Economic impact assessment of agro-meteorological advisory service of NCMRWF
Agriculture in India depends heavily on weather and climate conditions. Weather forecasts are useful for decisions regarding crop choice, crop variety, planting/harvesting dates, and investments in farm inputs such as irrigation, fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide etc. Hence, improved weather forecast based agromet advisory service greatly helps farmers to take advantage of benevolent weather and mitigate the impacts of malevolent weather situation. Medium range weather forecast based agro-meteorological advisory service of NCMRWF strives to improve and protect agricultural production, which is crucial for food security of the country. The study report begins with highlighting the significance of short and medium range weather forecasts for making adjustments in daily farm operations, followed by detailed description of how weather forecasts are generated and disseminated by the NCMRWF through its AAS units. The report assesses the impact of AAS on cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds, fruits & vegetables and cash crops in 15 agro-ecological zones selected for the study.