Final report june 2014

FINAL REPORT
National Agricultural Innovation Project
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
Title of Sub-project:
Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to meet the information need of the Indian farmers.
Media Lab Asia
Section 25 Company,
Department of Electronics & Information Technology,
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India
708-723, Devika Towers, Nehru Place, New Delhi- 110019
2014
Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study and analysis of the major
ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to meet the information need of the Indian farmers.
Component-4
2014

FINAL REPORT
National Agricultural Innovation Project
(Indian Council of Agricultural Research)
Title of Sub-project:
Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to meet the information need of the Indian farmers.
Media Lab Asia
Section 25 Company,
Department of Electronics & Information Technology,
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India
708-723, Devika Towers, Nehru Place, New Delhi- 110019
2014

Printed on
:
June 2014
Component
:
4
Citation
:
Anurag T S. Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to meet the information need of the Indian farmers. NAIP funded Research Project # 4187. Media Lab Asia, New Delhi, NIRD Hyderabad, ANGRAU Hyderabad and MICA Ahemadabad.
Copyright
:
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
Disclaimer
:
This report is based on research findings by the consortium. NAIP is not responsible for the content quality and technical information provided herein
Published by
:
Dr G V Ramaraju, Managing Director & CEO, Media Lab Asia, 708-723, Nehru Place, New Delhi. www.medialabasia.in
Edited by
:
Dr R R Hermon, Associate Professor, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Compiled by
:
Dr T S Anurag, Senior Research Scientist & Dr H K Singh, Research Scientist, Media Lab Asia, New Delhi
Hindi Translation
:
Ms Ruchi Sharma and Mr Sanjeev Pandey, Media Lab Asia
Other Credits
:
 Mr V K Bhatia, Research Director, Media Lab Asia, New Delhi
 Dr V Madhava Rao, Head (C-GARD), National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad
 Dr. Raji Reddy, Director Extension, Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Hyderabad
 Dr P Punna Rao, Deputy Director Extension, Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Hyderabad
 Dr Arbind Sinha, Senior Professor, Mudra Institute of Communication Ahemdabad (MICA)
 Mr Anshul Porwal, Senior Software Developer, Media Lab Asia (MLAsia), New Delhi
Cover Page Photographs Design & Setting
:
Ms Momita Poddar, Junior Web Developer, Media Lab Asia
___________________________________________________________________________
Printed at Amit Electrostat, G-3, Kundan House,16, Nehru Place, New Delhi-110019

CONTENTS
Page
Foreword
1
Preface
2
3
Executive Summary/ Key words
7
Part-I: General Information of Sub-project
10
Part-II: Technical Details
1. Introduction
12
2. Overall Sub-project Objectives
12
3. Sub-project Technical Profile
13
4. Baseline Analysis
14
5. Research Achievements
21
6. Innovations
46
7. Process/Product/Technology Developed
50
8. Patents (Filed/Granted)
50
9. Linkages and Collaborations
50
10. Status on Environmental and Social Safeguard Aspects
51
11. Constraints, if any and Remedial Measures Taken
51
12. Publications
51
13. Media Products Developed/Disseminated
52
14. Meetings/Seminars/Trainings/Kisan Mela, etc. organized
52
15. Participation in Conference/ Meetings/Trainings/ Radio talks, etc.
56
16. Foreign Trainings/Visits
59
17. Performance Indicators
59
18. Employment Generation
60
19. Assets Generated
61
20. Awards and Recognitions
63
21. Steps Undertaken for Post NAIP Sustainability
63
22. Possible Future Line of Work
64
23. Personnel
64
24. Governance, Management, Implementation and Coordination
66
Part-III: Budget and its Utilization
68
Part-IV: Declaration
72

1
Foreword
It gives me immense pleasure in presenting the final report of the project being implemented by the consortium led by Media Lab Asia along with Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, National Institute of Rural Development and Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad.
The major findings and the experience gained by the consortium over a period of 5 years in studying various ICT initiatives in agriculture in India, its successes & failures, information needs of the Indian farmers, designing „Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)‟ based on the gap findings and its field testing through 4 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) is a unique experience in designing the future strategy and system to provide ‘Information to the farmers as and when they require’. I am sure that the IIDS (developed under the project) would be highly valuable in addressing the information needs of the farmers in such as accessibility, acceptability, simplicity, timely & useful information in location specific manner.
I take this opportunity to mention that Media Lab Asia has been working towards taking technologies from lab to land for the benefit of the common man. Media Lab Asia is committed specially to farmers in bringing technologies at their doorsteps for their betterment by providing ICT tools to connect with scientific information and open for collaborations to take forward the research and the experience gained under this project for the benefits of the farming community in future.
I sincerely thank PIU-NAIP, ICAR for providing an opportunity to Media Lab Asia and other consortium partners to work together and contribute in the noble cause of taking technologies to the farmers to make them better empowered with relevant knowledge and information.
G.V. Ramaraju
Managing Director &
Chief Executive Officer
Media Lab Asia

2
Preface
It has been a great privilege and unique experience for me to be associated with this project from its
inception to its logical completion. The project was conceptualized with an idea to propose alternative
ICT model(s) based on the study and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to
meet the information needs of the Indian farmers. The constitution of this consortium was formed
based on this premise and the partners identified accordingly. The composition of the expertise of the
consortium (MLAsia – Information Technology, ANGRAU – Agricultural, NIRD – Rural
Development, MICA – Communication Management) is an example for a multi-disciplinary,
collaborative, multi-institutional R&D projects in the area of ICT in Agriculture with a common goal
to take the technologies at the doorstep of the farmers.
To achieve its goals and the objectives viz assessment of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture vis-a-vis
Information need of the farmers and to develop / propose an alternative ICT model for delivering
the information to the farmers as and when they require, the consortium has received many inputs,
recommendations, suggestions, guidance and knowledge from various stakeholders starting from the
end users viz farmers, village representatives, agriculture extension functionaries, local government
departments, NGOs, ICT initiators, agriculture scientists, policy makers, researchers, websites /
portals, research papers / articles and so on. A grateful acknowledgment is due to all those who helped
the consortium team in gathering the data & inputs and in participating in regional (05) & national
(02) workshops, PRAs (40), individual surveys (1381 farmers) of the beneficiary and non-beneficiary
farmers and ICT initiatives (26), sensitization workshops (12) in project villages, KVKs (4),
knowledge partners (08) and farmers (1200) for their participation in testing the model. This project
would not have reached in its present form without their invaluable help and inputs.
The consortium received the guidance, directions and support of the National Coordinator, Component
4 in all the phases, without which this project could not have come to a logical end. The Consortium
Advisory Committee (CAC), Consortium Implementation Committee (CIC) and Model Development
Committee (MDC) played a vital role in achieving the project objectives and in designing the whole
model. I would like to sincerely express my heart full thanks to the NC-4, PIU-NAIP and all the
members of the advisory committees for their knowledgeable directions, valuable time and continuous
support to the consortium.
The project achievements are an outcome of the dedicated & continuous efforts put-up by all the
CCPI‟s, research, technical and administrative teams of the MLAsia, NIRD, ANGRAU, MICA, KVK
Nellore, KVK Kampasagar, KVK Wyra and KVK Amadalavalasa. The entire effort put-up in the
project is dedicated to the farmers of the nation and earnestly wishes that this research would be
helpful in designing the future ICT strategies in agriculture extension to deliver timely information to
the farmers ‘As & When They Require’.
T S Anurag
Consortium Principal Investigator
& Senior Research Scientist
Media Lab Asia, New Delhi

3
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4
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5
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6
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7
Executive Summary
Background
India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fishing etc are the main occupation and major source of livelihood for the rural India. Although bulk of agriculture comprises tiny land holdings and it depends on rain-fed agriculture, often leading to loss in productivity. In last few decades Indian agriculture has noticed a steady decline of its share in the GDP and the crisis of stagnation in agriculture needs urgent attention. It is also necessary to increase the growth rate and put agriculture on a growth path. Taking help of a technology platform is inevitable.
Application of ICT is inevitable in all disciplines and agriculture and rural development is no exception. It involves application of innovative ways to use ICTs in the rural domain.The advancements in ICT can be utilised for providing timely & relevant information to the farmers, thereby facilitating an environment for more remunerative farming. Given the development scenario in Indian Agriculture, ICT initiatives and their approaches are not similar there are variations in ICT technologies used like platforms / models and approach. The level and quality of information being disseminated, effort of individuals, public and private organizations, and acceptance of new technologies & need of the farmers in different areas also varies. There have been various initiatives in the area of ICT applications in agriculture in India to address the information needs of the farmers, but there is a need to study the issues of the farmers in the area of using ICT in Agriculture vis-a-vis their information needs for providing relevant & in-time practical solutions for the agriculture operations (right from the choice of inputs in the farming system to marketing of the farm products) in location specific manner. It was found that the farmers in rural areas have to deal with failed crops and animal illness frequently and, due to limited communication facilities, solutions to their problems remain out of reach. Traditional agriculture extension systems are weak and lack adequate manpower to effectively support farmers at their doorsteps.
About the Project
This project has been sanctioned under component 4 by National Agricultural Innovation Project of ICAR, to the consortium led by Media Lab Asia, a section 25 company of Department of Electronics and Information Technology, GOI. The other partners are National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmadabad and Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad. The project aimed to study the past and present major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India and the information needs of the farmer. Under the project, the information needs of the Indian farmers and the ICT options used by the farmers for accessing any agricultural information needs were studied to find out the gaps / limitations of various ICT platforms so as to propose the way forward.
Based on this study, the appropriate ICT model was configured, discussed and designed to meet farmer‟s information needs for different selected scenarios considering the infrastructural and social- economic constraints. It was field tested in Andhra Pradesh. The ICT model(s) generated in this project is expected to provide a framework for various stakeholders in agriculture in design and implementation of effective ICT based solutions for agriculture.

