Effectiveness of Weather Based Agromet Advisories on Economics of Farmers in Gaya District of Bihar

Present study was conducted during Summer and Kharif 2020 across villages of Gaya district under the South Alluvial zone of Bihar to assess the usefulness of Agro-met Advisory Services (AAS) and to quantify the economic gain of farmers through adoption of advisory in their day-to-day farming practices. To achieve this, two groups of farmers were formed namely, a group adopting the agro-met advisories (AAS farmers) and other group not aware of agro-met advisories (non-AAS farmers). A total of 80 farmers (including AAS and Non AAS) were identified. The agro-met advisory were circulated among AAS farmers for Summer and Kharif season of 2020 and care was taken for proper implementation of advisories by this group. Expenditure incurred & crop situation of both the group of farmers were compared at every stage from land preparation to harvest and crop growth and yields were monitored regularly among them. Significant results were reported for crop growth and yield among the AAS farmers compared to non-AAS. AAS farmers have obtained a net income of Rs. 45188 and Rs. 37273 while, non AAS farmers obtained a net income of Rs. 26225 and Rs. 28510 for green gram and rice respectively. The AAS farmers reported 41.96 and 23.5 per cent of additional benefit in green gram and rice, respectively. The gain in additional benefit was due to management of crop according to agro-met advisory bulletins. Therefore, adoption of agro-met advisory bulletin based on past, current and future weather forecast is an effective tool for enhancing the net productivity and income.