NABARD and IMD Partner to Boost Smart Farming with Weather Intelligence on DiCRA Platform
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to integrate advanced agro-meteorological data into the Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture (DiCRA) platform. DiCRA is an open-source digital public good supported jointly by UNDP and NABARD, aimed at fostering data-driven decision-making across India's agrarian landscape. Under the new agreement, IMD will provide high-resolution, block-level and district-level weather forecasts, ground observations, in-situ advisories, and real-time weather alerts directly through a dedicated Weather Portal hosted on DiCRA.
By combining IMD's atmospheric monitoring capabilities with DiCRA’s existing geospatial layers—which trace soil moisture, crop conditions, vegetation health, and localized climate vulnerability—the platform will convert complex scientific data into decision-ready insights. These tools will be made freely available via open APIs to smallholder farmers, financial institutions, researchers, and government agencies. During the signing event, NABARD Chairman Dr. Shaji Krishnan V. and IMD Director General Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra emphasized that bridging technical forecasting with grassroots agricultural finance and advisory services is crucial for mitigating climate risks, safeguarding crop yields, and strengthening rural economic stability across the nation.
