haridwar to get feedback from the farmers to serve them in a better way. About 30 farmers participated in the programme. Dr K. K. Singh, Scientist F and Head Agromet, IMD, New Delhi expressed about the nation wide program of Agro advisory Service sponsored by Ministry of Earth Science GOI through IMD and State Agricultural Universities and Indian Institutes of Technology. Dr. Singh emphasized on SMS based advisory and Agromet Advisory bulletins distributed by AMFU directly to the farmers. Shri. Anand Sharma, Scientist-E, MC Dehradun discussed the

advancement and accuracy of weather forecasting in comparison to forecast made in past years and briefed out the im-portance of Agromet Advisory and how the farmer of Dehradun benefited from this service was explained with some suc-cess story. Shri. A. K. Baxla, Scientist D, IMD, New Delhi. pointed out the major farming issues which are directly influ-enced by weather variables. Professor Tripathi, Nodal Officer threw light on the importance of weather importance in planning and management of crop and livestock system.

AMFU, Pusa (Samastipur) Bihar organized FAP on at KVK, Hariharpur, Vaishali on 29th January, 2015 on “Importance of Weather Forecast in Agriculture”. Farmers were made aware about weather forecast and its importance in agriculture. Farmers interacted with the scientists on different topics and they expressed their gratefulness to the organizers for educating them on weather parameters, crop production & plant protection measures in

various crops. AMFU, Sabour, Bihar organized one day FAP 24th March, 2015 on “Pariwarik kheti aur Mausam Puravanuman”. About 100 farmers were participated in the program. Lec-tures were given on “Pariwarik kheti and Integrated Farming system”, “Contingent crop Planning in abrupt weather condition” and “Meteorological Observation and its rele-vance to farm management” by Dr. R. P. Sharma Chairman, Department of Agronomy, Bihar Agricultural College, Sabour, Dr. S. K. Pathak and Sunil Kumar, Nodal Officer, AMFU, Sabour respectively. Dr. Sanjay Kumar presented on “Climate change and Con-servation Agriculture”. Five farmers were invited to give their knowledge on weather

and climate use in agriculture and risk management-ways and means to improve communication of weather forecast and advisory.

AMFU Agwanpur, Bihar organized FAP on “Role of Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa in Climate Change and Agriculture’’ on 26th March 2015. 150 farmers from different districts of zone II participated in the programme. Dr. Umesh Singh, Associate Director Research, RRS, Ag-wanpur addressed about real time weather forecasting which can help a great deal in sta-bilizing the agricultural production in koshi zone II, where many of farmers suffer due to lack of timely weather related information. Mr Harendra Nath Dubey, Deputy Development

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Commissioner, Saharsa, focused on climate change resulting in higher variability in terms of uncertain or delayed rainfall, floods changing temperatures are limiting the production of food and therefore creating threat to the food security. In the programme , it was explained about SMS on mobiles through web portal w.w.wmkisan.gov.in both in English and re-gional language which has received by the farming community. It was requested to the farming community to register their mobile number to have the opportunity of Agro-advisory service on mobile. During the programme five rainguages were also distributed to the selected farmers. Important discussion between resource persons and end user community was made on use of weather data and weather forecasting and regarding the crops.

AMFU, Pundibari, West Bengal organized FAP on 18th January, 2015 at Khapaidanga vil-lage, Cooch Behar, West Bengal. Total number of 80 farmers from different blocks of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and North Dinajpur districts participated in the programme. Prof. Ashis Kumar Singha Roy Head of the Department, Agronomy, mentioned the importance of farmer-scientist interaction in the development of climate resilient agriculture. Shri. Gopinath Raha Director, IMD, Gangtok explained the project GKMS and the way of its gaining popularity throughout the world. Dr. Subhendu Bandyopadhyay, Nodal officer, AMFU, Pundibari clari-fied the different components of project and emphasized on the integrated approach from the all corners like AMFU, KVK, Department of Agriculture, NGO, Farmers’ club, Media etc. for

successful implementation and wide publicity of the project up to the grass-root-level. Other dignitaries also delivered lectures on related subject. Four raingaues were distributed to selected farmers. In the interactive session the farmers told that FAP is very useful to them and the farmers asked different queries and it was answered by the experts.