8
To carry out the study different steps are followed including selection of existing ICT initiatives in the field of agriculture and allied, conducting five regional workshops in North, South, East, West and North Eastern parts of India. Based on the information collected from the literature available on existing ICT initiatives in India and five regional workshops, a taxonomical model was developed on the basis of ICT technology, process, content, business model, sustainability and a generic classification on existing ICT initiatives in agriculture in India i.e. Push-Pull both.
Considering the recommendations from regional workshops and discussions with various stakeholders, 26 ICT initiatives in agriculture in India were selected for detailed study to understand the agriculture information needs and various problems of the farmers in accessing the existing ICTs with an emphasis on small and marginal farmers. Farmers from various agro-socio-economic situations were contacted and interviewed through a primary survey while using a structured open ended questionnaire. Above all, Focus Group Discussion and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques- transect walk, social mapping, resource mapping, seasonal mapping; preference ranking, matrix ranking, timeline and focused group discussion were carried out to collect information from the field. Apart from this, a series of workshops (2 workshops on Information Need of the Indian Farmers, 1 national workshop on „ICT in Agriculture: Gaps & Way Forward‟ and 1 workshop on „Strategy for Mitigating Agricultural Communication Gaps in India‟) were conducted to discuss the practical experiences of ICT initiators as well as implementers and end users.
The field study was carried out in 57 agriculture dominated villages across 12 states from May 2009 to December 2010. It covered Mobile based - 5, Community Radio - 4, Kiosk / Internet -14, Call Center / IVRS – 3 technologies) . The primary data was collected by interviewing 1381 farmers falling under two categories, beneficiary (710) and non – beneficiary farmers (671). Several parameters were considered which includes socio – economic, farming priority, sources of information, information need, adoption level, technological orientation, perception of ICT in agriculture and Impact analysis.
Some of the findings from the field study
The study conducted of 26 ICT initiatives in agriculture in India covers technologies which are being used in these initiatives like Internet, Mobile phone, Radio and others. Effectiveness and challenges in each of these initiatives are gauged in this study. These initiatives were to increase agricultural output by informing and educating farmers according to their needs. It was found that mostly the farmers need timely information through human interface who are local and proactively articulating problems using participatory communication methods. There is a need is to develop a combination of push and pull based interactive system (essentially pull based) so that the communication can be possible in both ways, i.e. from farmers to expert and vice versa in their local language. The information requirement also differs from one area to another, which is rarely addressed by the present information systems. There is a requirement for interlinking of location specific information from various service providers to cater the specific needs of the farmers. ICT initiatives, specially voice based technology, has a major role in providing information to the farmers at all three stages of farming: pre- cultivation, cultivation and post cultivation stages of Agriculture – Crop Cultivation, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. As Mobile is the most popular ICT gadget with 72% penetration among the surveyed farmers, followed by TV (61%) and Radio (42%). Further, there is a need to cater to the farmer queries in multimedia mode i.e. voice mode (i.e. in local language) along with text, image and video. There is a need for farmer friendly and simple interfaces to access information and advisory services in effective manner preferably through phones. The relevant information that is available at the national and international research institutions remains inaccessible to small and marginal farmers

9
because of the missing last mile accessibility on the information highway. There exists wide information gaps and recommended to revitalize the extension system in a manner that links universities and best practices effectively to farmers. There is a requirement of expert support system which has user friendly interfaces and reference content (e.g SAU‟s Knowledge repository, farmer‟s details, FAQs from the farmers query, etc) for fast and proactive delivery of advices.
Overview of Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS):
Based on the gaps in agriculture communication as well as the limitations of the agriculture information dissemination technologies it was crucial to think of a technology configuration, design it and develop an integrated system that is capable of providing need based ‘Information to the farmers as and when they require’, which would cater to the problems of farmers such as accessibility, acceptability, simplicity, timely useful, and location specific information.
Accordingly, an alternative ICT model namely „Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)‟ has been developed. IIDS is a pull and push based system where agriculture related information can be pulled by the farmers using the mobile phones. IIDS is a combination of Smart Phone Application, Interactive Portal and IVRS. There is a mobile interface at front end and web interface at the back end. Data would be transmitted through voice, text, images and videos from both ends (farmers to expert and back). This system provides options to farmer to subscribe for the various services. Farmer will then receive individual needs based information for only those services for which he has subscribed to and has an option at a later date to either select some more services or unsubscribe to some of the existing services. The system is connected to a centralized database, which would have all information of the farm, farmer and previous transactions. The experts at back end (web application) would have access to the database of the farmers while responding to the farmer‟s queries. After developing this model, subsequently, a National Workshop on “ICT in Agriculture: Gaps and the Way Forward” was organised, wherein, the discussions centered around the current agriculture system and supplementary role of the ICT.
Pilot Testing of IIDS:
IIDS has been field tested as Annapurna Krishi Prasaar Seva (AKPS) with 1200 farmers in 12 villages of Andhra Pradesh. Initially two KVKs -Nellore and Kampasagar were connected through Virtual Private Network (VPN) lines and Toll Free IVRS (1800-425-3141) from March 2013 onwards. Later on it covered two more KVKs. These were Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Kampasagar (Nalgonda), Nellore, Wyra and Amadalavalasa. A centralized server with communication network (Leased lines, Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines and Toll Free Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) was set up at ANGRAU, Hyderabad. The AKPS was launched on 23rd March 2013.
The KVKs have received queries from the registered farmers and provided need based advisories in the fields of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. Around 6300 farmers‟ queries were answered by the experts from 4 KVKs. The Field Technical Assistants (FTAs) assisted the farmers in making calls as well as in delivering the advisory to the farmers using Toll Free number (1800-425-3141) and smart phones. Apart from the agro advisory services, KVKs have also sent the voice mails and text messages in Telugu to the project farmers on weather based agro advisories, precautionary measures, control measures for pests and diseases in Rice, Animal Husbandry (Dairy) and Fisheries.

10
Part-I: General Information of Sub-project
1. Title of the sub-project: Development of a set of alternative ICT models based on a study
and analysis of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India to
meet the information need of the Indian farmers
2. Sub-project code: 4187 (C 30012)
3. Component: 4
4. Date of sanction of sub-project: 20 January 2009
5. Date of completion: 31 March 2014
6. Extension if granted, from 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014
7. Total sanctioned amount for the sub-project: Rs 603.0716 Lakhs
8. Total expenditure of the sub-project: Rs 352.16 Lakhs
9. Consortium leader: Dr G V Ramaraju, Managing Director & CEO, Media lab Asia & Group Coordinator (RD in IT), Department of Electronics & Information Technology, GOI, 708-723, 7th floor, Devika Tower, Nehru Place, New Delhi-110019, Phone – 011-26443266, Fax-011- 26288189, Email- md@medialabasia.in
10. List of consortium partners:
Name of CPI/ CCPI with designation
Name of organization and address, phone & fax, email
Duration
(From-To)
Budget
(` Lakhs)
CPI
Dr T S Anurag, Senior Research Scientist
Media Lab Asia, 708-723, Devika Towers, Nehru Place, New Delhi- 19
Phone: 011-26443266
Fax: 011-26288190
Email: anurag@medialabasia.in
Email: hrishikesh@medialabasia.in
January 2009 to March 2014
222.4554
Co-PI
Dr H. K. Singh
Research Scientist
CCPI1
Dr V Madhava Rao, Prof & Head, C- GARD
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad
Phone: 040- 24008447
Fax: 040-24008447
Email- madhavaraov@gmail.com
Email: rrhermon@gmail.com
150.3507
Co- CCPI
Dr. R R Hermon, Associate Professor
C-GARD
CCPI2
Dr. L.G Giri Rao
Director Extension
Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad
Phone: 040- 24015326
Fax: 040-24013094
Email: de.angrau@yahoo.co.in
January 2009 to 9th Sep 2010
145.4863
Dr. P. Gidda Reddy
Director Extension
10th Sep 2010 to May 2013
Dr. Ramesh Kumar
Director Extension
June 2013 to Aug 2013
Dr. Shiv Shankar
Director Extension
Sep 2013 to Dec 2013
Dr. Raji Reddy
Director Extension
Jan 2014 to March 2014

11
Co- CCPI
Dr.P.PunaRao, Principal Scientist & Deputy Director Extension
Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University (ANGRAU), Rajendra Nagar, Hyderabad
Phone: 040- 24015326
Fax: 040-24013094
Email: punnarao17@rediffmail.com
June 2009 to March 2014
CCPI 3
Dr Arbind Sinha, Senior Professor
Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA), Shela, Ahmedabad
Phone: 02717-250308
Fax: 02717-250349
Email: arbind@micamail.in
84.7992
Co- CCPI
Mr. Vishal Moses Thomas
January 2010 to December 2010
Co- CCPI
Dr. Santosh Patra
Assistant professor
July 2011 to March 2014
CPI-Consortia Principal Investigator; CCPI-Consortia Co-Principal Investigator
11. Statement of budget released and utilization partner-wise (₹ in Lakhs):
CPI/ CCPI Name, designation & address)
Total budget sanctioned
Fund released
(up to Feb 2014)
Fund utilized
(up to Feb 2014)
CPI
Dr T. S. Anurag
Senior Research Scientist
Media lab Asia, 708-723
7th floor, Devika Tower
Nehru Place, New Delhi
222.4554
166.772
136.20
CCPI1
Dr. V Madhava Rao
Prof & Head, C-GARD, National Institute of Rural Development(NIRD),
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad
150.3507
94.388
85.10
CCPI2
Dr. Raji Reddy
Director Extension
Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University(ANGRAU), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad
145.4863
83.475
85.65
CCPI 3
Prof. Arbind Sinha Senior Professor
Mudra Institute of Communication, Shela, Ahmedabad
84.7992
45.239
45.21
Total
603.0716
389.874
352.16
CPI-Consortia Principal Investigator; CCPI-Consortia Co-Principal Investigator

