Government launches digital platform to help farmers get personalised advisories in local languages

During the virtual 93rd Foundation Day and awards ceremony of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the government launched Kisan Sarathi, an Information Communication and Technology (ICT) based interface solution.

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology  Ashwini Vaishnav jointly launched Kisan Sarathi to facilitate farmers to interact in their desired languages and avail personalised advisories on agriculture and allied areas directly from from the Krishi Vigyan Kendras and institutes to the headquarters. 

Kisan Sarathi provides a facility for each level of monitoring and reporting, and enables officials at various levels to view and monitor daily activities like farmers’ registration, live calls, total calls, messages pushed, given advisories, pending advisories, etc.

ALSO READ

Agri financing: The next era of evolution for agriculture

Tomar said farmers and scientists worked hard together for the progress of the agricultural sector of the country. He also emphasised on the agricultural sector’s capability to meet the targets of providing uninterrupted availability of essential food crops even during the challenging times of COVID-19.

He also urged for a collective approach to develop technologies in effectively solving the various problems and challenges of the farming community and applauded the council’s initiatives to make the country the exporter of the various food crops and ensure nutritional security.

He also outlined the active participation by more than 400 Krishi Vigyan Kendras pan India in “Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav” programme initiated by the council to commemorate 75 Years of India’s Independence.

During the award ceremony, the ICAR conferred 16 Awards in 4 major categories including the “National Award for outstanding contributions for Agricultural Institutes”, “National Award for outstanding contributions in Agricultural Researches”, “National Award for Application of Agricultural Technologies”, and “National Award for Innovation and Technology Development by Farmers” during the occasion.

The dignitaries virtually felicitated about 60 Awardees in 16 different categories. These included four ICAR institutes, one All India Coordinated Research Project, four Krishi Vigyan Kendras, 39 Scientists, 11 Farmers, and 50 farmers.