In a strategic effort to enhance agricultural practices with real-time weather insights and soil analysis, a sophisticated automatic weather station has been deployed in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district. The installation of the weather station is part of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP), operational at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Pombai area of Kulgam. Ahmad Ganai who is senior scientist head at KVK Pombai Kulgam explained that the weather station has primarily been installed to benefit the farming community.
The multifunctional weather station would offer comprehensive real-time updates on various factors, including wind direction, temperature, humidity, wind speed, soil temperature, soil moisture, solar radiation, solar intensity and insights into pest activity. The primary focus of the station is on pest detection, providing farmers with advance notice of potential threats in their environment.
Farmers registered with Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) will receive good quality in farming. Due to non-inclusion of technology the pesticides sprayed were washed away by rain which led to scab and fungal infections to the orchards. The proactive approach of the weather station enables farmers to make timely decisions, such as scheduling orchard sprays based on weather forecasts, preventing economic losses due to the high costs and labour associated with pesticides.
The weather station is a government initiative and people should benefit from such development. There are 29 HADP projects and people should avail themselves of the benefits of these projects. Last time, we demonstrated a drone based on sensors. The drone automatically sprays the areas that require spraying.