Farmers can benefit from data on weather patterns prepared by Met office

Islamabad: Director General of Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Dr. Ghulam Rasul has said that farmers can benefit from the data prepared by them to get to know the weather patterns and predictions about dry and rain spells that can ultimately have positive impacts on their agricultural production.

"Unfortunately, the adverse effects of the climate change are affecting the agricultural production in the country but the farmers still need to get in touch with the changing weather trends. So we are developing a mechanism to ensure the farmers who are working even in far flung areas get the updated information about the weather patterns," he said.

According to the reports, most of the farmers even belonging to the Potohar Region do not have any know-how about the climate change let alone its adverse effects on the agricultural production.

Dr. Ghulam Rasul said though the radar technology is obsolete in Pakistan but they have started formulating a comprehensive plan regarding procuring best quality weather radars from the international market to upgrade the weather forecast system.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s oldest weather radar was installed in Sialkot in 1978 and is still in use. The remaining were installed in the 1990s and help meteorologists make short term, three day predictions with 75 per cent accuracy and long term forecasts of seven days with 67 per cent accuracy.

He said: "Extraordinary weather events including droughts since 2010 are reminders of how necessary it is to upgrade technology. Once the new instruments are installed, accuracy will improve by more than 90 per cent."