AMFU, Kharagpur, West Bengal organized FAP on “Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa” on 28th March, 2015 at Keshpur village of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal. The main ob-jective of the programme was to bring awareness to farmers pertaining to weather fore-casting services of AMFU, Kharagpur and to use the information for timely farm operations like field preparation, selection of sowing time, irrigation scheduling, fertilizer application, pest and disease management and harvesting of the crop. Dr. Dillip Kumar Swain, Nodal Officer briefly introduced about the project details and benifits of the programme to farm-ers. Dr. S. Bandyopadhyay, Director, RMC, Kolkata addressed the farmers and delivered a lecture on ‘Weather forecasting and its usefulness for farmers in Eastern India’. During his lecture, he emphasized on con-tingency crop planning under unfavourable weather conditions. He suggested farmers to apply irrigation to the field crops using short-term rainfall forecasting information which is also helpful in disease pest management in relevance with late blight in potato and sawfly/aphid incidence in mustard. Lectures on the specialized topics were given by the expert group.

AMFU, Majhian, West Bengal organised FAP at Lakshmipur village, Dakshin on 3rd Febru-ary, 2015. Forty nine farmers from each block of Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda districts participated the program. The awareness programme emphasized on weather and climate issues that affect agricultural production in North Bengal, climate change and its effect on agriculture, role of weather based agro advisory service for agricultural activities and im-provement of the interaction between farmers and AMFU. Dr. Gopinath Raha, Director, M. C., Gangtok, IMD described the role of IMD in agriculture. Dr. Subhendu Bandopadhyay, Associate Professor (Agronomy) and Nodal Officer, AMFU, Pundibari informed the farmers

about climate change and their impact on agriculture of North Bengal. He also explained about the agricultural activities to be done based on weather forecast. Dr. Shyamashree Roy, Nodal Officer, covered the topic “Better weather/climate risk management through AAS system”. She discussed the different weather related scenarios in cultivation of crops and how the advisory services could be utilized whether the farmers would go for irrigation or wait for a rainfall. Dr. Sanchita Mondal, Technical Officer, discussed about the impact assessment of Agro Advisory Service. She explained how this service can be evaluated with their information on what they are practicing in their field based on this service.

AMFU, Dantiwada, Gujarat organized FAP on “Weather Forecasting and Agriculture planning in relation to Weather and Climate Changing” on 30th January, 2015 at KVK, S. D. Agricultural University, Deesa, Dist. Banaskantha, Gujarat. In this programme total 68 farmers were participated. Topic related to subject viz. importance of weather forecasting in agricul-ture and activities carried out in GKMS, crop planning based on weather and climatic parameters, pest and disease man-agement in field crops on weather based forecasting, effect of weather on the growth & yield of potato, climate changes observed in different seasons and utilization of meteorological instruments for measuring different parameters were

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were discussed during the programme. Live demonstration of different meteorological equip-ments and allotment of raingauge to farmers was carried out. Weather information charts were displayed. Prof. J. G. Patel, Nodal Officer explained an importance of weather forecasting in ag-riculture production and significant effect of weather elements on crop production. Shri Ma-hendrabhai Chaudhary, Office In-charge, IMD, Deesa had given information on meteorological instruments and discussed about weather observation system and dissemination of weather forecast. All the farmers visited the farm demonstration of KVK, Deesa and meteorological ob-

servatory of IMD at Deesa. Farmers took keen interest in all activities carried out during this programme. AMFU, Navsari, Gujarat organized one day seminar cum FAP on 25th February, 2015

“Minimizing the Impact of Global Warming on Agriculture by using Weather Forecasting for South Gujarat”. About 77 farmers from different districts of south Gujarat participated in the programme. During seminar, Dr. Neeraj Kumar, Principle Nodal Officer, GKMS explained the variability in south Gujarat climate and its adverse effect on crop condition. Three guest lecturers was also delivered on “Effect of climate change on plant diseases for South Gujarat conditions”, “Effect of weather parameters on crop production in South Gu-jarat conditions” and “Influence of change in weather conditions on major insect-pest for South Gujarat conditions” during the seminar. Through this programme farmers were benefited about the information of climate variability, climate change and its impact on Agriculture. The farmers were made aware about the activities of AMFU, Navsari regarding bulletin dissemination and its use.