12
Part-II: Technical Details
1. Introduction
Modernity and use of ICT has become synonyms. Agriculture and rural development have also been influenced by ICT. ICT in agriculture focuses on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development in India. It involves application of innovative ways to use Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) in the rural domain. The advancements in ICT can be utilised for providing timely & relevant information and services to the farmers, thereby facilitating an environment for more remunerative agriculture. Given the development scenario in Indian Agriculture, ICT movement is still evolving. All the ICT initiatives are not uniform with disparities in using different ICT platforms / models, the level and quality of information being disseminated, effort of individuals, public and private organizations, and acceptance of new technologies & need of the farmers in different areas. As a result, there have been many pilots / initiatives in the area of ICT applications in agriculture in India to address the needs of the farmers, but their actual usage and their ability to bring significant changes in their day to day life or in farm productivity or socio-economic development of the intended beneficiaries are to be understood.
The major issues in the area of ICT applications in Agriculture which needs to be addressed are the problems of farmers in using ICT applications to get any information on agriculture. These problems include simplicity & acceptability of technology, relevant & on-time delivery of practical solutions for the agriculture operations (right from the choice of inputs in the farming system to marketing of the farm products) at specific location.
There is a need to understand as to how far the ICT initiatives are able to address the farmers‟ information need, so that, better solutions can be developed to address those unmet information needs. Thus, with this objective, the project was sanctioned to the consortium led by Media Lab Asia, a section 25 company of Department of Electronics and Information Technology, MCIT, Government of India. The partners are National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmadabad and Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad.
The project envisages to study some of the past and present major ICT initiatives in agriculture in India, the extent of their success, the factors affecting the success as well as failure of such initiatives. Based on this study, the plan is to develop and suggest appropriate alternative ICT models to meet farmer‟s information needs with some field testing within the existing infrastructure. The ICT models generated in this project can be expected to provide a framework for various stakeholders in agriculture in design and implementation of effective ICT based solutions for agriculture.
2. Overall Sub-project Objectives
 Assessment of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture vis-à-vis the need of the farmer in various agro socio-economic situations.
 Suggest a set of alternative ICT models based on the assessment for the major situations.
 Limited validation of some of the models based on the infrastructure that is already available.

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3. Sub-project Technical Profile
S. No.
Objective
Work Plan
Monitoring Indicators
Expected output
Expected outcome
1.
Assessment of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture vis- à-vis the need of the farmer in various agro socio-economic situations.
Conduct 5 regional workshops on ICT in Agriculture
Identification of ICT initiatives in agriculture for further study
Data collection through surveys, Focused Group Discussions, PRAs, site visits etc
Assessment of farmers‟ information need
To conduct workshops on Information Need of Indian Farmers
Data analysis & Gap Identification of studied project & farmer problems
Assessment of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture vis-à-vis the need of the farmer
Workshop Proceedings
Reports on ICT initiatives in Agriculture
Farmer Need analysis report
ICT in Agriculture : Gaps & Way Forward
2.
Suggest a set of alternative ICT models based on the assessment for the major situations.
Design & development of feasible ICT Model(s)
To conduct a national workshop on ICT in Agriculture to share the findings of the field study & proposed model
Conduct a national workshop on communication gaps in agriculture
Customization of content framework as required by the selected farmers
Software Requirement Specifications
Software Design Document /
Workshop Proceedings
Framework for an alternative ICT Model based on assessment of major ICT initiatives in India & Information need of farmers

14
3.
Limited validation of some of the models based on the infrastructure that is
already available
Deployment of ICT Model through existing extension system in 4-5 selected locations
Training to field staff for using the system
Sensitization workshops for end users
Delivery of advisory services
Feed Back on the usage of the Model
Field demonstration of developed ICT model for testing
Alternative ICT Model to meet information needs of the farmers.
4. Baseline Analysis :
The objective of the field study was – Assessment of the major ICT initiatives in agriculture vis-à-vis the need of the farmer in various agro socio-economic situations. A logical approach was followed for selecting the ICT initiative samples. Initially regional workshops where conducted in five regions of the country viz., North, South, East, West and North-East with the objective of gaining knowledge of the ICT initiatives in agriculture that were in operation in the selected region. This helped the research team to finally prepare a list of ICT initiatives which were actually in place. A taxonomical approach was then used to classify ICT Initiatives in to various categories based on factors like region, modality, technology used, sectors belonging to viz., agriculture, allied and both etc. Thus, 26 ICT based initiatives representing these categories were finally chosen for detailed study. 57 villages chosen for the sampling of which 23 are control villages in four geographic regions, the data belongs to the year from May 2009 to December 2010. The participatory (beneficiary) and non-participatory / control villages1 are selected randomly out of a list of villages provided by the ICT initiators. The selection of study villages is through random sampling method to avoid biases. Four types of questionnaires were prepared to assess the initiative and document the information need of the farmers viz.
 Beneficiary Schedule
 Non-Beneficiary Schedule
 Village Situation Analysis Schedule
 ICT Provider Schedule
The Beneficiary and Non-Beneficiary questionnaires deal with the socio economic aspects of the farmers focusing on ICT and agriculture information. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Focus Group Discussion tools were also used to gather information from the field (28 PRAs and FGDs done). The purpose of conducting PRA in different villages was to validate the information gathered
1 Participatory village is the one where the ICT initiative has been implemented and the farmers of that village have been using and got benefitted by the project. On the other hand Non Participatory/control village is defined as one where the particular ICT initiatives are not implemented nor farmers are availing any benefits out of it.

15
from the structured questionnaire and most importantly to have an insight into the ground realities and the issues and problems in the working of the projects from the peoples perspective.
4.1 Sample Size and Variables
For the individual ICT initiative, the sample size contains 30 sample farmers from the selected beneficiary and non-beneficiary villages. The farmers of the selected beneficiary village were arrived from the list given by the ICT provider and the non-beneficiary farmers were selected based on the list of farmers given by the Agriculture officer of the non-beneficiary village randomly. Thus a total of 1381 farmers falling under 2 categories were interviewed. 710 respondents were beneficiary farmers and 671 were non-beneficiary farmers. Different variables were taken into consideration in the study which were categorised into independent and dependent variables. Simultaneously, an analysis is made on the impact of independent variables on the dependent variables. In order to cover all the dimensions of agriculture sector and its sensitive issues and orientation for different technology, a total of 159 parameters were considered, which included socio- economic, farming priority, sources of information, information need, adoption level, technological orientation, perception of ICT in agriculture and Impact analysis.
4.2 Data Analysis
Statistical calculation and comparison was done using Mean, Frequency, t – test, Standard deviation, Correlation was calculated by using the Pearson correlation method and Linear Regression model were considered for comparing and analyzing the perception of farmers towards economic, risk and scientific orientations of the ICT initiatives studied. Standard Deviation was used for analyzing the low, medium and high levels of each orientation of farmers i.e. economic, scientific and risk orientations. A format was prepared for documenting the status and gaps and required modifications for technology, process, content, scalability and replicability etc. for the initiatives studied.
The summary of the analysis done in various categories are given in the following sections:
4.2.1 Overall Situation
The overall situation of ICT application in India was analysed for the 26 ICT Initiatives studied in four different geographic locations of India to understand how far the ICT Initiatives have influenced the farmers in several fields, such as socio-economic situation, impact of ICT, etc. different questions were put to find out their information need, orientation, awareness, psychology, adaptability, etc.
Table 1
Ranking of Independent Variables and ICT Utilisation
Variables
First Rank
Second Rank
Third Rank
Farmers Age (Average)
42 Years
Highest Age Group
31-50 Yrs – 57%
51-70Yrs – 23%
21-30Yrs – 18%
Gender
Male – 90%
Female – 10%
Education
Middle School – 32%
Primary - 21%
High School- 17%
Family Type
Nuclear– 56%
Joint – 38%
Other – 2%
Occupation
Agri – 67%
Agri+Allied–18%
Agri+ Private– 10%
Possession of Information & Communication Gadgets
Mobile – 82%
TV – 73%
Newspaper– 67%
Preferred Mode of Information
Spoken – 64%
Read – 24%
Pictorial – 18%

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Land Size
Marginal – 44%
Small - 23%
Large – 9%
Farming Experience
11-20 Yrs – 37%
21-30 Yrs – 28%
Up to 10 Yrs – 23%
Major Crop
Paddy
Wheat
Cotton
Priority of Info (Crop Wise)
First - Production Tech & PHT – 54%
Second - Govt Scheme – 21%
Third - Market Info – 27%
Source of Information
Friends & Neighbor- 62%
ICT – 53%
Local I/P Dealer – 46%
Information need provided by ICT
Field Prep, Pest & Disease – 45%
Nutrient Mgmt – 41%
Input Avail – 40%
Adoption Level (Crop Wise)
Pest & Disease – 48%
Field Prep – 44%
Input Avail, Market – 39%
Impact of ICT
Yield of Crop – 56%
Market Facility 43%
Agri Income – 40%
After detailed study of beneficiary farmers, it is observed that the average age of surveyed Indian farmers is 42 years and 57 per cent of them fall in the age range of 31 – 50 years. They are mainly marginal Farmers (44 %), most of the farmers are have farming experience between 11 to 20 years (37 %), 32 per cent of the sample have studied up to middle school and 56 per cent of the farmers are living in nuclear family and 38 per cent as joint family. As observed, 67 per cent of the studied beneficiary farmers are only engaged in agriculture followed by 18 per cent in agriculture and allied and 10 per cent in agriculture and private sector. Majority of the farmers are growing paddy followed by wheat and cotton. The information and technology related to pest and disease (48 %) is the highest adopted one by the farmers followed by field preparation (44 %) and both input availability and market information (39 %). The farmers gave highest priority to production technology and post harvests technology (PHT) (54 %) followed by the second priority to government schemes (21 %) and third priority to the market information (27 %). Possession of mobile comes first with 82 % followed by TV (73 %) and newspaper (67 %). 62 per cent of the total surveyed farmers frequently go to their friends and neighbours to get the farm information followed by 53 per cent ICT. 45 per cent of the farmers say, field preparation and pest and disease are their first need for which they want the accurate and timely information. 41 per cent says nutrient management as the second need and 40 per cent says input availability as their third need. The impact of ICT analysis reveals that as a result of the adoption of ICT, 56 per cent of the farmers say, there is an increase in the yield of crops, 43 per cent of them say their access to market facility has increased and 40 per cent say their income has increased.
4.2.2 Modality wise Data Analysis
The modality or technology wise analysis was carried to understand how far the ICT Initiatives have influenced the farmers in various fields, such as socio-economic situation, impact of ICT, etc. Different questions were put to find out their information need, orientation, awareness, psychology, adaptability, etc.
The initiatives were classified into following categories:
 Mobile based Initiatives
 Mass media based Initiatives: Community Radio
 Web / Internet based Initiatives
 Call Centres based initiatives
The summary of the analysis of above category are as follows:

