Agromet advisory in subtropical zone of Jammu – accuracy of rainfall forecast

Abstract

Weather forecast definitely helps farmers on many fronts such as helping them make informed decisions to get the best from their investments and hard work. In agriculture the major problem which farmers face is the water scarcity. The aim of agromet advisory service is to utilize the meteorological information on a real time basis for various agricultural operations including irrigation scheduling. Rainfall prediction can help farmers in efficient usage of water resources. Provision of weather based agro advisories to farmers in India is complex because of variety of climatic zones. The water can be saved by adopting proper crop management practices with the help of timely and accurate weather forecasts. Quantitative verification and usability analyses for rainfall was carried out using various verification techniques viz. threat score, ratio score, root mean square error and correlation coefficient. This analysis highlights the accuracy and validity of rainfall forecast.