Centre plans to revive district agro-met units

In 2015, the government launched the Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GMSV) to provide crop and location-specific detailed advisories to farmers, helping them in day-to-day decision-making.
Image used for representative purpose.
Image used for representative purpose.(File Photo)
Updated on
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NEW DELHI: A year after closing down 199 district agro-met units (DAMU), the Central government is now planning to revive them with a solid framework on the 150th anniversary of the India Meteorological Department.

"Earlier, the DAMU was operating on an ad hoc manner in 199 districts, now we have evolved a permanent solution for more districts,” said M Ravichandran, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences, told this newspaper.

As a part of the pilot project of the Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, DAMU analyses how weather conditions will affect crops and passes on the information to millions farmers. In collaboration with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, DAMU’s scientists sent advisories to farmers via WhatsApp group, text messages in local languages, local newspapers and community leaders.

On the advice of the think-tank body, NITI Aayog, the government decided to close down 199 district agro-meteorological units in March 2024.

Documents show the decision was opposed by a group of experts and even a Union minister as DAMU played an important role for the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers.

Started in 2019, DAMUs had provided free of cost agromet advisories service, twice a week, to around 145 millions of farmers across the country with a meagre budget of Rs 45 crore. Government’s own study shows that DAMUs’ return benefits accounted for around Rs 15,000 crore, based on how much farmers saved their crops after getting early warning and weather advisories. Even experts advised the NITI Aayog not to shut down DAMUs, arguing that the move would hit the income of 80% small and marginal farmers.

Amid allegation of privatisation of DAMU where farmers need to pay to get agromet advisory services, Ravichandran rejected it. “There was never a plan in place to privatise it or outsource the service. We discontinued the service only to establish a solid framework to run it on a permanent basis,” said Ravichandran.

Before DAMUs operated in 2019, the Centre had launched the Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva in 2015 to provide day-to- day weather advisory services to farmers. Over the year, 130 agromet field units were established which issued advisory to 4-5 districts each. In 2018, the government came up with a plan to establish DAMUs in all 530 districts.

Due to constraints posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government only set up 199 DAMUs, officials said. Agriculture continues to be vulnerable to weather vagaries despite self-sufficiency in food grain production, and uncertainty in the prediction of those events further add to the challenges for farmers.

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