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4.2.2.1 Mobile based Initiatives:
Table 2
List of Studied Mobile Based Initiatives
S.No
Name of the ICT Initiatives
Initiator
Zone
Studied Area / Location
State
Technology Used
1
Soochana Se Samadhan
One World South Asia
North
Barabanki
Uttar Pradesh
IVRS - Voice
2
IKSL
IFFCO – Airtel
North
Karnal
Haryana
Voice Message
3
RML
Thomson Reuters
North
Hoshiarpur
Punjab
Text Message
4
MSSRF – FFMA
MSSRF
South
Pondicherry
Pondicherry
Text Message
 Average Age: The analysis of mobile initiatives revealed that the average age of beneficiary farmers is 39 years and 80 per cent of them fall in the age range of 31-50 Years.
 Type & Farming Experience: Majority of the farmers are small farmers (23 %) and have farming experience between 11 to 20 years (55 %).
 Education Level: Majority of the farmers have studied up to middle school (29 %),
 Family Status & Occupation: 62 per cent of the farmers are living in a joint family structure and 60 per cent of the farmers are mainly engaged in agriculture followed by 21 per cent in agriculture and allied sector.
 Major Crops: Majority of the farmers are growing Paddy followed by Wheat and Maize.
 Possession of Information Gadget: 94 per cent farmers possess Mobile followed 88 per cent TV and 70 per cent Newspaper.
 Information Priority: The farmers gave the highest priority to production technology (67 %) followed by the market information (48 %) and post-harvest technology (18%).
 Source of Information: 61 per cent of the farmers approach to friends and neighbours followed by 56 per cent to ICT provider and 50 per cent to local input dealers.
 Information Need: 58 per cent of the farmer‟s first information need is on pest and disease followed by market information (45 %) and weather information (35 %).
 Adoption Level: The information provided on pest and disease (59 %) is highest adopted by farmers followed by market information (45 %) and field preparation (35 %).
 Impact: There is a decrease in the input cost of cultivation for 33 per cent farmers and 26 per cent farmer says that their yield of the crop is increased.
 Perception: Among the users of the Mobile Based Initiatives, 48.33 per cent revealed that it is highly useful, 28.33 per cent says it is moderately useful and 23.33 per cent says it is less useful.

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4.2.2.2. Mass Media based Initiatives: Community Radio
Table 3
List of Studied community Radio Initiatives
SN
Initiator
Zone
Studied Area
State
Freq. (MHz)
1
Chala Ho Gaon Mein
Alternative for India Development
East
Palamu
Jharkhand
90.4
2
Vasundhara Vahini
Vidya Prathishtan Institute of Information Technology
West
Baramati
Maharashtra
90.4
3
Radio Bundelkhand
Development Alternative
West
Bundelkhand
Madhya Pradesh
90.4
4
Radio Sironj
Indian Society of Agri Business Professionals & Govt of MP
West
Sironj
Madhya Pradesh
90.4
 Average Age: Average age of farmers is 42 years and 54 per cent of them fall in the age range of 31- 50 years.
 Type & Farming Experience: Mainly the farmers are marginal (53 %) and most of the farmers have farming experience between 11 to 20 years (42 %).
 Education Level: 37 per cent of the total surveyed farmers have studied up to middle school followed by primary school (26 %) and PUC (14 %).
 Family Status & Occupation: 66 per cent of the farmers are living in nuclear family and 23 per cent in a joint family. 76 per cent of the farmers are only engaged in agriculture followed by 12 per cent as agriculture and private.
 Major Crops: Majority of the farmers grows Soya bean followed by Wheat and Paddy.
 Possession of Information Gadget: The possession of mobile comes first with 71 per cent followed by Radio (68 %) and Newspaper (36 %).
 Information Priority: The farmers gave the highest priority to production technology (70 %) followed by government schemes (52 %) and market information (43 %).
 Source of Information: 88 per cent farmer‟s source of information is friends and neighbours followed by local input dealer (68 %) and ICT provider (50 %)
 Information Need: 39 per cent of the farmer‟s first information need is nutrient management followed by field preparation (38 %) and credit and finance (38 %).
 Adoption Level: The information on pest and disease (23 %) is highest adopted by the farmers followed by nutrient management (23 %) and input availability (23 %).
 Impact: There is an increase in the yield of crop & agriculture income of 55 per cent farmers, and 44 per cent says that there cost of cultivation is decreased.
 Perception: Among the users of the Community Radio Based Initiatives, 14.40 per cent revealed that it is highly useful, 69.60 per cent says it is moderately useful and 16 per cent says it is less useful

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4.2.2.3 Web / Internet based Initiatives
Table 4
List of Studied Web / Internet based Initiatives
SN
Initiator
Zone
Studied Area
State
1
Warana Wired Village
Warana Co- operative Society - GOM
West
Kolhapur, Sangli
Maharashtra
2
ITC e choupal
ITC
West
Sehore
Madhya Pradesh
3
e- Krishi
KSITM
South
Malappuram
Kerala
4
IT Mediated Agriculture Extension System
BAU - Ranchi
East
Garwah
Jharkhand
5
e- gram
DRDA / NIC
East
Berhampur
Orissa
6
Sahaj Tathya Mitra
SREI - Sahaj
East
North 24 pargana
West Bengal
7
MSSRF – VRC
MSSRF – ISRO
South
Pondicherry
Pondicherry
8
Kissan Kerala
IIITM - K
South
Trivandrum
Kerala
9
Agrisnet
Govt. of MP
West
Bhopal
M.P
10
e- Sagu
IIIT Hyderabad
South
Nalgonda
Andhra Pradesh
11
a- AQUA
Media Lab Asia & IIT Mumbai
West
Pune
Maharashtra
12
V-Aqua
Byrraju Foundation
South
West Godavari
Andhra Pradesh
13
V-Agri
Byrraju Foundion
South
West Godavari
Andhra Pradesh
 Average Age: The average age of farmers is 44 Years and 52.63 per cent of them falls in the age range of 31 – 50 Years
 Type & Farming Experience: Mainly the farmers are marginal (46 %) followed by Small (23 %) and Large (12 %). Most of the farmers have farming experience between 11 to 20 years (32 %).
 Education Level: 33.95 per cent of the total surveyed farmers have studied up to Middle School followed by illiterate (20.26 %) and primary school (19.74 %).
 Family Status & Occupation: Most of the farmers (62 %) are living in a nuclear family. 62.11 per cent of the farmers are only engaged in agriculture followed by 24.21 per cent as agriculture and allied and 9.74 per cent as agriculture and private.
 Major Crops: Majority of the farmers are growing Paddy followed by Cotton and Pulses.
 Possession of Information Gadget: The possession of TV comes first with 83 per cent followed by Mobile (80 %) and Newspaper (24 %).
 Information Priority: The farmers gave highest priority to production technology (53 %) followed by government schemes (21 %) and market information (28 %).
 Source of Information: 61 per cent of the total surveyed farmer‟s information source is friends and neighbours followed by ICT (59 %) followed by Input Dealers (44 %).

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 Information Need: Field preparation and pest and disease is their first information need (57 %) followed by input availability (50 %) and nutrient management (49 %).
 Adoption Level: The information on field preparation (58 %) is highest adopted by farmers followed by pest and disease (56 %) and input availability (49 %).
 Impact: 69 per cent farmers accepted that there is an increase in their yield of crop and 52 per cent says they have reduced the use of pesticides.
 Perception: Among the users of the Internet Based Initiatives, 28.75 per cent revealed that it is highly useful, 51 per cent says it is moderately useful and 20.31 per cent says it is less useful.
4.2.2.4 Call Centre based initiatives:
Table 5
List of Studied Call Centre based initiatives
SN
Initiator
Zone
Studied Area
State
1
Kissan Call Centre
ISAP & Govt. of MP
West
Vidisha, Dhar, Khandwa, Rajgarh
Madhya Pradesh
2
Farmers Call Centre
Govt. of AP, ANGRAU – Hyderabad
South
Nellore
Andhra Pradesh
 Average Age: The average age of farmers is 34 Years and 47 per cent of them falls in the age range of 31- 50 Years.
 Type & Farming Experience: Mainly the farmers are marginal (53 %) followed by large (13 %) and medium (9 %). Most of the farmers have farming experience between 11 to 20 years (40 %).
 Education Level: 33 per cent of the total surveyed farmers have studied up to high school followed by degree (23 %) and Middle School (18 %).
 Family Status & Occupation: As far as Family type is considered, 52 per cent of the farmers are living in a joint family. 83 per cent of the farmers are only engaged in agriculture followed by 13 per cent as agriculture and private.
 Major Crops: Majority of the farmers are growing Paddy followed by Vegetables.
 Possession of Information Gadget: The possession of Mobile comes first (92 %) followed by TV (91 %) and Newspaper (68 %).
 Information Priority: The farmers gave highest priority to production technology and post- harvest technology (28 %) followed by market information (47 %) weather forecast (50 %).
 Source of Information: 47 per cent farmer‟s information source is friends and neighbours followed by ICT initiator (40 %) and information kiosk (37 %).
 Information Need: Farmer‟s first information need (50 %) is pest and disease followed by PHT and market information.
 Adoption Level: The information on pest and disease and Market Information is the highest adopted (50 %) by the farmers.
 Impact: 82 per cent of the farmers say that there was a decrease in the pesticides uses, 60 per cent of them says they have reduced the use of chemical fertilizer and 58 per cent says their area of cultivation has been increased.
 Perception: Among the users of the Mobile Based Initiatives, 30 per cent revealed that it is highly useful, 55 per cent says it is moderately useful and 15 per cent says it is less useful.

