DiCRA: NABARD-IMD Partnership to Integrate Weather Intelligence with Climate-Resilient Agriculture and Rural Finance Agriculture, Climate Services and Rural Finance GS Paper II, GS Paper III 4 September 2026 Read highlighted facts first FAST READ - read only this box if short on time
- NABARD and IMD signed an MoU to integrate weather data into DiCRA.
- DiCRA = Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture.
- IMD inputs include weather forecasts, advisories, observations and alerts.
- Access is planned through web, mobile and **APIs.
- Goal**: improve farm decisions, climate-risk assessment and rural finance.
WHY IN NEWS
- NABARD and the India Meteorological Department signed an MoU to integrate agro-meteorological intelligence into the DiCRA platform.
- The partnership aims to convert weather information into location-specific agricultural and financing decisions.
- The importance lies in linking climate services not only to crop advice but also to credit, insurance and risk assessment.
TOP DATA & FACTS
- NABARD is India's apex development financial institution for agriculture and rural development.
- IMD is India's national meteorological agency.
- DiCRA stands for Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture.
- DiCRA is supported by NABARD and UNDP.
- It is described as an open-source digital platform.
- IMD will provide weather forecasts.
- IMD will provide agro-meteorological advisories.
- IMD will provide in-situ observations.
- IMD will provide alerts.
- A dedicated weather portal is planned within DiCRA.
- Access is intended through web portals.
- Mobile interfaces are part of the access model.
- APIs can enable machine-to-machine data integration.
- Weather information can support sowing, irrigation and harvest decisions.