AMFU, Junagadh, Gujarat organized FAP on “Weather based crop production and im-portance of weather forecasting in agriculture” at University Auditorium, Junagadh Agri-cultural University, Junagadh on 23rd January, 2015. Total four hundred fifty farmers par-ticipated in the programme. Lectures were delivered by agro meteorologist and experts in different disciplines of agriculture like agronomist, entomologist, pathologist and horticul-turist. The discussion was carried out on the existing knowledge of farmers on weather and

climate use in agriculture and risk management, needs for weather and climate information, ways and means to improve communication of weather and climate information to farmers. During the programme five rainguages were also distrib-uted to the selected farmers. Important discussion between resource persons and end user community was made on use of weather data and weather forecasting in Agromet Advisory Service (AAS), climate change and climate variability in AAS, extreme events, dissemination of agromet advisories, animal husbandry etc. In Gujarat state, under Krushi Vikas Varsh-2014-15 and as a part of the FAP, exhibition cum demonstration highlighting the various production systems including agriculture, horticulture, farm engineering and animal husbandry organized by AMFU, Junagadh, Gu-jarat. The school children also visited the exhibition in order to aware the children about weather and climate and their future impact on agriculture. In exhibition various weather instruments and charts of different activities were displayed. Farmers visited Agricultural Meteorological Observatory to get acquaint about the weather instruments. Automatic Weather Station was also shown to the farmers.

In addition, AMFUs Bhubaneshwar, Bikaner, Pillicode and Udaipur also conducted FAP during January to March 2015 at their respective stations.

Field visit /Kisan Ghosti

Dr. M. Hanumanthappa, Nodal Officer and Dr. K.V. Sudhir Kamath and Ranjith T. H., Technical officer, AMFU, Brah-mavar, Karnataka made field visit at Mandarthi village on 25th January 2015. The team of visited AAS farmer (Progressive Farmer) maize field where they conducted an experiments to know the effect of different levels of Nitrogen

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and moisture on growth and yield of fodder maize. During FAP, AMFU, Kharagpur, West Bengal arranged a field visit on 28th March, 2015 at Keshpur village of Paschim

Medinipur district, West Bengal. During the visit, the participants along with the technical expert committee members closely monitored the standing crop of various cropping systems followed in the area and their performance. It was ob-served that potato and mustard grown in the area are highly susceptible to weather abnormalities like increased pest and disease incidence leading to a partial yield loss or complete crop failure. Further, the participants were exposed to new cultivation techniques and interacted with local farmers regarding their cultivation practices and exchanged their experi-ences in the presence of technical expert committee members.

Shri V. D. Vora, Technical Officer, AMFU, Targhadia, Gujarat made field visit on 4th February, 2015 of different villages of Kalavad and Lalpur, Dhrol, and Jamnagar talukas of Jamnagar district and Bhanvad taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district. He gave information on control measures of stem borer and termite infestation in wheat, control measures leaf curling in kagdi lime due to sylla and thrips and sowing of summer sesame to the farmers. The discussion was made on in situ com-posting and off situ composting of cotton stalk, wheat straw and other farm residues by using mobile chopper and rotator. The farmers were taken keen interest during interactions.

AMFU, Raipur, Chhattisgarh made a field visit on 19th January, 2015. Five rain gauges were installed which are distrib-uted during FAP held on 6 August, 2014. Farmers were aware about importance of rain data and networking at farmers field.

AMFU, New Delhi, IARI organized Kisan Gosthi and field visit at Qutubgarh village NCR Delhi on 23rd March, 2015. Dr. Ananta Vashisth, Nodal Officer explained importance of weather forecast in occurrence and spread of insects / diseases in crop and advised them for use of suitable pest management practices in proper time. About 45 farmers participated in the programme.

