Empowering Farmers through ICT- Introducing Mobile Based Farm Advisory Service, "Krishi Katha" in the Project areas.

                    Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in modern day agriculture plays a crucial role in expanding horizons in its development. ICT is all about empowering the farming community in the decision making process while adopting best approaches to improve their food security and livelihood.

       Till few years back, it was beyond imagination for many to consider how mobile phones can play powerful role in revolutionising the agricultural extension services. Even though the government have their own mechanism to carry out the agriculture extension service , but in a state like Bengal with high population density it needs a huge manpower to cover every corner of the state. Mass Media such as TV, Radio, Press has been the most commonly used medium since decades to carry out  the extension services but there are limitations considering their one way communication approach.

     Mobile phone is becoming one important tool of communication, according to a survey conducted in 2015, the number of mobile phone users in India will reach over 800 million by the end of 2019. In the farming sector too, mobile phones are playing crucial role in empowering farmers to get better access to the market information. Mobile phone ownership and its application in agricultural extension service is getting attention among the policymakers. As a result, various Govt agencies and development organisations has initiated mobile based farm advisory services to reach at the grassroots..

        Mobile based ICT tools can play effective role during various farming cycle. During pre sowing stage, information on weather, soil moisture and agri inputs such as seeds, pesticides, fertilisers etc. will increase the adaptability of crops to the local climatic condition whereas information on best practices and pest management will enhance the quality as well as quantity of the farm produce. Post harvest information on storage practices, available markets and commodity prices will increase the value of the farm produce. From Bengal perspective, mobile based farm advisory services becomes even more significant due to the fact that climate change impact is becoming prominent in the farmlands. It is predicted that the weather variability as a result of climate change in the state will increase, in such situation farm advisory through mobile phones will expand  the extension service to larger areas in short time.

       With a similar objective to gear up the extension service in minimum time, West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Project(WBADMIP) launched  its mobile based advisory service "Krishi Katha" on pilot basis initially in 14 districts covering 10,000 farmers. It is an integrated system with the combination of Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), Web and mobile phone technology to disseminate farm specific advisory service as per user's convenience with time and mode. The advisory service have two interfaces, a mobile interface at the front end for its registered farmers and a web interface at the back end for a team of agriculture experts. Besides disseminating information through voice and sms, the farmers can also call at the service's Toll Free number and record their query. The queries are responded within 12-48 hours. The advisory service is developed and operated by US based Non Profit Organisation, Precision Agriculture For Development (PAD) with Project's funding. Initially implemented for 6 months, the Service already reached the target of 10,000 farmers and looking at the good response from the farmers, project is further exploring the possibility of expanding the service to  more districts in the coming days.