Information and Communication Technology in dissemination of Agricultural Technologies
Dr.J.Meenambigai
Associate Professor
Department of agricultural Extension
Faculty of Agriculture
Annamalai University
Chidambaram
2. Introduction
Indian Agriculture contributes 22% of our GDP,
and approximately 60% Indians derive their
livelihood from the agricultural sector.
In India, these are about 120 million farm
holdings and the number is growing year by year.
Planning commission of India states that the
agriculture growth is stagnating and sluggish.
3. Need of ICT in Indian
Agriculture
ICT in agriculture is an emerging field focusing on
the enhancement of agricultural and rural
development in India.
The advancements in ICT can facilitate an
environment for more remunerative agriculture.
4. Market information
Information on latest techniques and technologies
Information about rural development programs
and subsidies
Weather forecasting
Latest (best) packages of practices
Post-harvest technology
5. Cont…..
General agricultural news
Information on insurance / claim processing
Input prices and availability
Early warning and management of diseases and
pests
Soil testing and soil sampling information
6. Role of ICT
Enhancing Agricultural Production
Improving Market Access
Capacity-building and empowerment
7. ICT Initiatives and
Applications
1) aAQUA
2) KISSAN Kerala
3) TNAU AGRITECH Portal
4) AGRISNET
5) DACNET
6) e-Krishi
7) ASHA
8) India Development Gateway (InDG) portal
9) Rice Knowledge Management Portal (RKMP)
10) Agropedia
8. Market Information and Agri-Business
Firms’ Portal to Farmer
1) AGMARKNET
2) ITC-e-Chopal
3) EID Parry-Indiagriling
4) Indiancommodities.com
5) Mahindra Kisan Mintra
6) IFFCO Agri-Portal
7) Agrowatch Portal
8) iKissan
9. Private and Co-operative
Organizations
1) Village Knowledge Center - M.S.Swaminathan
Research Foundation
2) Village Resource Center - Indian Space
Research Organization
3) Community Information Center
4) Common Service Center
10. Telephony/ Mobile Telephony
1) Farmers Call Center (Kissan Call Center)
2) Lifelines India
3) IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL)
4) Fisher Friend
5) Reuters Market Light(RML)
6) Mobile Advisory Services by Krishi
Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of Indian Council
of Research(ICAR)
12. ICT Projects for Agriculture
Development in India
• Gyandoot project (Madhya Pradesh)
• Warana Wired Village project (Maharashtra)
• Information Village project of the M S
Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
Pondicherry
• iKisan (Andhra Pradesh)
13. Cont…..
Automated Milk Collection Centres of
Amul dairy cooperatives (Gujarat )
Land Record Computerisation (Bhoomi)
Karnataka
Knowledge Network for Grass Root
Innovations – Society for Research and
Initiatives (SRISTI) Gujarat
14. Convergence of ICT with Sustainable
Agriculture Development
- Cyber extension is
extension of agricultural development
with the help of Information and
Communication Technologies over cyber
space
15. Tools of Cyber Extension
• Email
• Expert systems providing information on
pests and diseases
• Internet browsing for extension
information
• Video conferencing
• Call centers and Satellite communication
networks
• News and Discussion groups
16. Agribo
t
The Agribot project aims to develop a modular
robotic platform able to get around typical
agricultural environments.
Its purpose is data collection and new
technology research for remote sensing of
agricultural areas.
The project was started in 2010 with the
construction of mechanical systems
The next steps are to test the robot on the field
to operation adjustment and installation of
sensing equipments and the robotic arm
17. e-Extension Centre (Since 2008)
1. TNAU AGRI TECHPortal
2. Multi Video Conferencing
3. Dynamic Market Information (DMI)-
Kisan SMS
4. Domestic &Export Market Intelligence
Cell
5. Automatic Weather Network
18. Cont…..
6. Crop Doctor-Expert System
7. Instant Agro AdvisorySystem
8. TNAU-IFPRI KnowledgeManagement
Portal
9. Video Clipping through Cloud
Computing
10. Invigorating Extension through ICT
Tools
19. Invigorating Extension through ICT Tools
Outcomes of Experimentation…
1. TNAU Agri Tech Portal
2. Crop Doctor
3. Multi Video Conference
4. Cross platform of Android, Mac iOS
5. Training the Extension Officials Phase-I (1482)
6. On-line and off-line Access
7. Instant interaction with Research Institutes
and KV
20. M-Extension – Mobile Phones for
Agricultural Advisory Services
Mobile telephony – Subscription rate –
developing countries 22/100 in habitants in
2005 – 91.8 per 100 inhabitants in 2015.
Recent 3G and 4G technology play a crucial
role in the development of rural people.
Mobile phones – devices used to create, store
access and share information anytime,
anywhere.
21. Cont…..
Teamed with extension and advisory
services help to improve the livelihoods
of rural people.
Getting much needed timely
information to their fingertips at
potentially low cost.
M-Extension – mobile based extension
advisory services.
22. Role of mobile phones
Access to modern technology for farming.
Fulfill the informational needs of farmers.
Improve the information transfer between
farmers and research institutions.
Significantly reduce the communication and
information cost
Provide new opportunities for rural farmers to
obtain knowledge and information.
23. Cont…..
Provided information on markets, weather,
transport and agricultural techniques.
Provide new approach to farmers to make
tentative decisions.
Leads to greater social cohesion and improved
social relationships.
Provided connectivity and offer benefits such as
mobility and security to owners.
24. Impact of mobile based agro advisory
service
Mobile phones have reduced producer price
dispersion and ensured higher market
participation by farmers.
Helped to reduce wastage, increase the
number of transactions.
Information accessed through mobile phones has
strengthened local. likelihoods are helped to
preserve natural resources.
25. Cont…..
It has also increased general awareness and
networking opportunities.
It can significantly improve rural women
income and livelihood opportunities
26. Impact of ICT
• Systematic and comprehensive impact
studies on application of ICTs for agriculture
extension are not available.
• Gandhi et al., (2008) indicated that the
Digital Green Project increased the clsssic
extension approach.
• Digital Green Project was shown to be ten
times more effective per doller spent.
• 85 per cent of adoption of improved
technologies achived.
27. ICT Strategies and Policies and
Options
Involve local people in content development
Prepare user-friendly content in the regional
languages also with visuals
Use alternative technologies
Appoint facilitators exclusively for
information service
Support these initiatives by other quality
services and rural infrastructure
28. Challenges in ICT execution
User for the developed model/system/tool.
Availability/development of different models
for applications.
Integration of Geo-ICT.
Agriculture and Environment assessment.
Extending the developed systems at the
farmers level through Rural Extension
Community.
29. Conclusion
Agriculture Becomes one of the indispensable
parts of the project service menu.
We yet to get substantial results in increase of
agricultural production because of
deployment of ICTs.
Much hyped ICT projects are yet to make any
break through in agricultural information
dissemination.
Institutionalising of ICTs need to be given
more emphasis.
30. Cont…..
ICT for agricultural extension projects need to
be compared and evaluated objectively.
ICT are going to play important role in private
sector
It is high time to find out appropriate
information to provide through ICTs.
The cyber extension is a vital machinery to
support the extension functionaries.
ICT services is one among which is helping the
farmers to understand the modern cultivation
methods.
