Partnership in Climate Services for Resilient Agriculture in India
Partnership in Climate Services for Resilient Agriculture in India
Authors : Shahida Bano
USAID, an agency of the United States federal government works towards combating
global hunger, poverty and malnutrition, through various collaborations across the world.
In India, USAID has come up with a unique partnership with Skymet Weather Services
called Partnership in Climate Services for Resilient Agriculture (PCSRA) in India to help
digitalize the archaic methods still employed by the Indian farmer and develop new risk
mitigation products. The duration of the project is 4 years (October 2015-September 2019)
and it has benefited more than 80,000 farmers spread across 31 districts in 9 states.
India is prone to various kinds of hydro-meteorological and geological hazards, especially
droughts, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, cyclones and landslides. These hazards threaten
millions of lives and can cause large-scale loss-to people, infrastructure and the economy.
Every year, unpredictable or irregular weather events cause unprecedented losses of capital
and produce, which, in turn, set off a ripple effect culminating in inflation in food prices
and in extreme cases, farmer suicides. 610 deaths have been reported in Maharashtra alone
between January and March this year. Accurate weather predictions at the right time can go
a long way in mitigating, if not in eradicating this crisis.
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