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Karnataka govt providing tabs with agri. software for updates on crops
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Thursday, 12 February, 2015, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d Karnataka government is now providing e-kisaan tablets to farmers in districts of Bijapura and Bagalkote, which are having Internet connectivity, to get an update on crops. This information was given by Karnataka minister for planning & statistics, IT, BT, science and technology S R Patil while addressing the recently-held Bangalore India Bio 2015, which focussed on bio-agriculture.
A software on agriculture will be operational on these tablets providing information on farm management and yield data and field mapping. It will also provide information on monsoons and seed sowing.
The minister assured that all efforts to start BT crop trials were on in Karnataka just like Maharashtra. The e-kisaan tablet provides information on fertilisers, pesticides, seeds, crop combinations and other farming parameters, besides providing real-time weather data and enabling access to e-governance platforms. For Internet connectivity, the company has collaborated with Airtel 3G services, which will provide data for free for the first six months to the tune of 5 MB per day per table. When offline, the tablet can be used to access information from the village panchayat office to which it is connected.
The tablets were donated by former co-chairman of Infosys Kris Gopalakrishnan, who is now a philanthropist, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson, Vision Group on Biotechnology, and CMD, Biocon Ltd.
The state government had invested Rs 8.5 crore to set up a horticulture institute in Bagalkote and there were several efforts to ensure that this generation returns to farm lands and does not opt for corporate openings.
“The big disadvantage for agriculture sector, which is the backbone of every state economy, is the lack of interest in farming operations by the youth. Now with advances in research and farming, there is some interest kindled in many young people to take up agriculture,” informed the minister.
“Efforts to set up nutraceutical park at Mysore is on the cards and this would be under guidance of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI),” he added.
At the Agribiotech inaugural session, Dr M Mahadevappa, director (rural development), JSSMVP, then went on to elaborate on the importance of innovative technology in agriculture and how it can provide tangible solutions to the problems being faced today.
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