News

Climate Smart Agriculture in India: National Certificate Course on Weather based Agromet Advisory through ICT

02 August 2021

Climate and weather data are of great importance to farmers which due to unpredicted changing weather conditions affects, primarily, agricultural decisions and indirectly the livelihoods of farmers, especially smallholders and marginal farmers. Thus, the emphasis on advanced weather forecasting services.

Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS) assists farmers in making weather-sensitive farming decisions such as sowing, transplanting, soil fertility management etc to maximise resource utilisation while minimising crop loss and increasing farm productivity. The primary goal of AAS is to collect weather, climate, and soil-related information, and crop-based knowledge to combine it with weather forecasts to guide farmers in their farming decisions.

In India, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agriculture is a vital field for agricultural and rural development. ICT provides farmers with timely, accurate, and high-quality information, allowing them to increase agricultural outputs. Moreover, the integration of weather-based agromet advisory services withĀ ICT toolsĀ (mobile and web applications, GIS integration, SMS) aids in the preparation of agro advisories/bulletins for farmers.

The ICAR-National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), Center for Advanced Agricultural Science and Technology for Climate Smart Agriculture and Water Management (CAAST-CSAWM), Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth (MPKV), Rahuri, Maharashtra in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft fĆ¼r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH India under the global Indo-German Project Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security (ProSoil) is organising a three-week online national certificate course ā€œWeather Based Agromet Advisory Services through ICTā€.

ProSoil project is part of the Special Initiative ‘ONE WORLD – No Hunger’ of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GIZ India supported the course with content creation and developing course pedagogy.

The virtual inauguration of the course took place on 2nd August 2021, graced by Dr. Prashant Kumar G. Patil, Honā€™ble Vice-Chancellor, MPKV, Dr. K K Singh, Head (AAS) and Scientist ā€˜Gā€™, India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi, Mr. Rajeev Ahal, Director NRM & Agroecology and Project Director, ProSoil, GIZ, New Delhi and other dignitaries and representatives from CAAST-CSAWM, MPKV Rahuri, GIZ India along with course participants.

This course is open for Faculty Members, Scientists, Govt. Officers, Non-Government Officers, Extension personnel, KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra) Officers, Industry persons or any individual who is working and/or is interested in the field of agriculture and agricultural meteorology.

The three-week course, from 2nd – 22nd August, 2021, is designed considering the following objectives:

  • To understand the concept of weather forecasting and AAS.
  • To understand the holistic approach of Agromet advisory preparation
  • Dissemination mechanism of AAS, including real-time.
  • Application of smart technologies and ICTs in the dissemination of AAS to farmers and stakeholders.

More details about the course: https://nahep.icar.gov.in/API/Content/Uploads/ce62adb0-63d9-4db3-aab7-66f5bd3e6696/ce62adb0-63d9-4db3-aab7-66f5bd3e6696brochure.pdf

Contact:

Ranjit Jadhav, Technical Advisor, Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security in India