The National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) along with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Weather Risk Management Services Pvt Ltd. (WRMS) organized a workshop on 'Digital Forecasting Techniques for Informed Decision-Making in Rainfed Agriculture' in Krishi Vigyan Kendra Knowledge Network, in Jalna, Maharashtra on 24 November 2023. The workshop analysed the best practices of forecasting/predictive techniques and assessed the approaches in use to assist the local farmers.

The workshop was attended by state and district-level officers from agriculture and allied departments, the state agriculture university, ICAR, and more than 40 local farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Dr Indra Mani Vice-Chancellor of VNMKV, Dr Prashant Armorikar, Director of NRAA, Dr S Sonune, KVK Head, Er Pandit Wasre from KVK, Mr Gahininath Kapse, DSAO of Agriculture Department, Dr Kiran Jadhav, Scientist in Agriculture Department, Mr Satya Priya, FAO, Mr Sanjay Kumar from WRMS and Ms Mayank Bajpai from WRMS attended this event.

Speaking at the workshop, Dr Indra Mani appreciated the collaborative efforts taken by NRAA, FAO and WRMS and highlighted the need to create more digital programmes on forecasting techniques and climate change issues for the farmers. Dr Prashant Armorikar highlighted the weather challenges in farming and the Agriculture Technology Management Agency's (ATMA) role in connecting farmers to the agriculture department for technology support. Mr Satya from FAO stressed the need for providing digital farming services to ensure climate-resilient agriculture and food security.

These workshops are part of the project titled, 'Technical support to develop forecasting/predictive techniques to assist vulnerable farmers and planners at district and state level to make informed decisions on crop choices and plans for rainfed agriculture'. The project envisages developing forecasting/predictive techniques and tools using multiple data points and big data analytics to aid vulnerable farmers and planners in making informed decisions on crop choices, particularly in rainfed areas. It will train local resource persons and promote them as rural extension workers in utilizing the digital tools for deployment with rainfed farmers. It is also proposed to develop certain training materials on digital agriculture for the use of rural extension workers and the farmers during and at the end of the project period.

The deliberations of these workshops would facilitate NRAA and FAO to assess the effectiveness of the project and explore possibilities to upscale the desired ones through programme and policy support in future.