Development of Latest Information Technology for Farmers

NEW DELHI: Government is implementing a Mission Mode Project-National e Governance Plan–Agriculture (NeGP-A) for helping farmers access information related to latest technology. This project has been approved at a total cost of Rs.858.79 crore for implementation of this scheme over the entire country. 12 clusters of services have been identified for the project. Dissemination of Information to the farmers have been aimed through various delivery channels including Common Service Centres, Web Portals, SMSs and Kisan Call Centres, Mobile Apps etc.

Many important Portals have been developed under NeGP-A such as:

mKisan Portal to enable Officers, Scientists and Experts from all Organizations and Departments of the GoI and State Governments (including State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Agro – Meteorological Field Units (AMFUs) all over the country for disseminating information (giving topical & seasonal advisories and providing services through SMSs to farmers in their local languages) on various agricultural activities to registered farmers.

Secondly, Farmers’ Portal has been developed to serve as One Stop Shop for all the farmers for accessing information on agricultural activities. Farmers can get information about package of practices; crop/seed varieties; common pests; dealer network for seeds, fertilizers & pesticides; machinery and tools; agro-met advisories etc.

Thirdly, Soil Health Card Portal has been developed for registration of Soil samples, recording test results of soil samples and generation of Soil Health Card (SHC) along with fertilizer recommendations.

Besides other Portal such as Crop Insurance Portal, PGS Portal, Agmarket Portal have been developed to provide information to farmers. Also, the Department had developed mobile applications for information on Hail Storm, Crop Insurance, Agri Market etc.

Government has also launched mobile Apps like Kisan Suvidha, PUSA KRISHI to help farmers by providing relevant information on weather, input dealers, market price, plant protection, expert advisories and latest technologies etc.

Under Market Research and Information Network (MRIN) Scheme, market information, on prices and arrivals of agricultural commodities in wholesale markets is disseminated to farmers and other stakeholders.

A scheme for setting up of National Agriculture Market (NAM) through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) was approved by the Government with a budget of Rs.200 crore.

NAM software has been launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 14.04.2016 in 21 mandis of 08 States for trade in 25 agri-commodities. This will provide transparency in trading, price commensurate to the quality real time price discovery based on actual supply and demand.

The farmers in the country are not deprived of the weather information. Farmers in the country are provided with weather information along with advisories through different modes of communication like AIR, TV, Print media, private TV channels, SMS and IVR technology using mobile phones.

The Government has introduced several latest information technology initiatives to provide weather information to the farmers. Under modernization plan, Earth System Science Organization-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) has installed 706 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and 129 Agro-AWS throughout the country. In addition to that, satellite data received through KALPANA and INSAT 3A, INSAT 3D geostationary satellite data are extensively used in weather forecasting. In addition, Indian Council of Agricultural Research created a network of 71 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) in the selected KVKs and State Agricultural Universities under National Initiative on Climatic Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project; hosting of a dedicated website for continuous online monitoring of instant weather data across the locations; preparation and dissemination of micro level weather based agro-advisories to farmers.

Under the “Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS)” Project, Earth System Science Organisation-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) is providing SMS based alert system particularly for extreme events like cyclone, unusual rainfall hailstorm etc., for the benefit of the farmers in the country. The Government has launched the Nowcast-Extreme weather Alerts services to farmers on 18 June, 2015 for providing localized Extreme Weather Warnings through SMSs, to more than 1.8 crore farmers registered on mKisan Portal. Also, under this project, District level weather forecast for next 5 days of weather parameters like Temperature (Maximum and Minimum), Rainfall, Relative Humidity, Cloud, Wind and also Agromet Advisories are sent to farmers twice a week.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya in Rajya Sabha on Friday.