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5. Research Achievements with Summary
5.1 Division of work among partners:
Partner
Key Roles and Responsibilities
Media Lab Asia
(Consortium Leader)
Overall project management, design of the field Study, coordination in field study, Identification of gaps, design & development / customization of ICT models, development of content framework, coordination in pilot field testing, preparation of report.
National Institute
of Rural
Development (NIRD)
Designing of Research Methodology, Field study - Farmers Need Assessment & ICT initiatives, Gap Analysis, Validation of proposed ICT Models, preparation of report.
Acharya N G Ranga
Agricultural
University (ANGRAU)
Design of the field Study, findings on problems / needs of the farmers, study of existing contents, gap analysis, raw content provider, Implement / demonstration of new ICT models in selected areas, preparation of report.
Mudra Institute of
Communications Ahmedabad
(MICA)
Participation in design of the field study, study of existing content delivery channels, gap analysis, development of dissemination framework, innovative ideas for promotion of new ICT models & preparation of report.
5.2 Understanding ICT Initiatives in Agriculture:
The study conducted of 26 ICT initiatives in agriculture in India covers technologies which are being used in these initiatives like Internet, Mobile phone, Radio and others. Effectiveness and challenges in each of these initiatives are gauged in this study. These initiatives were to increase agricultural output by informing and educating farmers according to their needs. Following ICT initiatives were studied:
Table 6
List of ICT Initiatives Studied
Soochna Se Samadhan (Lifeline)
IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited
Ruters Market Light (RML)
Kissan Soochna Kendra
IT Mediated Agri. Extension
Chala Ho Gaon Mein
Grasso PCO
e-Gram
Sahaj Tathya Mitra
Community Radio – Sironj
Warana wired Village
Kissan Call Center
Agrisnet
Community Radio- Bundelkhand
Vasundhara Vahini
Billing Machine
ITC –eChaupal
aAQUA
e-Sagu
V-Aqua
V-Agri
Famers Call Center (FCC)
MSSRF FFMA
MSSRF (VRC)
e-Krishi
Kisan Kerala

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Government, non- government organizations and corporate have initiated the above ICT initiatives in agriculture in India. Many of them are funded and run by initiator agencies but few of them have been sustained on their own. To bring the supply and demand approach of the information, these initiatives were also divided into three categories viz.:
- Supply vs. Demand Approach,
- Supply Approach
- Demand Approach of Information.
5.2.1 Supply Vs. Demand Approach
Mostly the initiatives which were using Community Radio as a tool for disseminating agricultural information was considered as one of the major initiative to breeze the supply and demand gap of information. This not only supplies customized information according to the need of people in specific areas also addresses the queries from the community members as per the requirement. Four community radio initiatives in different parts of the country were studied to understand how this works with a supply vs. demand approach of information dissemination and highlighted major communication need of the people, information gap and technological gap from the areas where the community radio operates. Initiatives like Vasundhara Vahini (Maharashtra), Radio Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh), Community Radio Station – Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh) and Chala Ho Gaon Mein, (Jharkhand) are accepted and utilized by the farmers because they are in their own language for their better understanding.
5.2.2 Supply Driven Approach of ICT
Mobile phone services based initiatives are increasing reach of information in the field of agriculture and were considered under this supply driven approach. Initiatives like Reuters Market Light, Iffco Kisan Sanchar Limited and Fisher Friend Mobile application are taking places in various parts of the country to educate and inform farmers with the motive of helping them solve their daily agriculture related problems. These services are being established to facilitate farmers with two way communication to update themselves with current activities in their desired filed. Mobile phone services include SMS and mobile applications to make operation easier.
5.2.3 Demand Driven Approach of ICT
Spectacular growth in ICT and specifically the internet has the potential to offer a new generation of tools for rural development and the internet based initiatives were considered under demand driven approach. However, the poor rural communities don‟t have the necessary awareness or skills or facilities to contribute to their own developments by using ICTs. Some initiatives were studied to understand how internet can be major drivers of the demand driven approach of ICT and address the major problems faced by rural farmers. Internet based ICT initiatives reach to the farmers in different ways. There are kiosks and information centers where farmers can find relevant information. The initiatives have large number of options in information for the farmers. It is provided to the individuals according to their demands. Internet based service centers such as V-Agri in West Godavari, and V- Aqua in Krishna District, e-Sagu in Nalgonda, Andra Pradesh, e-Gram in Orissa, Sahaj Tathya Mitra in West Bengal include all agricultural wings such as Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Aqua culture, Market, irrigation, fertilizers and weather information. It also helps in updating framers about latest rural technologies for their improvement.

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5.3 Major Research Findings from Field Study of 26 ICT Initiatives
The overall situation of ICT application in India was analysed for the 26 ICT Initiatives studied in four different geographic locations of India to understand how far the ICT Initiatives have influenced the farmers in several fields, such as socio-economic situation, impact of ICT, etc. different questions were put to find out their information need, orientation, awareness, psychology, adaptability, etc. Special focus was given to the small and marginal farmers for using ICT applications in various agro and socio-economic situations, the data was gathered by conducting a primary survey using structured schedules / questioners. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was used. Five Regional Workshops were conducted across North, South, East, West and North East regions of India. The variables considered during the field study of ICT initiatives were:
- Socio – Economic Situation of the Village
- Farming Priorities
- Sources of Information for Farmers
- Information Need of Farmers
- Communication Gaps in Agriculture
- ICT Adoption Level of Farmer
- Technological Orientation
- Impact analysis
Analysis of each initiative is done by grouping different parameters into the above categories and analyzes them. The broad categorizations were: Pan India Data Analysis, Modality Wise Data Analysis, Zone Wise Data Analysis and Individual Initiatives Wise Data Analysis. Some of the results from the field study are as follows:
5.3.1 Possession of Information Gadgets Across Zones
Considering the information gadgets in North zone, the possession of mobile comes first with 91 per cent followed by TV (84 %) and newspaper (67 %). In South zone TV comes first with 96 per cent followed by mobile (92 %) and newspaper (72 %). In East zone radio comes first with 52 per cent followed by mobile (45 %) and newspaper (41 %). In West zone mobile comes first with 85 per cent followed by newspaper (74 %) and radio (69 %). The analysis for initiative wise possession of ICT gadgets in each zone is as follows.
5.3.2 Source of Information:
In North zone, 67 per cent of the total surveyed farmers‟ first priority is friends and neighbours to get the farm information, while in South it is ICT initiative (68 %), in Eastern zone, it is local input dealer (95 %) and in West it is same as in South i.e. ICT Initiative which is 57 per cent. The second priority for source of information is local input dealer (67 %) in North, friends and neighbors (66 %) in South 85 per cent in East 46 per cent in West. The third priority for source of information in North is ICT initiative (66 %), TV in South (44 %), NGO in East (47 %) and government extension in West (31 %).
5.3.3 Information Needs of Farmers Across Zone
In North zone first priority of farmers information need is pest and disease (78 %) followed by market information (60 %) and weather information (47%). In South zone first priority is field preparation (58%) followed by is pest and disease (49%) and market information (44 %). In East zone first priority is government schemes (100 %) followed by field preparation & Input availability (92.5%). In West zone first priority is credit and finance (55 %) followed by nutrient management and Input availability (54 %).

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5.3.4 ICT Adoption Across Zone
In order to find out the adoption of ICT technologies by the beneficiary farmers, few questions are put which include ICT utilization, ICT awareness and ICT perception. The results reveal that majority of the farmers (67 %) in North are using ICT by self-followed by West (59 %), South (46 %) and East (45 %). The ICT utilization by others among all the zones, majority are in South that is 53 per cent followed by West (39 %), East (35 %) and North (33 %).
5.3.5 Adoption Level of Farmers Across Zone
The first priority of adoption level in North and West zones is given to pest and disease with 62 per cent and 53 per cent respectively where as it is field preparation and input availability in South (68 %) and Eastern zones (100 %). The second priority varies in all the four zones, which is nutrient management in North (31 %), pest and disease in South (60 %), government schemes and insurance in Eastern zone (96 %) and input availability in West zone (52 %). The third priority is given to market information in North, South and West which is 30 per cent, 50 per cent and 49 per cent respectively. In East zone, it is market information along with pest and disease which is 81 per cent.
5.3.6 Impact of ICT Initiatives on Farmers Across Zone
Impact of ICT initiatives on various factors has been classified in various zones. In North zone 23 per cent farmers mentioned that the use of chemical fertilizer has been decreased, 22 per cent farmers mentioned that their input cost has been decreased and 18 per cent mentioned that their income of agriculture has been increased. In South zone 69 per cent farmers mentioned that their yield of crop is increased. 48 per cent farmers mentioned that their input cost has been decreased and 47.5 per cent farmers mentioned that their area under profitability has been increased. In East zone, 83 per cent of the farmers mentioned that their yield of crop has increased while 78 per cent farmers mentioned that their agriculture income has been increased and 82 per cent mentioned that the area under profitability has been increased. In West zone, 53 per cent farmers mentioned that their marketing facility has been increased, whereas 47 per cent farmers mentioned that their area under irrigation has been increased while 44 per cent farmers mentioned that their yield of crop has been increased.
5.4 Need vs. Gap
A common information need that has been emerged from all villages is „Specific Information‟, which is „local‟ in nature against the generic information provided. For instance, farmers in Thirvananthapuram, Pondicherry, Bhopal, Kolhapur, Baramati, and Jharkhand who were availing the services of various agricultural initiatives through Internet based technology, require local market prices/information to facilitate their farm practices. But the information provided to them is through various programmes is generic in nature. The same applies to weather or crop related information. This results in the information given by experts being found alien by the farmers.
The other area of communication gap is the lack of feedback in communication. To presume that lack of feedback system would be the forte of areas like Mobile and Internet based services would be correct completely. This research study shows that farmers, who are using the services like community radio, a community effort in Orccha and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Baramati, Maharashtra have also mentioned Feedback in communication as a requirement. Since Community Radio caters to an array of issues right from women to corruption, to social evils, education etc., the proportion of agriculture programming is limited. This has emerged as a requirement from farmers who are listeners of community radios in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

