The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Web-based farm advice system launched

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Web-based farm advice system launched

By Our Staff Reporter

ATMAKUR (WARANGAL DT.), JULY 9. The International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in association with the Agricultural Research Station, Warangal, launched a `Web based agricultural expert advice dissemination system' here at Urugonda village.

The project's chief investigator, P. Krishna Reddy, said the farmers could access information on farming from sowing to harvesting of crops from experts through the Internet in a better way.

Explaining the project to the scores of farmers who attended the meeting, Mr. Reddy said to begin with the system offers expert advice to farmers opting for cotton cultivation. Coordinators of the project would visit the fields of about 200 farmers twice a week and take digital photographs of the crops in various stages. They would also register the complaints of the farmers and would upload them to the system.

The experts in turn would study the information and forward their advice to the farmers through coordinators at the field level. "This system consumes less time and serves a large number of farmers simultaneously. We will be using the database and digital photographs for analysing the crop position,'' he said.

The project was necessitated in view of the limitation in the agricultural extension network and as most of the research work being done at the research stations reaches the farmer very late. The latest developments would be known to the farmers as and when they happen through Web-based dissemination system.

About 1,000 farmers in Oglapur, Durgampet, Gudepad and Urugonda registered their names for the purpose of obtaining advice from experts through the system.

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