Grape farmers of the district, who have been battling adverse climatic conditions that extensively damaged their crop for nearly five years, are expected to get help in the coming days.
The Horticulture Department has decided to introduce a new technology with the help of National Grape Research Centre, Pune, to help the farmers in the district.
The technology, which is based on the weather forecasting system, helps the farmers to get precise information on the coming weather and what type of precautions they could take to prevent the crop from getting affected from adverse climate.
“We are installing some 11 units in different parts of the district which transmits the information to the Pune centre. Based on the information, the centre forwards preventive measures to the farmers on their mobile phones. The precautions includes usage of the right type and quantity of pesticides or fertilizer to prevent the crop from losing its quality,” said S.R. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Director of Horticulture Department.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said that a private agency has been given the contract to install the devices and each devic will cover weather details in a 25-kilometre radius. Mr. Kumaraswamy said that the technology has already been used effectively in Maharashtra, which is one of the largest grape growing States.
He said that the grape farmers have been incurring loss because of ill-information about the preventive measures. “Without the right knowledge, they either spray the wrong or excess pesticide which only puts the farmers in loss. This technology avoids this main problem by disseminating the right information,” he said. He said that the technology would come into effect by next March and the farmers could start using it by giving their mobile numbers to the agency.
Welcoming the decision, Abhay Kumar Nandrekar, State president of the Grape Growers’ Association, said that since district cultivates grapes in over 10,000 hectares the technology could help the farmers to save their crop and prevent possible loss. “We welcome any technology that help our farmers prevent losing crop to vagaries of nature,” he said.
