New Delhi, Apr 8 (IANS): With the COVID-19 lockdown bringing new challenges to the agricultural sector in India, IBM is offering the agritech start-ups a 30-day free trial of its Operations Dashboard from The Weather Company (TWC) to help these firms with supply chain operations.

Farmers in India are getting ready to harvest Rabi Crops like wheat, barley, mustard, sesame and peas, but many agritech companies who manage supply chains are facing complex challenges due to the lockdown.

"The Dashboard can help supply chain managers make faster, more-informed decisions by combining our accurate weather forecasts with their unique business insights," Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India Pvt Ltd and General Manager IBM India/South Asia wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

All the agritech companies in India, whose supply chain operations are getting impacted in the current lockdown period can avail the service, Patel said.

The Operations Dashboard is designed to send automatic alerts when weather conditions that could impact businesses are detected.

It can contextualie what upcoming weather might mean for businesses and provide recommended actions, besides improving operations by deliveringnear real-time and forecasted location-specific weather notifications.

"Powered by the IBM Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System (IBMGRAF) -- the world's highest-resolution global weather forecasting model -- this highly customizable solution is designed to function like a 'meteorologist-in-a-box' which actively monitors weather forecasts for conditions that may affect your location, operations and customers," Patel said.

With access to current weather and 15 day forecast with user-friendly visual effects, the tool can allow companies to take decisions ontransportation of their produce in the face of weather.

"This means produce will reach consumers faster, less food will be spoilt,and farmers' efforts don't go to waste," Patel said.