At the inauguration by Dr Arun Nigavekar, Vice-chancellor of University of Pune, the 20 participants drawn from national meteorological services, universities and research institutes in India, and two from Nepal, were presented with a training manual on crop yield weather modelling prepared by Dr Rene Gommes, co-ordinator of agrometeorology section of Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO. Dr Gommes explained that crop modelling is crucial for the success of national food security programmes, crop management and disaster anticipation.

Dr R R Kelkar, Director General of IMD and executive committee member of WMO, said that while we cannot control weather, we must learn to live with it. ``The IMD will spend the Rs 3.5 crore allocated for it in the Ninth Five-Year Plan on buying instruments, remote sensing and on crop yield weather modelling,'' he announced.

Dr Nigavekar stressed the importance of conducting a large number of training workshops for farmers to increase their understanding of weather production and crop yield. ``What needs urgent research is how the world agriculture will respond to extremes such as prolonged drought,'' he said.