25
In Mobile and Internet based services like Soochna Se Samadhan in Barabanki, Madhya Pradesh, KISSAN, Kerala, FISHER FRIEND mobile application, Pondicherry, or E-Krishi, a common requirement of local and simple (jargon-free) language was presented by the farmer community. Farmers are not able to connect with the languages used by experts. Also knowledge of the implementing agency and content provider of information on the part of the farmer is a requirement that farmers using Mobile and Internet based services presented. In initiatives like V-Agri, V-Aqua and e-Sagu of Andhra Pradesh there is a common problem of direct approach to the expert and lack of sufficient field coordinators.
In Corporate led initiatives like Reuters Market Light, where farmers are supposed to pay for information, money surfaced as a strong impediment in getting access to information. Among the other requirements posed by the farmers, were the need for promotional activity about the information/communication system to promote its usage, timings of agriculture based programmes to facilitate listening from farmers, updated information about government schemes, new scheme varieties etc.
5.4.1 Major Observations on the ICT Initiatives:
The following are the major observations based on the study of the major ICT platforms being used for delivery of information to the farmers:
5.4.1 Mobile based initiative
 Information should be provided through both voice and text SMS (in regional language) as farmers are more comfortable with voice mode than in text mode because of the problems of language barriers and levels of literacy.
 Farmers need to be registered with their farm details so that personalized care can be provided to each farm.
 In most of the cases the information provided is one way i.e. from top to bottom. It should include the two way communication system.
 Information should be provided as per the requirement of the farmers in the local language, in convenient mode and in the convenient time.
 An application to send the images / videos through mobile phone may also be developed, so that the farmer can also send the images/videos as and when required.
 Dissemination of information through mobile alone is not sufficient, it should be augmented with other extension services e.g. follow-up visits by the crop experts coupled with quality farm inputs.
5.4.2 Internet based initiative
 Illiteracy among the farmers is one of the major drawbacks for accessing the information through internet. Regular training and orientation is necessary for farmers regarding usage of internet technology.
 Websites / portals are not updated regularly and also the information available is generic nature. The portals should be user friendly and the information should be in regional languages and location specific.
 More agriculture based services have to be developed / implemented to run on the available internet based kiosks for the farming community. The centers should be set up in rural areas rather than urban centers.

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 A provision should be given to the farmers to consult directly with the experts as it would be more beneficial for them as they can get immediate solutions for their critical problems.
 The internet kiosk may also act as a one stop shop for the farmers; they should provide linkages with all the service providers i.e. financial service, input dealers, output procurement agencies, warehousing agencies etc.
5.4.3 Community Radio Station (CRS)
 Radio Stations provide one way communication, thus farmers cannot ask for the immediate solutions to their specific problems.
 The major challenges in CRS are competition with the other commercial stations, limited time of broadcasting, and repetition of the programs and sustainability of the community radio stations.
 CRS has a limited frequency, thus to reach larger people, the content may need to be recorded and sold / distributed in CDs.
 Coordination is required with local government agencies, agriculture universities and research centers involved in agriculture development to provide need specific programmes on agriculture to the beneficiaries
 More promotional and awareness activities are required to increase awareness followed by the participation of the progressive farmers.
 More involvement of community is required in identification of issues and need of the area.
5.4.4 Call Centre / IVRS
 General information is provided instead of area specific information.
 Lack of background information and farmer‟s database (farm and farming details).
 The feedback mechanism requires to be more effective so that it ensures quality..This will in turn ensure effectiveness of the responses farmers get from the experts.
 Poor feedback mechanism and quality control system.
 The mode of information should include voice and image, video and text mode, this will enable the farmers and expert to communicate & understand the exact problems in specific cases.
 Lack of close monitoring and field visit by the agriculture experts. Number of Scientists or experts should be increased and they should visit the field at regular intervals.
5.6 The Way Forward
The major findings of this study are crucial for choosing and designing the future strategy and system to provide „Information to the farmers as and when they require‟. There is a requirement for an integrated approach which should cater to the problems of farmers in using ICT applications in agriculture such as accessibility, acceptability, simplicity, timely & useful information (right from the choice of inputs in the farming system to marketing of the farm products) for specific locations and in simple local language.
In view of the above requirements, the following integrated approach is envisaged in an ICT based holistic extension system:
 There is a need to cater to the farmer queries in multimedia mode i.e. voice mode (i.e. in local language) along with text, image and video.
 Requirement of farmer friendly and simple interfaces to access information and advisory services in effective manner preferably through smart phones.

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 Need is to develop a combination of push and pull based interactive system (essentially pull based) so that the communication can be possible in both ways, i.e. from farmers to expert and vice versa.
 Requirement for interlinking of location specific information from various service providers to cater the specific needs of the farmers
 Requirement for interlinking of location specific information from various service providers to cater to the specific needs of the farmers
 Requirement of maintaining farmer‟s database with their farming details, by referring to it an expert can provide appropriate solution to concerned farmer‟s query.
 Requirement of expert support system which has user friendly interfaces and reference content (e.g SAU‟s Knowledge repository, farmer‟s details, FAQs from the farmers query, etc) for fast and proactive delivery of advices. The system should also facilitate an expert to be virtually available by giving him any time anywhere access.
Fig 1 Way Forward
5.5 Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)
„Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)‟ has been designed after rigorous field study of various ICT initiatives in agriculture in India and needs assessment of farmers with an objective to provide ‘Information to the farmers as and when they require’. This is an integrated model largely integration of Toll free IVRS, Smart Phone Application and Interactive Portal.
Fig 2: The IIDS formulation strategy

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The major limitation found in the existing information dissemination systems viz. call center, IVRS system and mobile services are lack of database of farmers, such as location of the farmer, type of field, crops grown, status of the farmer, need of the farmer and other demographic and agri profile. Thus, in the proposed system each farmer have to register himself by providing certain details which would be stored in the database and a profile and requirement (need) of each farmer would be recorded. The agri expert would provide the personalized solution based on the inputs provided by the farmers and his available profile. Also this system would allow farmers to send images / videos of the field along with their queries by using a smart phone. This system would be helpful in addressing farmers‟ information need on important aspects including agriculture technology, crops / plant protection, weather information, market prices, government schemes etc in location specific manner.
Table 7
Approach Adopted in IIDS to Overcome the Existing Gaps in ICT in Agriculture
Gaps Identified in ICT Initiatives Way Forward to be adopted in designing the ICT Model Approach Adopted in IIDS The technology use has been in isolation – one or the other Requirement of Integrated approach IIDS is an integrated system using Web, IVRS and Mobile Technologies to provide alternative options to the farmers to connect to the experts based on the availability and accessibility. Generic Information Delivered & No direct interaction with expert (for push based services) Requirement for farmer‟s specific information The agri expert provides the personalized solution based on the inputs provided by the farmers and his available profile. Also the farmer will receive only the information for which he/she has subscribed. This system has a capability to cater farmers‟ information need on important aspects including agriculture technology, crops / plant protection, weather information, market prices, government schemes etc in location specific manner. Language / Literacy Barrier Requirement for voice & Image based information exchange IIDS allows farmers to interact with the experts in their own language through IVRS. Also the farmer can raise the query and receive the solutions in Voice, Text and multimedia format for better understanding of the problem as per their choice through Smart Phone and Portal. Limited records of the farmers & their farming details Requirement for Updated information. In IIDS, registration of the farmer with their farm and crop profile is the basic requirement to avail the advisory services. All the records and transactions happen through IIDS is recorded for further references. Largely Push based services and information delivery at undesired time Requirement of right information at right time as desired by farmer IIDS has an option for Information Aggregation & Dissemination. The system will aggregate data from various reliable information sources and disseminates it to the registered users depending on the user‟s specified (as mentioned during their registration to the service) time and mode.

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Mostly service available only at prescribed time (i.e. office hours) Service timing required as convenient to farmers IIDS has an option where the farmers can record their queries in case the expert is not available at lab and during post office hours. The query will be answered by expert, once the expert will login back to system. No / very limited follow up of services Requirement for Experts field Visit and other feedback mechanisms IIDS has a facility to monitor the functioning of the whole system to ensure the proper quality of content and feedback. Option has been provided to collect the feedback from the farmers regarding the satisfaction level of the advices delivered to them and the effects on their produce. Abundant / Generic information is provided Requirement for region & farmer Specific filtered Information IIDS has specific features to cater the location specific problems through the decentralized multimedia agro advisory labs. These labs can be established at specified locations (e.g at Krishi Vigyan Kendra for one District) to cater and manage location specific queries / problems. These labs will automatically receive the problems from the registered farmers related to that particular location. One way communication Requirement for 2 way communication medium IIDS is a pull and push based system where agriculture related information can be pulled by the farmers by using the phone (mobile & landline) or web (kiosks) and vice versa the specific information can be pushed by the agriculture experts to the farmers. Missing last mile accessibility on the information available at various domain research institutions Requirement of expert support system linked with information database available at various institutions IIDS has an Expert Support System (ESS) which helps the expert to access the relevant knowledge repository of various domain institutions linked with ESS. This helps the expert to suitably answer to the queries which are not in the area of his expertise and thus providing farmer a one stop shop for solution to his varied argo-related queries.
5.5.1 Major Components of IIDS : IIDS has two major components:
(i) Personalized Agro Advisory – Multi Mode Interfaces for farmers to interact with experts through Text, Voice, Image and Video. Farmers can seek advices during pre-cultivation, cultivation and post-harvest period.
(ii) Specific Information Services – Multi Mode interfaces for farmers to post their queries and receive location specific Information on various aspects e.g. Input Dealers; Weather Based Advisories; Market Price; Finance / Insurance Providers; Government Schemes; Latest News and Emergency services etc.

