Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM: Airtel has entered into a strategic tie-up with IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative) for providing agriculture and allied information to farmers through mobile phones. The facility was formally launched by the Chief Operating Officer (Andhra Pradesh) of Bharti Airtel Limited, Rajnish Kaul, at a function at Anakapalle town, about 40 km from here on Tuesday.

Addressing a media conference on the occasion, he said that the unique facility would benefit over 10 lakh IFFCO society members of rural Andhra Pradesh by giving them access to vital information. The farmer members would be given five free voice messages on farming techniques, weather forecasts, dairy farming, animal husbandry, fertilizer availability and rural health initiatives.

Mr. Kaul said the farmers could also call a dedicated free helpline to get answers from a qualified veterinarian to their specific queries regarding the health of their animals. He said that SIM cards would be provided at subsidised rates and lifetime activation would be done for a mere Rs.47. Calls between the members would be charged at 50 paise a minute. The SIMs would be compatible with any mobile handsets and farmers could buy the handsets of their choice depending on their purchasing power. He said the facility was launched about six months ago in various districts of the State and there were already 65,000 connections.

The Airtel COO said the company has a customer base of 1.25 crores in the State. An additional 4,000 towers would be added to the existing 8,000 by March 2010. Araku has been connected recently through satellite to better coverage at the hill station.

Mr. Narayana Rao of IFFCO said that a similar experiment was started by the US Agriculture Department way back in 1964 but was subsequently withdrawn. This was the first time that such a facility was launched in the country.

Airtel Zonal Business Manager Vamsidhar Pothula and Head – Distribution K. Balajibabu were present.