AMFU, Bhawanipatna, Odisha made six field visit for “Popularization of GKMS” on 10th January, 2015, 28th January, 2015, 13th February, 2015, 23rd February, 2015, 02nd March, 2015 to know about crop stage and insect pest incidence in real time basis in farmers’ field.. On 19th March, 2015, Dr. S. C. Sahu, Director, M.C. Bhubaneswar and Shri Anshuman Nayak Technical Officer, AMFU Bhawanipatna made field visit to village Damodarpur and Dahal for selection of the site for raingauge installation. Field visit to village Dahal of Kesinga block and discussed with the farmers about the out reach of kisan SMS and its benefit.

AMFU, Pusa (Samastipur) Bihar participated in three days Kisan Mela dur-ing14-16th March, 2015 organized by Rajendra Agricultural University at Pusa Campus by displaying a weather stall under GKMS project. AMFU, New Delhi, IARI participated in Pusa Kisan Mela at IARI, New Delhi during 10-12th March, 2015. During the mala poster were displayed both in the thematic and Division pandal on Agromet Advisory Services and Agromet Advi-

sory bulletin were distributed among the farmers for creating the awareness among the farmers. The contact number was collected from the farmers for sending the SMS related to the agromet advisories.

AMFU, Bhatinda, Punjab participated in Kisan Mela, organised at PAU Regional Research Station (AMFU), Bathinda on 27th March. 2015.

AMFU, Bhawanipatna, Odisha participated in Kisan Mela on GKMS at KVK Kalahandi on 12th February, 2015 and Nua-para on 13th February, 2015 by conducting awareness camp. In Kisan Mela they explained participants role of GKMS, Kisan SMS and distributed bulletins and leaf lets. About 1300 farmers visited the camp.

AMFU, Arnej, Gujarat participated in ‘Khedut Din’ held on 4th February, 2015 at Dhandhuka of Ahmedabad district. Dr. M. S. Jakasaniya, Nodal Officer delivered a lecture on nationwide weather base Agro Met Advisory network, impact of weather parameters on crop production. Dr. . Jakasaniya also shared the views with the farmers regarding the different high yielding varieties of crops, crop produc-tion, crop protection technology and highlighted the effect of climate change on different crops and

crop seasons. Farmers also familiarized about function of the AMFU. Farmers from different villages of Dholaka Taluka, Gujarat were visited AgroMet Observatory on 24th March, 2015. Dr. G. B. Chaudhari, Technical Officer, AMFU, Arnej has

Kisan Mela

Farmers’ Day

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has demonstrated the working system of surface weather instruments, AWS of IMD and measurement of different weath-er parameters and their role/ impact in crop production. Detail information was also given on usefulness of weather fore-cast and Agromet Advisory for farmers and activities of GKMS Scheme at Arnej.

AMFU, Karaikal, Puducherry & Reliance Foundation, Dindugal conducted one Field day on 17th February, 2015 at Kannivadi, along with the French students ( Lycee Agricole, France) who were on tour to India for training on Indian Agriculture and there was a good interaction between the students and the farm-ing community regarding the Indian Agriculture and the weath-er forecasting system.

Farmer-Scientist interaction: Success story M C Dehradun, Uttarakhand : Shri Harpal Singh. farmer reported that he harvesting his toria crop of 0.4 ha on coming

to know about rain through M C Dehradun and Agro advisory message. This resulted into saving from shattering which normally would have been about 50% of its recorded yield (2.5 t/ha).

AMFU, Shillongani, Assam : Shri Homeswar Nath, Bamungaon, Nagaon , Shillongani, Assam followed agromet advisory bulletins regularly and he benefited and save money during harvesting & threshing of wheat crops before pre-monsoon shower at end of March.

