By: Dr. Pawan Kumar Sharma
During the lockdown enforced all over India due to the threat of COVID-19, I have received almost 100 calls from farmers inquiring about different aspects of farming. Thanks to Radio Kashmir, Jammu who repeatedly broadcast my talk on organic farming in this lockdown period. I was able to answer some queries of farmers directly, and some managed in consultation with scientist colleagues from the University.
In the middle of it, I recognise the imperative need of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agricultural extension under the prevailing pandemic. One can understand that both the mediums namely, radio and telephone employed for disseminating information in above case constitute the basic ICT tools. Everybody will recognise the fact that the world is going to enter into a new era of life on Planet Earth, even after the threat of novel virus is over. The signs of showing warmth by shaking hands, cwtch from friends etc., all shall be replaced with the habit of social distancing.
Now, agricultural extension requires physical contact and gathering of multiple people on a same platform. The involvement of scientists, extension functionaries and farmers to discuss problems in agriculture and their respective scientific interventions constitutes the nucleus of agricultural informal education system. Avoiding physical contact would not be considered effective in agricultural extension so far as developing confidence among farmers is concerned. But, the new regime will not allow us to be in gatherings, at least for near future. In Himalayan region of India where the topography doesn’t allow frequent moments by extension functionaries, ICT is the only solution to reach farmers in far flung areas for ensuring continuous flow of scientific information.
ICT consists of all modes of transmission like electronic devices, networks, mobiles, services and applications. Almost all types of services can be effectively managed by IT applications such as enhanced access to input and output markets, management of natural resources, improved access to information, knowledge, training / capacity building and collection of feedback from farmers to enhance their voices in policy making.
Therefore, the creation of IT infrastructure in the entire country remains the top priority of Government for effective delivery of services to the people of India. National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was introduced in 2006 to make all government services available to the citizens of India via electronic media. Approximately, 45 per cent of the world’s ICT projects have been implemented in India with maximum number of information kiosks in rural India. Some of the important e-Agriculture initiatives include Agrisnet, Digital green, eSagu, Agmarknet, e¬Arik, Village Knowledge Centers (VKCs), SMS Portal/mKisan Portal, Kisan Call Centers (KCCs) etc. Recently, a pan-India electronic trading portal has been introduced with networking of all the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities known as National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).
Besides, state and national level organizations engaged in agricultural research and extension education have introduced many useful mobile apps for providing first-hand information to the farmers. These include Kisan Suvidha (launched by PM Narendra Modi), Pusa Krishi, Krishi Gyan, Crop insurance, Agri Market and IFFCO Kisan Agriculture etc.
IT applications are also crucial to make cooperatives ready in the new era of globalization by expanding their scope of potential networks and deepening existing networks through more consistent communication. The applications also include monitoring and controlling crop irrigation systems via smart phone, maintaining optimum herd size and precision feeding for enhancing quality of meat, installing crop sensors for effective fertilizer application and forecasting crop and milk production.
It is also important to look at the usage of all these ICT initiatives by the ultimate farmers and in this respect, I am afraid that picture isn’t that rosy. A study conducted in R.S. Pura, J&K in 2017 revealed a very limited use of ICT application by rural youth for agricultural purposes. However, from the point of view of service delivery, ICT has already assumes its importance, due to the shortage of trained manpower in delivery of extension functions. In UT of Jammu & Kashmir, the number of operational holdings per extension personnel is about 249 and it is really a difficult task to effectively serve the farmers with existence of diverse agro-ecological situations. Therefore, the use of ICT is paramount in present situation to keep farmers contemporary with scientific knowledge involving limited cost for extension services on one hand and maintain social distancing on the other.
The writer is Scientist (Agril. Economics) at
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu (J&K)