At a time when we still keep hearing of farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh, their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are minting money.
This is a classic example of keeping abreast of latest trends and taking maximum advantage of technology.
At a time when we still keep hearing of farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha and Andhra Pradesh, their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are minting money, thanks to India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) SMS service.
Taking full advantage of this service, these farmers have generated a revenue of no less than Rs50,000 crore.
About 25% farmers from these states (just one fourth of the entire community) have registered their mobile numbers with the IMD. The Met department has been working in tandem with the support of the ministry of earth sciences.
But, how does this system works? Firstly, the IMD set up nine agromet field units (AMFU) in the states. After these units get the weather forecast, they prepare agro advisory with the help of some experts. This advisory is then sent to the IMD where the bulletin is composed and then disseminated to farmers through SMS, radio, newspapers and other means.
“There are about 23-25% farmers who received weather alerts and agriculture advice from us and have made huge profits. The statewide revenue for last year has been about Rs50,000 crore. If these figures rise up to 100%, we can generate about Rs2 lakh crore annually,” said LS Rathore, director general of meteorology, IMD.
Rathore said that this is a good system to get in touch with all the farmers and give them weather details and tips to improve their yield. It also helps them choose the correct crop variety to get the best every season.
Although Maharashtra has benefitted from this service, especially the Nashik grape farmers and the ones in the Konkan region, they are yet to make huge monetary profits.
“The number of farmers connected in the state last year were 2 lakh. This year the figure has gone up to 4 lakh. We are tapping each farmer and getting their cell phones registered with us to help them with the tips and alerts,” said N Chattopadhyay, deputy director general of meteorology, agriculture.
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