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Fig 3: The flow diagram showing the IIDS functioning system
Fig 4 Flow chart for Information Dissemination
5.5.2 USP of IIDS System
 Personalized „Agro Advisory‟ Based on „Farm and Farmer Profile‟.
 ‟Personal Assistance‟ to raise „Multimedia Query‟
 Live Interaction with Scientists
 Facility to „Refer Critical Problems‟ to relevant „Crop Specialist‟ available virtually
 ‟Round the Clock Query Registration Facility‟ through IVRS & Smart Phones
 ‟Anywhere Anytime Access‟ on Past Advisories
 Facility to „Push Emergency Message‟ to Farmers based on Location and Crops
 ‟Network Independent‟ – Accessible from All Networks
5.5.3 IIDS Applications & its Features:
IIDS is an integrated system with a combination of Web, IVRS and Mobile Technologies for dissemination of farm and farmer specific advises/information at user desired mode and time. The major applications are - Mobile based application, Web based application and IVRS based application. The major features are as follows:
5.5.3.1 Mobile application for smart phones
 Standalone Application
 Offline query aggregation capabilities.

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 Data Synchronization at hot spots / areas of data connectivity (store and forward).
 Offline capability of display of last synchronized data.
 Coordinator information system (profile page, visit scheduling, list of registered farmers).
 Farmer registration and profile.
5.5.3.2 Web based application
 Colour coded iconic based logins for various type of users
 Expert support system linked with authentic content / information service providers.
 Information dissemination and aggregation system (multi model).
 Centralized common database for web, mobile & IVRS applications.
 Reports and analytics.
5.5.3.3 IVRS based application
 Call incoming facility on expert‟s computer.
 Call forwarding and recording facility in case if the experts are not available.
 Intelligent enough to route the call to the relevant experts.
 24x7 query registration facility for farmers.
Fig 5: The functionaries & devices involved in IIDS
5.5.4 Stakeholders of IIDS
Fig 6: The stakeholders of IIDS model
5.6 Pilot Testing of Interactive Information Dissemination System (IIDS)
IIDS has been field tested as Annapurna Krishi Prasaar Seva (AKPS) with 1200 farmers in 12 villages
of KVK Kampasagar (Nalgonda), Nellore, Wyra and Amadalavalasa in Andhra Pradesh. A centralized
server with communication network (Leased lines, PRI lines and Toll Free IVRS) has been established
at ANGRAU, Hyderabad. The „Annapurna Krishi Prasaar Seva‟ was launched on 23 March 2013 by
the Secretary to Government of India, Department of Communications and Information Technology.

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Fig 7: The launching of IIDS on 23rd March 2013 at NIRD & ANGRAU, Hyderabad
Initially two KVKs viz Nellore and Kampasagar was connected through Virtual Private Network (VPN) lines and Toll Free IVRS (1800-425-3141) from March 2013 onwards and later from September 2013, two more KVKs viz Wyra and Amadalavalasa were connected to the ANGRAU server for providing agro advisory services through IIDS system.
Fig 8: The Flow diagram of IIDS operations
5.7 Implementation Steps for Pilot Testing of IIDS in Field
For validation of IIDS model, twelve villages from four districts of Andhra Pradesh have been selected based on the infrastructure and the resources available. The selected villages of Nalgonda district are Somaram, Mupparam and Balemla. Mypadu, Pedaputhedu and Vavveru villages are selected from Nellore district. The selected villages of Srikakulam district are Budumuru, Dharmavaram and Kondavalasa. Gannavaram, Lokavaram and Nacharam are the villages selected from Khammam district. The following steps were taken for the pilot testing of IIDS:
5.7.1 Bench Mark Analysis
The bench mark survey has been conducted to know the pre implementation condition of the villages and as well to develop rapporting with the villagers. While analysis the Gender wise distribution of the respondents‟ it depicts that the most of the farmers are Male and more than 50% of them are belongs to Middle age Group. It is observed that the younger age group of farmers is fascinated to

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adopt the ICT and its application as they have enthusiasm to get more profit in agriculture and more than 50% of them are marginal farmers. While observing the ICT gadgets possess, access and no access among the beneficiaries selected sample, 89.3% of the beneficiaries‟ posses and accessing the mobile phone, 86.83% beneficiaries are posses and accessing the television. 33.5% beneficiaries are accessing newspaper.46.66 posses land phones and even 6.6%farmersposses computers. All this data and also field observations clearly implicates that majority of the farmers are having mobile phone and it easy to reach the farmer mobile.
5.7.2 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique was applied during Benchmark Survey to find out the social, economic situations of all the six villages with a special emphasis on agriculture situation. The principle and methods of PRA was adhered for gathering information on nine PRA tools. The specific PRA tools applied for drawing results include – Rapport Building, Transect Walk, Social Map, Resource Map, Seasonal Map, Matrix Ranking, Preference Ranking, Group Discussion and Focused Group Discussion. The observations and findings of each village are as follows:
1. Somaram village: Somaram village is 9.5 km distance from its Mandal Nereducherla and 20 km distance from its important business town Miryalaguda and 57 km from district headquarters Nalgonda. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Redgram, Horsegram, Greengram, Cowpea, Vegetables - Lettuce, Ladiesfinger, Brinjal, Tomato, Cucumber, Fish and Prawn. The yield of rice is 35-40 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1100. Samba Masuri, MTU-1010, NLR and JGL varieties are the most preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the major occupation in the village. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy and fisheries. The fields are under Nagarjuna Sagar Canal irrigation. But because of Government decisions, they don't get required water to their fields. The major soils of Somaram village include Black Cotton, Red and Sandy loam.
2. Mupparam village: Mupparam village is 5 km distance from its Mandal Nidamanoor and, 27 km distance from its important business town Miryalaguda and 61 km from its district headquarters Nalgonda. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Redgram, Cotton, Vegetables- Chillies, Brinjal, Bendi, Tomato, leafy vegetables, Mousambi and Fisheries. The yield of rice is 30-35 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1200. BPT and MTU-1010 varieties are the most preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. The yield of fish is 4 Quintals per acre and Price is Rs. 50000/- per one ton of fish. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Mupparam. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy and fisheries. The fields are under Nagarjuna Sagar Canal and also under lift irrigation. The villagers are directly pumping water from the canal through private motors. The major soils of Mupparam village include Black Cotton and Red soils.
3. Balemla village: Balemla village is 10 km distance from its Mandal Suryapet and 150 km distance from its important business town Vijayawada and 61 km from district head quarters Nalgonda. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Redgram, Cotton, Horsegram, Greengram, Blackgram, Groundnut, Castor, Sugarcane, Vegetables – Chillies, Ladiesfinger,Brinjal, Tomato, Cucumber, Fish and Mousambi, Lemon, Mango, Sapota and Fisheries. The yield of rice is 30-35Quintols/acre and price of each bag is Rs 1200/1300. Major occupation for the villagers is paddy and usually

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preferring only three varieties for cultivation i.e., 1010, NLR and BPT. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the major occupation in the village. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy and fisheries. The fields are under the irrigation of Sriram Sagar canal. The major soils of Balemla village include Red, Black and Saline soils which are problematic.
4. Pedaputhedu village: Pedaputhedu village is 7 km distance from its Mandal Dagadarthi and 25 km distance from its district head quarters Nellore. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include only Paddy. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the major occupation in the village. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Pedaputhedu cheruvu for irrigation and drinking purpose. The major soils of Pedaputhedu village include Black Cotton, Red, Sandy and Sandy Loams. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the major occupation for the villagers is paddy and usually preferring only four varieties for cultivation i.e., 1010, BPT, NLR Masori and CR 1009 simultaneously or whichever is available.
5. Vavveru village: Vavveru village is located on the banks of Kanigiri reservoir canal. Vavveru is 5 km distance from its Mandal Buchreddypalem and Nellore is the district headquarters which is 22 km from Vavveru. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the main paddy varieties of the village are 1010, CR 1009, BPT 1444 and NLR Masuri. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that the village is basically paddy cultivating dependant village. The other crops cultivating in the village include sugarcane, banana, coconut, vegetables and flowers (Jasmine and Marigold). Govt. has fixed paddy price as Rs. 9500/ per quintal but millers and other buyers are fixing Rs. 8,000/- per quintal instead farmers has to sign for Rs. 8,500/- on the vouchers. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Kanigiri reservoir for irrigation and drinking purpose. The major soils of Vavveru village are Black soils, Red soils, Sandy soils and Sandy loams.
6. Mypadu village: Mypadu village is well developed as it is one of the tourism spot of the district. It is located at 10 km distance from its Mandal head-quarters Indukurupet and 22 km distance from its district head-quarters Nellore. The village possesses 2 banks viz., Rural Cooperative Society Branch and State Bank of India within the village. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Groundnut, Greengram, Blackgram and Vegetables- Chillies, Brinjal, Bendi, Tomato, leafy vegetables, Fisheries and Prawns. The yield of rice is 2000 to 2200 kg/acre. MTU-1010 variety prefer for both the seasons whereas BPT, CR 1009 and NLR for Rabi season. The fish variety growing in the village include Katla, Rohu, Carp, Mrugal and Bangaru. During Matrix Ranking it was found that MTU-1010 is available seasonally followed by NLR. For higher yield MTU-1010 and CR 1009 are preferred. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that aquaculture and agriculture are the main occupations of people living in Mypadu. Very few are engaged in dairy. The fields are under Mypadu Cheruvu and Jawahar Canal irrigation. The major soils of Mypadu village include black soils, Red soils, Sandy soils and Sandy loams.
7. Lokavaram village: Lokavaram is a small Village in Kalluru Mandal in Khammam District of Andhra Pradesh State. It comes under Lokavaram Panchayat. It is located 49 KM towards East from District headquarters Khammam. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Rice, Cotton, Maize, Green gram,

