Agro-meteorological advisories through SMS-related alert system launched by government to disseminate weather and disaster-related information to farmers have helped over one crore people in the country take preventive measures before calamities.
Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on technology-based measures taken by government to alert its people about natural calamities and disasters, Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said that Grameen Krishi Mausam Seva of ESSO-IMD provides crop specific advisories to farmers at district level twice a week through different mediums like radio, television, print among others.
10.27 million farmers have directly subscribed to agro-meteorological advisories, the minister said.
"Due to prior information provided during cyclone Hudhud in October 2014, around 1.9 million farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh could take possible preventive measures to safeguard their crops," he said.
Similar alerts and warnings issued in association with cyclone NILOFAR in Gujrat during October 2014 had benefitted 2.1 lakh farmers to prevent crop like rice, cotton and groundnut from heavy rainfall, he said.