Progressive farmer Shri Ajit Kumar Naik, village Dahal of Narla block and Shri Kunja Bihari Sahoo of village Goudatola of block Kesinga appreciated and highlighted the benefits of Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa and the Kisan SMS on mobile in FAP on “Role of GKMS on mitigation of weather hazards in Agriculture production” organised by AMFU, Bhawanipat-na, Odisha, 18th March, 2015. They narrated how the advance information on weather along with crop advisory are useful for them in reducing several losses in their crop because of the advance forecast of weather. Shri Naik told that he saved his watermelon crop after getting the message on mobile on leaf blight disease and its control measure. Shri Sahoo expressed the benefits of GKMS in savings of water and manpower in terms of irrigation, spraying of agrochemicals and also efficient fertilizer application and followed the AAS advisory and schedule their operations as per need. Shri Hrushikesh Sahoo appreciated the field visit and discussion by the AAS with the farmers on incidence of pest and diseases which provided a lot of information and awareness. They contact the experts immediately to solve the problem as the symptoms are seen in crops. He also expressed how they managed to save the harvested summer paddy crop in field from rain damage getting the advance information of rainfall by mobile SMS.

Capacity Building Shri Sanjay Bhelawe, Technical Officer, AMFU Raipur, Chhattisgarh participated in capacity building programme on

“Meteorological Observers' training programme” conducted during 26th February to 4th March, 2015 at Department of Agrometeorology.

Shri T. H. Ranjith, Technical officer attended training programme on “Use of Multiple Crop Models and Decision Sup-port System in Agrometeorological Advisory Services” during 22- 27th March, 2015, held at PJTSAU, Rajendra nagar, Hyderabad.

Dr. M. L. Khichar, Professor cum Nodal officer and Dr. Anil Kumar, Assistant Scientist, AMFU, Hisar were attended one day training on online generate weather based agro-advisories under GKMS project at IMD New Delhi on 12th March, 2015.

Dr B. Ajitkumar, Nodal Officer, CoH, Thrissur, Kerala attended DSSAT Training course on “Cropping System Models for Application in Land Resource Management” at ICRISAT, Hyderabad during 23-27th March, 2015.

Dr. Rohit Sharma, Technical Officer, AMFU, Rajouri participated as a Resource person in the one day farmers training programme on “Production & Protection techniques of Quality Protein Maize (QPM) at three different villages of dis-trict Rajouri organized by Regional Agricultural Research Station, Rajouri (SKUAST –J) especially for tribal farmers of the district. During the programmes, different issues of farmers related to weather forecasting, crop management and pest and diseases control etc. were discussed and solved in relevant to mid-hill conditions of Rajouri. Farmers were also advised to follow the agro advisory bulletins and register them in farmer portal to get SMS update.

Shri J. L. Chaudhary, Nodal Officer AMFU, Raipur, Chhattisgarh attended TROPMET-2015 held at Punjab University, Chandigarh during 15-18th February, 2015 and presented the research paper " Extreme Weather Events In

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Chhatisgarh State Affecting Crop Production-Mitigation And Adaptation Strategies". AMFU, Karaikal, Puducherry imparted one week training to the Technical Officer of AM-FU, Kanniwadi, Chennai ( MSSRF, Chennai) during 06-10th January, 2015 regarding the mo-dalities of the operation of GKMS in India and the related issues of plant protection and pro-duction including the physiological implications on weather forecasting. The training was or-ganized by Dr. A. L. Narayanan, Nodal Officer and conducted by Dr.C. Jeyalakshmi, Dr. S. Na-daradjan, and Dr. K. Kumar under the guidance of the Dean Dr. K. Omar Hattab and attended

by Mr. Kannadi Raju , Technical Officer MSSRF, Kannivadi. AMFU, Hyderabad, Telangana organized 1-week training programme on “Use of Multiple Crop

Models and Decision Support System in Agrometeorological Advisory Services” during 22-27th March, 2015 at Agro Climate Research Centre, Agricultural Research Institute, ANGRAU, Hyder-abad.

