Agro-Met Advisories- Helping Farmers Stay Ahead in the Weather Game : Experiences from the Field

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1 Agro-Met Advisories- Helping Farmers Stay Ahead in the Weather Game : Experiences from the Field

2 Change Climate The Context Market Forces Depleted Natural Resources Fractured Vulnerable Communities

3 The Problematic Climate change is affecting weather patterns, especially rainfall, temperature and humidity. Weather variability and extreme meteorological events are likely to increase in the years ahead early/ delayed onset and withdrawal of monsoons, longer and more frequent dry spells, increased intensity of rainfall, enhanced spatial variability with dry regions experiencing more rainfall and wet regions, less so. Increased drier conditions likely to be experienced in many regions Changing and adverse weather events increase risks to crops, livestock and livelihoods making the farmer vulnerable and resulting in losses. Indigenous agricultural knowledge is proving insufficient to cope with weather variability, biodiversity is declining and indigenous cultivars disappearing

4 The Innovation: Making Agriculture Climate Smart Acquisition of village level weather data and short range high granularity local weather forecasts Crafting of Agro-Advisories based on local weather forecasts, the crop and field conditions of the farmer Dissemination through Wall Paper, SMSs and Public Address System Development of an Automated Content Management System for weather-related Agro-Advisory Generation and Dissemination (AGRIMATE and UPS) Regular feedback of impact of agro-advisories from the farmers and fine-tuning of advisories On farm training and extension support

5 Locale-Specific Meteorology Automated Weather Stations installed in 69 villages (54 with telemetry up-links) Weather information displayed on boards in villages Awareness creation amongst villagers Farmers use the information to plan for agricultural operations and livestock management Training for villagers

6 The Agro-Met Advisory System: An Overview

7 Agro-Advisory Provisioning Farmer-specific, crop and field specific advisories which integrate management practices: - crops and cropping pattern - cultural practices - irrigation management - nutrient management - pest and diseases management Environmentally friendly, promote soil health, reduce costs and increase productivity Multi-Institutional Collaboration (formal MOUs): - Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) - Mahatma Phule Krushi Vidyapeeth (MPKV) - Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) 7

8 Farmer, Crop and Field Specific Socio-Economic Data Net Plan Data 8

9 Adaptive Sustainable Agriculture FOOD & WATER Conservation, Management, Use Efficiency Pilot Crop Demos/ Farmer Field Schools Integrated Pest Management Water Availability Cropping Pattern Water Budgeting Integrated Water-Nutrient Management Soil Health and Environmentally safe Practices Water Conservation Technologies 9

10 Impact Total farmers benefiting: > 11,000 through wallpapers and public address system; > 8,200 thro SMSs All the sections of the community including marginalized communities are included On average, 30-80% increase in agriculture productivity On an average 40-50% reduction in costs attributed to onsite advisories, Wallpaper, SMSs and public announcements.

11 Impacts: Testimonies Sachin Vitthal, Pimpaldari village grows tomatoes and was advised to intercrop his tomatoes with marigold flowers to avoid root-knot nematodes. The attack of root-knot nematodes has been very less this time, says Sachin. Shantaram Raghu Dhokre, Khandgedara village Krushi Salla informs us of the minimum and maximum wind speed. This is very important for tomato cultivators as wind speeds can affect uniform spraying. Since years I used chemical fertilizers for the tomato crop. This has resulted in decreased soil quality and a decreased yield. Last year I had made two tomato plots: the first was given organic and biological inputs and the second plot was given the usual dose of chemicals. The tomato crop grown on organics continued giving fruit even after the chemical one was done for.

12 Replicability 83% of agriculture in Maharashtra is rain-fed and weather sensitive urgent need for such advisories 12 Crop-Weather Calenders for 2 agro-climatic zones developed Protocols and processes have been developed and tested IT-enabled systems for data processing, advisory generation and dissemination in place Multi-sectoral competencies of WOTR and presence in different parts of Maharashtra/India Robust multi-institutional collaborations developed IMD considers the model path-breaking, in need of up-scaling and welcomes a partnership with WOTR (Letter dt ) Close collaboration with relevant Government Departments

13 Thank You.