Agrometeorological Advisory Services for Sustainable Development in Indian Agriculture

Abstract

It has been documented with fair degree of accuracy that overall climate is changing particularly in respect of temperature over the Indian region. Besides, climatic variability leading to extreme events like drought, flood, occurrence heavy rainfall etc. is increasing during last one and half decades. Thus, both climate change and climate variability are causing concern on the biodiversity and ultimately eco-system in different parts of the country. In order to address this issue and others, India Meteorological Department/Ministry of Earth Sciences is operating an initiative under Agromet Advisory Services. The Agromet Advisory Services provide a very special kind of inputs to the farmers as advisories that can make a tremendous difference to the agriculture production by taking the advantage of benevolent weather and minimize the adverse impact of malevolent weather. This has a potential to change the face of India in terms of food security and poverty alleviation. Agro-meteorological service rendered by India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences is a step to contribute to weather information based crop/livestock management strategies and operations dedicated to enhancing crop production in a sustainable manner. In the present paper different activities and strategies under these services have been mentioned to present an overview of the initiative and how effectively the weather and climate information are being used to help the users and also the environment.