Publication 1. Shri Sarmah Kushal, Neog Prasanta, Rajbongshi R. and Sarma, A. (2015): Verification and usability of medium range

weather forecast for North Bank Plain Zone of Assam; Mausam, special issue on “Forecast Verification”; Accepted vide email dt 15-2-2015

2. Neog. Prasanta.; Sarmah Kushal; Rajbongshi, Rijumani and Kalita, M.K. (2014). Development of weather based fore-warning models for Downy mildew and Alternaria blight diseases of Rapeseed (Brassica campestris) in North Bank Plain Zone of Assam [Manuscript No J-065(5603)]; Mausam; Accepted vide letter no J-065(5603); dt 03-04-2014

3. Rajbongshi Rijumani; Neog Prasanta; Sarma, P.K.; Sarmah Kushal; Sarma, M.K.; Sarma, D. and Hazarika, M. (2014). Thermal indices in relation to crop phenology and seed yield of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.) grown in the North Bank plain Zone of Assam [Manuscript No J-065(5666)]; Mausam; Accepted vide letter no J-065(5666); dt 14-11-2014.

4. “Role of weather elements in agriculture and its importance in forecast” article in Gujarati was published in Krushi Gauvidya magazine published by AAU, Anand for farmers.

5. Vashisth, Ananta, Singh R. and Manu Choudary (2014). Crop yield forecast at different growth stage of wheat crop us-ing statistical model under semi arid region Journal of Agroecoogy and Natural Resource Management : 1-3

6. Rekha Meena, Ananta Vashisth, Ravender Singh, Balraj Singh and K. M. Manjaih (2014). Study on change in microenvi-ronment under different colour shade nets and its impact on yield of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) Journal of Agrome-teorology 16 (1) : 104-111 (June 2014)

7. Mukherjee, J., Das, D. k., Sehgal, V. K., Vashisth, Ananta, Singh, R and Barari, S. K. (2014). South west monsoon and food grain production in India. Journal of Agricultural Physics. 14(1):73-79.

8. Rekha Meena, Ananta Vashisth, R. Singh, Balraj Singh and K. M. Manjaih (2014). Study on change in heat indices un-der different colour shade nets and its relation to yield of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.). Journal of Agroecoogy and Nat-ural Resource Management : 45-47.

9. Published a Chapter entitled on ‘Extreme events and Climate variability of M.P. and adaptive measures through IAAS/GKMS’ by Dr. Anupam Kashyapi and Apoorva Singhrouin in the book on ‘Weather and Climate risks in agriculture un-der changing climate: Management and Mitigation’ in National Seminar held at Tikamgarh during 12-13th March, 2015.

Seminar/ Symposia papers 1. Vashisth, Ananta, Singh, R., Das,D. K. and Baloda, R (2014). Validation of medium range weather forecast and its

importance in agriculture under changing climate. International Conference on Natural Resource management for food security and rural livelihoods. NASC complex, New Delhi, 10-13th February, 2015:485.

2. Das, D. K, Mishra, A., Singh, J., Saxena, A., Sehgal, V. K., Vashisth, A., Jain, A. K. Kamble, K. H. and Singh, R. (2014). Geo Pest-DSS-A Weather based Geospatial pest Decision Support System for forewarning and management of insect pests and diseases of mustard at Delhi NCR region. International Conference on Natural Resource management for food securi-ty and rural livelihoods. NASC complex, New Delhi, 10-13th February, 2015:479.

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Lectures 1. Shri P. S. Rolling Anal, Technical Officer, AMFU, Basar, Arunachal Pradesh delivered a lec-ture on “Role and Importance of Integrated Agromet Advisory Services for the farming com-munity” during the Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting of KVK West Siang, ICAR-RC-NEH Region, Basar held on 27th March, 2015. 2. Dr. U. K. Hulihalli, Nodal Officer, AMFU, Dharwad Karnataka given the lead lecture on “Climate change, its effect on agriculture and mitigation strategies to overcome the climate

change effects ” in the national seminar “Weather and Climate Risk in Agriculture under Changing Climate: Manage-ment and Mitigation ” held at JNKV Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh Agricultural College Tikamgarh held during 12-13th March, 2015. Also Dr. Hulihalli and Mr. C.B. Kabadagi, Technical Officer, GKMS, Dharwad gave oral presentation on “ Mitigate Climate Change Through Changing Sowing Time for Kharif Sorghum” held at UAS, Dharwad during 22 - 23rd January, 2015.

