Agrometeorological services are getting an upgrade, making weather updates more frequent and immediately accessible to farmers, Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou said on Monday.

The minister told a press conference that the aim was for weather updates to reach farmers when they needed them and that work was being done to develop an app for mobiles with information the rural world would find useful.

The upgraded agrometeorological bulletin and its website were now at the disposal of farmers, whose industry was “challenged by extreme phenomena and climate uncertainty”, Panayiotou said.

The bulletin will be now available once a week instead of once a month, while weather forecasts would continue to be updated twice a day on the website.

The services are addressed to farmers, livestock breeders, agriculturalists, organisations and authorities and could be applied to a broad spectrum of agricultural activities, from sowing seeds to laying fertiliser, irrigation and protection from extreme weather conditions.

A targeted weather forecast was also offered with information gathered from 12 main reference stations.

Farmers would also have access to instructions on plant protection, practical advice, data analysis for temperatures, precipitation and wind, as well as prognosis for frost, drought and hailstones.

Information on humidity evaporation was also available, making it easier for farmers to decide when to water their crops.

Panayiotou said that this month, the departments of meteorology and agriculture would be launching a campaign to inform producers about the new services and how to process the information.

Meteorology Department director Filippos Tymvios said the agrometeorological bulletin and website were the foundation for further improvements to meet the needs of farmers.

He added that AI prognosis solutions were being developed that would help protect crops and that the specialists in the industry would not be replaced, but instead assisted in their work.