In the midst of COVID-19 lockdown, desert locust swarms have been seen in parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in the second half of May 2020. The recent attacks by desert locust swarms have caused massive crop damage, depletion in the stock of cattle fodder and destruction of green vegetation in these states. As on 25th May, 2020, over half of Rajasthan’s 33 districts were...

-The Hindu North east coast also to have below normal rainfall; good rains in western States While the India Meteorological Department has predicted a normal monsoon, spatial forecast models show wide variations in rainfall across the country which can have dire implications for farmers, especially on the north eastern coast and the dryland areas of the Deccan. For instance, there are likely to be long dry spells and low rainfall in June and...

  Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-The Indian Express The Maha Agri Tech project attempts to mitigate agricultural risks by using data anlytics to plug gaps. Launched in January this year, the Maha Agri Tech project seeks to use technology to address various cultivation risks ranging from poor rains to pest attacks, accurately predict crop-wise and area-wise yield and eventually to use this data to inform policy decisions including pricing, warehousing and crop insurance. When farmers in...

-The Hindu New dynamical model failed to forecast August-September deluge. While India this year may have recorded its highest monsoon rain in 25 years, an analysis suggests that new monsoon models, called the Monsoon Mission Coupled Forecast Model (CFS), deployed by the IMD over the last decade don’t do better than the older ones in long-range forecasting. This year, India ended up with 10% more monsoon rain (or 110% of the long...