Indian non-profit organisation, Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR) organised a number of webinars for farmers in Pune region in Maharashtra to train them to deal with the unpredictable monsoon weather. Through these sessions, WOTR sought to raise awareness of the unpredictable patterns of the monsoon and different strategies for mitigating their effects on agriculture.
Highlighting the training sessions, Prakash Keskar, Executive Director, Watershed Organization Trust said, “Climate change poses a severe threat to the nation’s farmers. Unpredictable rainfall has a big impact on agricultural output. Over the previous few years, erratic rainfall patterns have caused the small and marginal farmers to lose income and crops. Therefore, there is a critical necessity to prepare the farmers for such challenging situations. The farmers responded enthusiastically to the educational webinars, and we are planning to host more educational activities in the future.”
“We have enhanced our FarmPrecise app to serve the farming community, allowing them to be informed about the weather conditions based on historical rainfall data and make necessary decisions,” he continued.
Along with WOTR experts Vivek Kale, a Central Bank of India representative and Manikrao Khule, a retired meteorologist at IMD, also took part in the webinars and gave the farmers advice on how to deal with the region’s erratic rainfall. Khule emphasised the main characteristics of erratic rainfall, its effects on agriculture, and various strategies for overcoming the difficulties posed by such unpredictable patterns. In this webinar, Vivek Kale provided farmers with information on crop loans that are accessible for the upcoming Kharif season as well as the numerous steps necessary to apply for agriculture financing programmes provided by public sector banks.
Founded in 1993, WOTR works in collaboration with numerous stakeholders from a variety of industries at the confluence of practice, knowledge, and policy across scales. It strives to guarantee access to food and water as well as the security of livelihoods and income in order to support the sustainable growth and wellbeing of disadvantaged and vulnerable people in rural India.
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