TURA: The ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, West Garo Hills recently launched the ‘Distict Agromet Unit (DAMU) at Aminda Rangsa Village of the same district where officials of various line departments from the district also attended.
The District Agromet Unit (DAMU) is a project under the scheme Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GKMS) which is a joint initiative between Ministry of Earth Science and Ministry of Agriculture and the same was established by KVK for the first time in West Garo Hills District. The objective of DAMU is to provide location and crop/livestock specific advisories to the farmers based on five days weather forecast in seven blocks of the district.
West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh who participated as the Chief Guest during the launch stressed on the importance of weather based advisories for the farming community of Garo Hills region. He also emphasized on the importance of conservation of rich biodiversity in Garo Hills.
It may be mentioned that KVK, West Garo Hills has already started disseminating weather based advisories through the project. The Kendra also issues a bi-weekly crop and location specific weather based agro advisory every Tuesday and Friday which can be disseminated through TV/radio/SMS/Watsapp etc.
A Farmers’ Awareness programme was also conducted by the KVK after the launch of the project in which Subject Matter Specialist (Agro Meteorology), Emdor Shylla gave a brief presentation on the project to the farmers and sensitized them on the importance of weather forecasting as well as Agromet advisory services.
A total of 72 participants from Aminda Rangsa and surrounding villages attended the programme.