Objective-I

  • Information/ maps on climate vulnerable zones w.r.t current climate variability and of projected future conditions in India will be obtained from IMD or any other reliable sources.
  • Data and information on the incidence of diseases and insect-pests in the target crops will be collected from reliable institutes and universities at least for past one decades. Simultaneously the systematic and real –time monitoring for pests and diseases will be done for the targeted pests and diseases involving collaborating institutes. Inputs and suggestions from knowledge partners will be taken during the process. This will be useful in determining the climate drivers that may trigger the emergence of insect pests/diseases and development of forecast models.
  • Data collected will be analyzed to determine risk mapping for pest and diseases and shifts in the relative importance of different diseases and pests in relation to climate change.
  • Based on climate data from a network of agro-meteorological stations available in India, the effects of current and future climate regimes on the spatial and temporal distribution of the pests and diseases will be investigated; thus shifts in pest/disease spectrum will be assessed in different climate vulnerable zones.
  • Advance Research Institutes such as CSIRO, Australia will be approached to use bio-climatic model “CLIMEX” that estimates the potential geographical distribution and seasonal abundance of a plant pest/disease in relation to climate to predict the spatial and temporal distribution.
  • Already available forecasting models developed under existing programs such as NICRA, AgMIP etc. will be utilized in current program to predict the outbreak of pests and diseases. Also weather based prediction/forecast models will be developed for targeted pests and diseases.
  • Attempts will be made to develop decision support systems for a few important pests and diseases to lower the risk of uncontrolled epidemics and yield losses while reducing chemical usage.
  • Also Pests advisory on real time infestation at farmers field through Mobile application will be developed for efficient and effective dissemination information to the farmers.
Designed and Developed by AKMU, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi-110012
In Collaboration with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad