Market Driven Agricultural Initiative through IT enabled Agri Business Centres in Kerala State

Dr. Rathan Kelkar IASDirector

Kerala IT Mission

Regional e-Gov Knowledge sharing SummitJune 4-6,2009

Addresses the existing gap in Agri. Information flow and transaction management.

The vision of the project is to establish a connected farmers community throughout Kerala who have access to information on Market Demand, Prices, Good Agricultural practices, Quality agricultural inputs supported by a technology enabled robust transaction platform that facilitates all their offline activities.

State/Region/Department Kerala State / District Malappuram . Project to be led by Kerala State IT Mission with the active support of Agriculture Department & IIITMK

What is

• A joint programme of NISG & UNDP,KSITM,IIITM-K and Agricultural Dept,

• Networking of farmers and agri- stakeholders under the portal e-krishi.org

• Implemented through Akshaya Centres • Implemented in Malappuram district as a pilot project

How is it operated

• Upgraded Akshaya centers as E-Krishi centres

• Agricultural offices

• District Level Committee

• Bhumi club

• Panchayath Local Bodies

• Tie-up with Business community

5-10 PCsPeripheralsIT trained Personnel

ONE e-CENTREcovers about 2-4 Sq.KMs serving 1,500 -3000 households

Connected communities

Internet

Akshaya Centers276 in Malappuram 2846- Total in Ketala (as on 31.03.2008)

Implementation Through Akshaya Centers

Backbone & Access network

TYPICAL AKSHAYA CENTRE

• 5-10 PCs• BROAD BAND

CONNECTIVITY• WEBCAM/SCANNER• PRINTERS• 2 TRAINED STAFF

Important Services

– Trade Centre– Market Prices– Resource Library– Online advisory– Input services– Training programmes for various subject– On demand video shows– Soil testing– Weather information– Aggregation– Otherservices provided by Akshaya-(e-pay,IT related courses,railway

ticketing,University fees etc.)

Operation methodology

• District Panchayath President –

Chairman• Collector• Head e-krishi - Convener• Principal Agricultural Officer• Deputy Director (Animal Husbandry)• Deputy Director (Diary)• Deputy director (fisheries )• Manager VFPCK• District officer –Serifed• Head Krishivinjan Kendram-Tavanur• Head Cashew Research Centre• District Secretary -Akshaya • District Mission Co-ordinator-

Kudumbasree• AGM-NABARD• Chairman –Development Standing

Committee-district panchayath

District Implementation Committee

Field Level operation

• Project co-ordinators –

• Monitoring field level activities of ACE and FC, organizing farmers and buyers meeting, • chanalising field level activities in line with RBM frame work• Organizing capacity building training programmes• Organizing bhumi clubs• Liaison with Agricultural Departments, NGOs, research organizations ,LSGs etc,• Consolidation of yield data from the field• Grading of e-krishi centers, • Checking and activating the genuine advertisement of postings in the web portal• Performance appraisal of fiels d co-ordinators

• Block level field co-ordinators-

• collection the field data of farmers and buyers• Facilitation of bhumi club • Arrangements of soil testing• Liaison with department concerned• Market study ,collecting the required datas from time to time, inspection of Akshaya centers

Activities • Farmers registration• Buyers registration• Orientation programmes • Bhumi club formation• Transactions of commodity• Soil testing • Set up agricultural library in e-krishi centers • Market study• Yield data collection• Formation of collection centers• Management training programmes • Preparation of IEC materials• Documentations• E-krishi centers is being up graded as agroclinic

Bhumi club

• Panchayath president –chief patron

• Agricultural officer-advisor

• All local body members –special invitees

• Leading farmers- President,Secretary,Joint secretary, Treasurer, Executive Members

Awareness and Training programmes

• Field level orientation programmes Training programme• farmers and buyers training, • subject wise training, • Management training• Skill development training• On demand video shows

Institutional Tie up

Agricultural dept, Animal Husbandry,KAU,CPCRI,CTCRI,VFPCK,Kudumbasree,KVK,RubberBoard,CoconutBoard,RAIDCOKAICO,KAMCO, Horticultural Dept, Serifed, Khadi board, Agricultural Banks,NABARD, cooperative societies, Fisheries dept.,Diary extension Dept.organic certificationAgencies, NIC,Agmarknet,Horti corp, SHG groups etc.

E-Krishi – Communication & Publicity Strategy

Distribution of leaflets and brochures

Articles /news reports in Newspapers

Press conferences

Face to Face interaction with farmers

Orientation session

TV Commercials

Radio programmes

Govt Orders / Publications.

Participation in festivals and Exhibitions

IEC Materials to e-krishi Centers

All e krishi centers are provided with internet connectivity.

each Center is supplied with 30 educational materials (books, booklets/CDS) which are of use to farmers-covering topics on agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries etc.

The materials were collected from Kerala Agricultural University, Farm Information bureau, Central Plantation Research Institute, TBGIRI, etc

Major Success stories

Formation of Mushroom clusters

Paddy transactions

Kunthirikkam seedlings

Forest Honey

Vettiver

Seasamum

Kada(quil)

Lotus

Dogs

Coconut ,arecnut

E-Krishi Home Page

How to calculate the fertilizer recommendations

Problems faced

1. Fear of sales and income tax

2. Language –portal only in English.

3. Non availability of commodities

4. Lack of storage facility

5. Fear of trading through the net(Not seeing the buyer)

6. Inability to honour Forward posting due to Natural calamities And Fluctuation of market rate.

7. Menace of middle men .

Samagra e-krishi project report

E-krishi through media

E-krishi through media

E-krishi through media

Services @ e-Krishi Centre

Internet facility for postingMarket detailsCD on agricultural topicsAg. LibraryE-payGovt. formsFinancial ServicesTravel BookingsIntel Learn ProgramAdvanced IT coursesData EntryReading materialsAgricultural programmes of the Lead Bank

Exit Plan

Infrastructure and man power

As is being practiced in Malappuram District E-Krishi project will be piggy backed on the existing Akshaya Centres. It will be an additional service of the centre.

There are 2846 Akshaya centres in Kerala(As on 31.03.2008)

Exit Plan

Common e-krishi project in Panchayaths under Peoples Plan Programme from 2009-10 onwards- where budgetary provision will be made for all e-krishi activities

A pilot programme is being successfully implemented in 100 panchayaths from 5 districts using a common project format-agricultural officer is the implementing officer for the project

All the Panchayaths will be brought under the project in a phased manner _(2 to 3 years)

Exit Plan

State level implementation Committee

A state level committee will be formed with representatives from all the different departments and stake holders to monitor the programme

Thank you

Dr. Rathan Kelkar IASDirector

Kerala IT Mission

Regional e-Gov Knowledge sharing SummitJune 4-6,2009