A new IT project, developed by the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, is all set to guide farmers in the state through an online portal.
A web portal called, ‘e-Sagu’ developed at the Information Technology Research Academy (ITRA) of IIIT, specially designed to provide expert advices to farmers who seek guidance on several aspects such as usage of fertilisers, cultivation techniques and selection of crops in certain soils.
All that the farmers have to do is to click a picture of that particular farm or the crop and send it to the scientists thought this online portal. The experts with ITRA will examine the pictures and send their advice through the same portal.
Since many of the farmers in the state don’t have access to the internet and are not aware of technology, ITRA has trained some coordinators in villages to assist the farmers in this process. These coordinators click pictures of crops right from sowing to harvest to present to the agriculture scientist to know the crop condition and incidence of pests.
They also receive data from scientists and explain it to farmers. The entire service under this project is free for farmers where it is implemented.
Initially it was introduced in six mandals in Kurnool district where it received good response from local farmers. With its success, now the ITRA is all set to expand this project in nearly 50 villages in Medak and Ranga Reddy districts in Telangana. “This project is meant to reduce the gap between farmers and agriculture scientists,” said, Prof Krishna Reddy, principal investigator of e-Sagu portal.
This innovative initiative also attracted attention of some major industries, who came forward to provide financial assistance for its expansion in Telangana. Krishna Reddy, said, “Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) have volunteered to sponsor the project under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme in Medak and Ranga Reddy district which is all set to begin in a couple of weeks.”
Source: The New Indian Express