Agromet Advisory Services under District Agromet Unit (DAMU)
Weather Vagaries cannot be controlled but it can often be mitigated while all other physical factors, inputs and agronomic practices can be manipulated. Provision of weather information well in advance of the impending weather is by far the most crucial of all services that can be rendered to the farming communities.
Agrometeorological Advisory Services (AAS) of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme contribute to collect and organize climate/weather, soil & crop information and to amalgamate them with weather forecast to assist farmers in taking management decisions. Keeping the need for Agromet Advisory Services to be more crop and location-specific to address wide variations in weather within the district and to reach all farming households in the country into consideration, IMD is in the process of implementing Block Level AAS by establishing 530 District Agromet Units (DAMUs) phase wise complimentarily with already operating 130 AMFU in the premise of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
District Agromet Unit (DAMU), KVK Mokokchung, Nagaland has been functioning full-fledged from October, 2019. Under GKMS scheme, IMD is generating and issuing quantitative District & Block Level Weather forecast upto 5 days (Medium Range Forecast) exclusively for agriculture comprising of 8 major weather parameters viz., rainfall (mm), maximum & minimum temperatures (oC), maximum & minimum relative humidity (%), wind direction & speed (kmph) and cloud cover (Octa). Extended Range Forecast (ERF) for subsequent week and various Agromet Products viz., Rainfall maps, Weekly rainfall distribution, Soil moisture, Soil temperature, Satellite products, etc are also made available for Agromet Advisory generation. District & 8 Block Level Agromet Advisory Bulletins specific to crops, horticulture, livestock, poultry & fishery are being generated twice a week i.e., Tuesday & Friday. These Bulletins are disseminated to the farmers through various channels DAO, ATMA, AIR Mokokchung, Print media, Social media. Status of the Bulletins can be viewed in the Agrimet Division Website (https://imdagrimet.gov.in). So far 2679 farmers are being registered for Kisan Mobile Advisory Services (KMAS) in mkisan portal for Short Message Service (SMS).
