Lok Sabha Question No. 5 (STARRED), answered on 2015-07-21
Subject: Dissemination of Information on Agriculture Activities
Ministry: AGRICULTURE
Asked by: YERRAM VENKATA SUBBAREDDY

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE & COOPERATION

**LOK  SABHA**

**STARRED QUESTION NO. 5**

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 21 ST JULY, 2015

**DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION ON AGRICULTURE ACTIVITIES**

*5.      SHRI Y.V. SUBBA REDDY:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE 	  ‡ãðŠãäÓã ½ãâ¨ããè

be pleased to state:

(a) 	whether the Government has taken adequate initiative to develop/introduce/ innovate new farm technologies and if so, the details thereof;

(b) 	the institutional mechanism put in place to disseminate information about new technologies and innovation to the farmers; and

(c) 	whether the Government proposes to send SMS alerts about weather conditions and other farm related information to the farmers including those in remote areas of the country and if so, the details thereof?

### ANSWER

####### MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE

###### ‡ãðŠãäÓã ½ãâ¨ããè		 				             (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

(a) to (c):	A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

**STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 5  DUE FOR REPLY ON 21** **ST** **JULY, 2015.**

(a):	Government has taken several initiatives to develop/introduce/innovative new technologies and innovations on agriculture related activities. Government is pursuing research programmes on agriculture in the country for development of  improved crop varieties/ hybrids, cost-effective production technologies and environment-friendly protection technologies and conservation, management and sustainable utilization of the natural resources to ensure food, nutritional and environmental security in the country. Government has developed several location specific cost effective improved technologies (suiting soil and climate) like crop diversification, resource conservation technologies (zero tillage, bed planting, laser leveling, System of Rice Intensification (SRI), soil reclamation/amelioration measures, integrated soil-water-nutrient management, water harvesting and conservation, participatory watershed models, micro irrigation, integrated farming system and agro forestry models and climate resilient technologies to ensure higher farm productivity and growth in the country. Government is recommending use of these improved technologies along with traditional indigenous technology knowhow and grass root farm innovations to make Indian Agriculture more productive.  Government is also pursuing the development of agro-machinery to cater to the requirement of various crops, agro-climatic regions and socio economic conditions of farmers through prototype feasibility testing, prototype manufacturing, front-line demonstrations, on- farm trials on farmers’ fields etc. Modern farm equipments and machinery suitable for different regions of the country have been developed for net saving in labour, time, inputs (seeds, fertilizers, diesel, pesticides and irrigation) and unit cost.

Contd…2/-

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(b):	In order to provide reasonable access to modern agricultural knowhow & technologies,  the Government has  been laying special emphasis on dissemination of information and appropriate technologies for the farmers through schemes like Extension Reforms, Mass Media Support to Agricultural Extension, Kisan Call Centres, Agri-Clinics and Agri-Business Centres. Krishi Vigyan kendras access, refine and demonstrate   various technologies including yield enhancing inputs.   Information & Communication Technology tools are also being used for providing information to farmers on crops, weather, price and other farm related inputs.

(c):	The mKisan Portal launched by the Ministry subsumes all mobile based initiatives in the field of Agriculture & allied sectors. It brings together SMS (both Push and Pull), Interactive Voice Response System, Unstructured Supplementary Services of Data or USSD (which is essentially Interactive SMS and can facilitate data entry and query on Web Portals without internet), Mobile Apps and Services.  Officers, Scientists and Experts from all organizations & departments of the Government of India and State Governments [including State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Agro-Meteorological Field Units (AMFUs)]  are using  this Portal for disseminating information(giving topical & seasonal advisories and providing services through SMSs to farmers in their local languages) on various agricultural activities to  registered farmers.     Till date,  more than 900 crore SMS messages have been sent to farmers by various  Agencies/Organisation/Departments in agriculture and allied sectors.

Contd…3/-

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More than 130 AMFUs set up by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in collaboration with ICAR and other organisations provide weather forecast based agro-met advisories. Weather forecast is done on 7 parameters including rainfall, relative humidity and cloudiness. Kisan Call Centres set up by the Government of India also disseminate this information to thousands of farmers who call up every day.  Nowcast is another service which has been recently started by the department. In this all registered farmers get an SMS alert about any impending weather abnormality. These alerts are valid for next three hours.

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