3. Shri. Bidyut Bikash Deori, Technical officer, AMFU, Gossaigaon Assam, presented monthly weather parameters for Kha-rif, 2014-15 on 44th Zonal Research and Extension Advisory Committee Meeting (Kharif) (ZREAC) held at Regional Agricultural Research Station Conference hall during 19th March, 2015.

4. Dr. Veena Sharma, Technical Officer, AMFU, Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir delivered lecture on “Influence of weather parameters on rabi pulses” in the training programme held on “Rabi pulses production technology for Jammu region” organized by SAMETI on 22-23rd January, 2015.

5. Dr. Kashyapi delivered lecture at Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Jabalpur (M.P.), CoA, Tikamgarh on “Extreme events, climate variability over M.P. & adaptive measures through GKMS” during 12-13th March, 2015.

6. Shri. S.Sudevan, Scientist – D gave a lecture on “ Weather based knowledge network for fisheries sector ” for the trainees from State Agriculture Management & Extension Training Institute (SAMETI), Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Ker-ala, Thiruvananthapuram, on 5th January 2015.

7. Shri. S.Sudevan, Scientist D gave a lecture on “ Agromet & Fisheries Warning Services for farmers – Technology issues and usage & its benefits to Farmers of Kerala ” for State Govt. officials, Agriculture University Professors / Scientists, IC-AR scientists, KVK scientists & others in the training cum workshop conducted jointly by National Institute of Agricul-

tural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad, Ministry of Agriculture & Co-operation, Govt. of India & State Agriculture Management & Extension Training Institute (SAMETI), De-partment of Agriculture, Govt. of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, on 11th February, 2015. 8. Shri V. D.Vora, Technical Officer, AMFU, Targhadia, Gujarat gave lecture on “Activies of GKMS and Agromet Advisory Sevice” in the training organized for Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited Phase-II staff on 7th February, 2015. 9. Dr. A. L. Narayanan, Nodal Officer, AMFU, Karaikal, Puducherry gave lecture to the stu-dents and staff of Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University ,

Chidambaram on 11th February, 2015 regarding Agromet Advisory Bulletin and about 100 members participated. 10. Shri M. L. Patel, Technical Officer, AMFU, Maktampur, Gujarat delivered lecture on “Climate Change and Improved

practices” on 21st January 2015 at Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), Bharuch district.

Visitors Shri. Kamal Jeet, Director, “Kisan Sanchar” engaged in providing free of cost advisory services to the farmers and rural communities on pan India basis visited at Agrimet Divi-sion, IMD, Pune on 10th March 2015. He informed that Kisan Sanchar is interested in providing weather based Agro Advisories received from IMD on free of cost basis to the farmers and signing up of MoU with IMD, Pune to fullfill the objective. Team from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai, visited Agrimet Division, Pune to discuss on the project “Mobile based feedback system for farmers” on 19th February 2015.

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Farmers and Agricultural Officer of Republic of Mozambique, South Africa visited the Agrimet observatory, Dept of Agri-cultural Meteorology, CCSHAU Hisar, Haryana on 26th February, 2015. Dr. Ram Niwas Professor and Dr. M. L. Khichar Professor cum Nodal Officer delivered the lecture on preparation and dissemination of Agrimet bulletins for farmers of Haryana State. Dr Anil Kumar Assistant Scientist cum Technical Officer also present during their visit.

Dr. L. S. Rathore, Director General of Meteorology, IMD, New Delhi visited the Agro Climate Research Centre, ARI, PJTSAU, Hyderabad on 7th March, 2015 and appreciated the research and extension activities carried out in the field of agromete-orology at Agro Climate Research Centre, ARI, PJTSAU, Hyderabad.

Workshop Mr. Nabajyoti Deka, Technical Officer, AMFU, Shillongani, Assam attended State level Jute workshop held at RARS, Shil-longani during 24-25th March, 2015

Upcoming Events 17th session of the World Meteorological Congress (Cg-17), Geneva, Switzerland during May 25, 2015 to June 12,

2015. Executive Council (EC) 67th Session, , Geneva, Switzerland during 15-17th June, 2015.