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
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.)
• 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
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 .
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