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Groundnut, Mango, Chillies, Sugarcane, fish, prawn, etc. The yield of rice is 35-40 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1100. 1010, Samba Masuri, NLR Masori and JGL varieties are preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. The yield of fish is 2.5 tons per acre and the cost of fish Rs. 30,000/- per ton. The yield of prawn is 1 to 2 tons per acre. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Mupparam. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy and fisheries. The fields are under Pedda Cheruvu Canal irrigation. The major soils of Lokavaram village include Red, Black and Sandy soils.
8. Nacharam village: Nacharam is situated in Enkuru tehsil and located in Khammam district of Andhra pradesh. It is one of 11 villages in Enkuru Block along with villages like Kesupalle and Medepalle. It comes under Nacharam Panchayat. It is located 55 KM from District headquarters Khammam. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Rice, Chillies, Sun hemp, Redgram, Black gram, Subabul, Papaya, etc. The yield of rice is 35-40 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1100. Samba Masuri, NLR Masori and JGL varieties are preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Nacharam. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy and fisheries. Majority of the fields are under Wyra project irrigation. The major soils of Nacharam village include Red, Black and Sandy soils.
9. Gannavaram village: Gannavaram is a Village in Wyra Mandal in Khammam District of Andhra Pradesh State. It comes under Gannavaram Panchayat. It is located 40 KM towards East from District headquarters Khammam. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Chillies, Cotton, Maize, Red gram, Sugarcane, Black gram, Mango, etc. The yield of rice is 35-40 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1200. 1010, Samba Masuri, NLR Masori and JGL varieties are the most preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Gannavaram. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Wyra Project Canal. The major soils of Gannavaram village include Red, Black and Sandy soils.
10. Budumuru village: Budumuru is a small Village in Laveru Mandal in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh State. It comes under Budumuru Panchayat. It is located 20 KM from District headquarters Srikakulam. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Rice, Cotton, Maize, Sugarcane, Green gram, Black gram, Casuarina, Eucalyptus, etc. The yield of rice is 30-40 bags/acre with 80 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1200. The Paddy varieties growing in the village are Samba Masuri, Sona Masuri, Swarna Masuri, MTU-1010, MTU – 1061, MTU – 1001, MTU - 1070. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Budumuru. Simultaneously very few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Narayanasagaram Canal and also under Bore well irrigation. The major soils of Budumuru village include Black and Red soils.
11. Dharmavaram village: Dharmavaram is a village in Etcherla Mandal in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh State. It comes under Dharmavaram Panchayat. It is located 20 KM from District headquarters Srikakulam During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Paddy, Maize, Chillies, etc. The yield of rice

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is 35-40 bags/acre with 70 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1200. Samba Masuri, Swarna Masuri and MTU 1010 varieties are preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of the people living in Dharmavaram. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Canal irrigation. The major soils of Dharmavaram village include Black and Red soils.
12. Kondavalasa village: Kondavalasa is a village in Sarubujjili Mandal in Srikakulam District of Andhra Pradesh State. It comes under Kondavalasa Panchayat. It is located 31 KM from District headquarters Srikakulam. During Seasonal mapping it was seen that the seasonal crops cultivating by the farmers include Rice, Red gram, Green gram, Black gram, Banana and Cashewnut etc. The yield of rice is 34-38 bags/acre with 80 Kg per bag and price of each bag is Rs 1000/1200. Samba, Sona Masuri, Swarna Masuri, MTU 1010, MTU 1061, MTU 1001, and MTU 1070 simultaneously or whichever is available varieties are preferred paddy varieties by the farmers respectively. During Focused Group Discussion it was found that agriculture is the main occupation of people living in Kondavalasa. Simultaneously few farmers are associated with dairy. The fields are under Peddacheruvu tank irrigation. The major soils of Kondavalasa village include Red and Black soils.
Fig 9: Collection of baseline data in Mupparam village and GPS points in Somaram village of Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh
5.7.3 Farmer Sensitization Meetings: The demonstration cum sensitization meetings for the farmers was undertaken in all the project villages. The method of raising queries and getting answers to the farmers through smart phone were explained and demonstrated. The meetings were also participated by the local agricultural departments of the concerned area.
Fig 10: The sensitization workshop conducted in the implementing villages of Nalgonda and Nellore

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5.7.4 Training of Subject Matter Specialist (SMS), Field Training Assistant (FTA) and Data Entry Operator (DAs): Twelve FTAs and Four DAs have been recruited at 4 KVKs. These FTAs and DAs were trained along with the Subject Mater Specialists (SMSs) on operation of IIDS applications (mobile, web and IVRS based applications).
Fig 11: The capacity building programmes organized for FTAs, DEOs and SMSs
5.7.5 Registration of farmers: 1200+ farmers are registered for Annapurna Krishi Prasaar Seva from twelve villages of Nellore, Nalgonda, Khammam and Srikakulam district.
Fig 12: The registration of the farmers for pilot testing of the IIDS project
5.7.6 Establishment of Information Corner: An „Annapurna Information Corner‟ in twelve project villages has been established and the need based messages were written frequently on the information board in each project village. The Field Technical Assistants (FTAs) have assisted in writing the need based messages regularly based on the current situation on Rice, Animal Husbandry and Fishery in the project villages. Also an „Annapurna‟ library with diagnostic bulletins of different pests and diseases, Vyavasaya Panchangam, Vyavasayam monthly magazine etc was maintained in the project villages.
Fig 13: The Annapurna corners placed in the pilot testing villages for providing farm information

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5.7.7 Collaboration with External Knowledge Agencies: Various knowledge agencies / institutions were contacted to link their knowledge base / portals to access / provide authentic information to the farmers in the proposed pilot testing. A workshop was organized in the Chairmanship of Dr Sudhakar Reddy, ZPD, Zone V, ICAR and various agencies were invited for demonstration of IIDS. Following agencies have agreed to provide their content / knowledge database for pilot testing:
I. Department of Agriculture, Andhra Pradesh
II. Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad
III. Agro Climatic Research Center, ANGRAU, Hyderabad
IV. Directorate of Marketing & Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture
V. Indian Agricultural Research Institute
VI. Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture
VII. Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati
Fig 14: The workshop conducted for the integration with the domain knowledge partners
5.7.8 Brochure, leaflet and Videos: Promotional material on IIDS was prepared for dissemination through print and multimedia film. The illustration and graphics used in the film and leaflets are based on real photographs / visuals to make it easier for farmers / viewers to connect with all the publicity material. 03 multimedia CDs containing 27 short films in Telugu (on Rice, Dairy and Fishery) and Annapurna leaflet (Telugu) for farmers were released by the National Coordinator, Comp-4, NAIP along with the other dignitaries (Chairman CAC, Village functionaries etc). The short films were loaded on farmers mobiles as well as CDs have been distributed to the local Cable Operators and Annapurna library to broadcast frequently in the project villages.
Fig 15: The CDs inauguration by the National Coordinator 4 in Mupparam village in Nalgonda district

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5.7.9 Delivery of Personalized Agro Advisory Services: The KVK have received queries from the registered farmers and provided need based advisories in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry and fisheries. 6300 plus queries were solved by the experts from 4 KVKs. The FTA‟s have assisted the farmers in making calls as well as in delivering the advisory to the farmers using Toll Free number (1800-425-3141) and smart phones. Apart from the agro advisory services, KVKs have also sent the voice mails and text messages in Telugu to the project farmers on weather based agro advisories, precautionary measures, control measures for pests and diseases in Rice, Animal Husbandry (Dairy) and Fisheries. The following are some of the observations on AKPS:
 More number of queries were raised through IVRS (Voice) mode, as it is more accessible and convenient to the farmers.
 Among the divisions, more number of queries were asked from Agriculture (Rice), in which most of the queries are related to Pest & disease management, fertilizer management, seeds & sowing and few are from weed management.
 In Dairy, most of the questions were from disease management, infertility problems, vaccinations, high milk yielding breeds.
 In Fishery, most of the questions were from Vannamei culturing of prawns, disease management, methods of selection of fingerlings, management of BOD in ponds, different types of pond supplements.
5.7.9.1 Major problems handled by the KVKs : The following were the major issues handled by the respective KVKs:
i) Problems related to Rice:
A. Nellore district:
 Method of Seed treatment.
 Seed rates for different situations.
 Suitable varieties for Rabi.
 Fertilizer management in Nursery.
 Green manuring in rice
 Sheath rot, Brown plant hopper, Sheath blight of rice.
B. Nalgonda district
 Management of Zinc deficiency.
 Gall midge, Stem borer, Leaf miner, Brown spot, Brown Plant Hopper, Sheath rot, and Sheath blight.
C. Khammam diatrict
 Rice Blast, Gall midge, Stem borer, Leaf folder, Brown Plant Hopper and Sheath rot.
D. Srikakulam district
 Measures to be taken to recover cyclone affected fields.
 Rice blast, Sheath rot, Sheath blight Gall midge, Stem borer, Brown Plant Hopper.
ii) Problems related to Dairy:
 Reproductive problems in Cows
 Problems related to pregnancy
 Different feeds to increase milk production
 Mastitis, Foot & mouth disease.

Final report june 2014

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