India Meteorological Department working at faster pace to issue block-level weather forecast by next year

The India Meteorological Department Tuesday said it is working at a brisk pace to issue localised weather forecasting to all 6,500 blocks across 660 districts in the country by 2020 and help as many as 9.5 crore farmers deal with the vagaries of weather. The target is to cover 6,500 blocks in 660 districts by 2020, he said, adding that this will help farmers minimise weather-related crop losses. Earlier, addressing the event on agriculture extension, the IMD official stressed on the need for dissemination of AAS to farmers on a "wider scale" and convincing them about its positive impacts on a sustainable basis. Echoing these views, ICAR Deputy Director General A K Singh said that public, private and non-government organisations need to work together in farm extension activities.