“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
Khudee ko kar buland ithnaa ke
har thakdheer se pahle
Khudaa bandhese pooche
bataa theree razaa kyaa hai