KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) will hold a National Committee on Haze and Dry Weather meeting which will also be attended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM) on March 5.
NRES Minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, said the meeting will be held following forecast by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) that the country will experience relatively hot and dry weather in several areas across the country in the next few months.
“Of course, we admit that there is no integration between weather forecasts and specific crop and harvest calendars to help farmers plan agricultural activities based on weather data now.
“However, MetMalaysia will hold discussions with KPKM for the purpose of the integration. Currently, MetMalaysia shares meteorological information and data on the Public Sector Open Data Portal (DTSA) and has developed the MET Application Programming Interface (METAPI) to facilitate data integration,“ he said during a question and answer session at Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question by Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PN-Kubang Kerian) who wanted to know the ministry’s proposal to integrate the weather forecast system with the crop and harvest calendar to help farmers plan agricultural activities based on weather data.
Nik Nazmi said MetMalaysia also provides the Agricultural Meteorological Outlook and Weather Bulletin every month on the department’s website, which is used as a guide to the weather for various agricultural agencies.
The agricultural agencies involved are the Department of Agriculture Malaysia, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), the National Water Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) and agricultural industry entrepreneurs.
“This report provides analysis and information regarding the total rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, evaporation and solar radiation every month,“ he said.
To monitor the dry and hot weather conditions in the country, he said MetMalaysia implemented various initiatives including monitoring the daily maximum temperature to determine the status of hot weather throughout the country and reporting the number of days without rain every day.
In addition, the provision of information and forecasts of areas at risk of burning through the Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) which is updated daily, monitoring the status of El Nino and La Nina which is updated monthly and the production of a drought monitoring index which is updated monthly.
“All this information can be accessed through the official MetMalaysia website and social media. If there is a need for cloud seeding operations, we will discuss with the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) to see the suitability of the matter,” he said.
