Impact of Agro-Meteorological Advisory Services in Wheat Crop of Kushinagar District in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

A study was conducted in April 2020 to assess the impact and usefulness of agrometeorological Advisory Services in increasing the production of wheat crops under DAMU KVK, Kushinagar. The two villages were selected for this study, and two groups of farmers were selected, namely, a group adopting the agrometeorological Advisories (50 farmers), regularly in their operations (AAS Farmers), and another group of farmers not aware of the agrometeorological Advisories (Non AAS Farmers) during the rabi season. The data were recorded from both the farmer groups, particularly on crop expenditure incurred by the farmers from land preparation to harvest at every stage, and crop growth and yields were observed regularly. The impact assessment was based on feedback that indicated a significant impact in terms of the use of the agrometeorological Advisory Service by farmers. The assessment study indicated that the farmers who adopted agrometeorological advisory services on a real time basis obtained a 28% higher net return in wheat crops compared to Non-AAS farmers who benefited from timely agricultural operations, timely rainfall forecasting, recommended doses of fertilisers, efficient irrigation management, and standard plant protection majors in a required base manner during the crop growing period, as advised in biweekly bulletins. AAS farmers benefited from the timely application of fertilizers, timely and accurate weather forecasting, and timely agricultural operations to obtain a better yield in wheat crop as compared to Non-AAS farmers. Agrometeorological Advisory Services (AAS) might be used to be helpful to the farmers in managing changing weather, resulting in decreased input costs in agriculture and profitable agricultural production by adopting of weather based agrometeorological Advisory.