“Relevance of Content in ICT Initiatives

in Agriculture-

SasyaSree - a one stop shop Telugu portal”

M. Singa Rao, K. Padmaja, G. Kiran Kumar & Devi Prasad J

CGG Presentation at ICT use in agriculture workshop

on 16 October 2015

Agriculture Management Resource Group

Centre for Good Governance

Road. No. 25, Jubilee Hills

MCR HRDITS Campus, Hyderabad-500 033

Background for the Study

The study is part of “Productivity Enhancement in Irrigated

Agriculture” in A.P.

First productivity increase in agriculture through area expansion

and later genetic improvements and irrigation

AP also started multipurpose irrigation projects and benefited

Decrease in productivity gains due water logging and salinization

which started destroying soil health.

Soil degradation was highest in A.P. with 54.5% compared to

43.9% in Karnataka, 41% in Tamilnadu, 52% in UP, 41.5% in

Gujarat, 42.4% in Maharashtra, 33.2% in Rajasthan.

Silting in NSP, the water storing capacity of 412 TMC in 1967 has

reduced to 308 TMC

Hence, “Consortium to scale up the adoption of location specific

best crop and water management practices by strengthening the

knowledge and skills of farmers and to increase the net returns to

the farmer.

Knowledge Management require adequate mechanisms for

generating, capturing and disseminating information

Sources of agricultural knowledge

After creation, souring and accumulation-Dissemination of AK

(ICT) can play a critical role in facilitating rapid, efficient, and

cost effective knowledge management

Extending location specific, demand driven extension services

in local language through ICT has been identified as one of the

critical interventions

Out of 18 lakh acres under NSS, approximately 55 percent

under rice and remaining land is cultivated by crops like

chillies, cotton, maize, pulses etc.

Under NSP, targeted productivity of rice is 5500 kgs per ha;

the State average productivity is 2939 kgs/per ha and NSS

command is about 3200 kgs per ha.

Knowledge Management

World India Andhra Pradesh

China 4160 Tamil Nadu 3541 West Godavari 3504

Indonesia 2950 Punjab 3507 Guntur 3393

Vietnam 2835 A. P. 2846 Adilabad 2159

Bangladesh 2116 West Bengal 2287 Vizianagaram 1668

India 2002 Visakhapatnam 1608

World India Andhra Pradesh

Italy 9386 A.P 3401 West Godavari 6226

France 9058 Punjab 2721 Vizianagaram 5392

Egypt 8760 Bihar 2618 Karimnagar 3956

• Raising productivity is raising profitability. Need to generate inherentyields and income per unit of land (soil), water and capital employed

• Through ICT cost of Production can be reduced by up to 50%, yieldincrease by 1.5 ton/ha. and overall profit by Rs 10,000/ha.

Gaps in Paddy yield (kg/ha)

Gaps in Maize yield (Kg/ha)

New varieties

Gap I:Environment & non-transferable

(can be narrowed with new technology)

Gap II:Crop management

(can be reduced with existing technology,

Governance and ICT)

Region Paddy(Rice) Cotton(Lint) Groundnut(pod) Kg/ha)

World 2596 584 1449

Best Country 6057 (Egypt) 1065 (Turkey) 3329 (China)

India 2005 321 859

AP(Av). 2846 287 742

Gains from simply adoptingexisting technologies and bestpractices far outweigh thebenefits from inventing newtechnologies.

Scope for bridging the Yield gaps - Good Governance and ICT

Farmer’s complex

Agricultural system

Agricultural Inputs (Seed, Water,

Fertilizers, Labor, etc.)

Cultivation Agricultural Output

Extension Services

Credit &

Crop Insurance

ICTSasyaSree

crop/context/content in Telugu

Local Knowledge

InfrastructureCapital and Financial Services

Markets

GovernancePolicy

ICT use in Agriculture

Scaling Up Best Practices

CGG has identified scaling up best practices through extension and ICT

use as a governance initiative to improve productivity and farmer

incomes by making use of existing technologies.

The ICT initiative in ” Productivity Enhancement in Irrigated Agriculture” at CGG,

was developed and conceptualized with crop-context-content frame work.

The project districts are Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Krishna,

Kurnool, Chittor ,Medak, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar

• Decreasing fund allocation.

• Limited capacities of extension staff.

• Large number of farm families.

• Poor reach to marginal and small farmers.

• Low literacy rate among farming community.

The objective of developing ICT initiative - to develop a portal in

Telugu language with location specific content useful to farmers

and explore ways of integrating ICTs with the existing public

extension service to overcome some of the challenges of public

extension. It will help in;

• Bridging the knowledge deficit among farmers

• Enhancing the capabilities of extension personnel

• Strengthening the Research-Extension-Farmer linkages

Limitations of Present Extension System

ICTs in Agriculture

Information communication technologies (ICT) are computer

technology, communication technology and information management

technology.

Use of ICTs is not new in agriculture.

- IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL)

- Lifelines

- aAqua (Almost All Questions Answered)

- Digital Green

- e-Sagu

- e-Choupal

Information gap exists in project districts

Content in ICT Initiatives in agriculture

Objective of SasyaSree-Location specific,Telugu

Content development and management cycle in SasyaSree

The content development and management cycle is about how

an ICT project accesses, assesses, and applies content to a

technology.

• Definition of Content

• Source of Content

• Assessment of Content

• Localization of Content

• Storing and Retrieval

• Delivery Mechanism

Services in SasyaSree

• Package of practices of Major Crops in project districts

• Weather Based Agro - advisories

• Schemes & Subsidies of Dept

• Integrated Pest Management

• Information on Prices

• Crop wise FAQs

• SMS on Soil Test Based Fertilizer Recommendations

• Organic Farming

• SRI Cultivation

• Videos on Agriculture

• Publications of Dept

• News related to Agriculture

• Precautions to be taken while purchasing inputs, spraying

insecticides, etc

.

Let us visit

http://sasyasri.cgg.gov.in

Website of SasyaSree

Expected Results of SasyaSree

• Better accessibility to resources and services

• Cost minimization in operational system

• Better access to financial resources

• Better access to technology, infrastructure and services

• Better marketing facility and market penetration

• Credit support from financial institutions

• Improvement in technological skill and knowledge

• More holistic intervention in comparison to piecemeal approach

• Improved availability and accessibility to other support services

• Productive / effective use of available resources

• Better output / result contributing to the scheme / programme / project

mandate

• Scope of bridging the yield gaps through ICT use and governance

• Access to government schemes / programmes like Subsidized Farm

Implements

• Application for Dealers/ Manufacturers Fertilizer License & Issuance

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har thakdheer se pahle

Khudaa bandhese pooche

bataa theree razaa kyaa hai