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• Rain forecast helped farmers get average net gain of ₹5,106 per acre’

Details:

• Accuracy in the weather information provided by Varuna Mitra, the 24×7 help desk launched by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, has helped farmers realise average net gain of ₹5,106 per acre, according to a study.
• Launched in 2010, Varuna Mitra provides weather forecast at the gram panchayat level for the benefit of farmers and the public. It provides forecast on rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind speed and its direction three days in advance.
• Data was collected from 1,350 farmers across nine districts of high moderate and low rainfall regions covering eight agro-climatic zones during 2016-17 in the State. It revealed that accuracy in weather forecast enabled reduction in cost of cultivation and
• post-harvest loss, improvements in crop yield, and net incomes.

Accurate prediction

• The study “Economic impact evaluation of Varuna Mitra on agriculture” conducted by, Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources, ISEC, Bengaluru, said 63% of farmers had received accurate prediction of weather.
• Arecanut growers used most of the facility since incidence of rain during the harvest period could increase the moisture content in arecanut, thereby lowering quality and price,
• forecast information has led to an annual incremental gain of ₹495.3 crore for all area covered under Varuna Mitra.

Varuna mitra

• To disseminate weather related information, weather forecast and advisories directly to the general public,Karnataka state natural disaster monitoring centre has been operating an interactive help-desk “VARUNA MITRA” functioning on 24x7x365 basis. More than 3.5 lakh farmers have directly contacted and benefited from VARUNA MITRA services.