District-wise weather forecast soon, says IMD

HISAR: The India Meteorological Department IMD is working on a project to start districtwise weather forecast in the country which will help farmers to come up with better planning for sowing and irrigation in respective districts

Updated At : 06:22 AM Oct 13, 2017 IST

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, October 12

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is working on a project to start district-wise weather forecast in the country, which will help farmers to come up with better planning for sowing and irrigation in respective districts.

Speaking on the sidelines of a national seminar on agro-meteorology at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) today, Dr KJ Ramesh, Director General, IMD, said the project worth Rs 420 crore was likely to be completed by March 2019. “Afterwards, the IMD would issue district-wise prediction about the possibility of rains”.

The seminar being jointly organized by HAU and the Association of Agro-meteorologists on the occasion of Golden Jubilee year of Haryana, is being attended by 250 scientists from agriculture and allied subjects from across the country.

Dr Ramesh said due to climate change Indian agriculture and rural development were under stress. He said there was a need to make efforts to minimize the risk of climate change in the agriculture sector and ensure rural development and food security.

He expressed concerns over the decrease in rains and the increase in the incidents of extreme rainfall and temperature, which could impact India’s food security. He called upon the scientists to undertake agricultural research work on climate change and its impact on agriculture for sustainable food security.

He said all agro-meteorology departments should make the Gramin Krishi Mousam Programme successful by providing farmers crop-based advisories in time.

HAU Vice Chancellor Prof KP Singh said in view of climate change, it had become imperative that scientists should give priority to developing short duration and temperature-resistant crop varieties.

He said the farmers and other stakeholders should be made aware of the consequences of excessive utilization of natural resources and indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and other inputs, which have been impacting crop production.