Will ICT bring change to the lives of the farmers?

By Dr Susmita Priyadarshini

India experienced a jobless growth in the last 12 years. Only 15 million jobs were created  during  the 10 years of UPA regime. The sector which did not get importance during UPA regime despite having the immense potential to provide employment opportunities was agriculture .  Rather a reverse trend has started. A  good many number of farmers have left agriculture in recent years. Census 2011  shows that on an average 2,300 people are  quitting farming everyday, migrating to the city  for a menial job. Due to low productivity, erratic weather and lack of storage facility , farming no longer remains profitable for them.   According to NSSO 2014, the income of an average  farm household  is at about Rs. 6000 per month, of which Rs. 3000 comes from farming and the rest is from nonfarm activities including MGNREGA. While the 7th Pay Commission provides a basic monthly salary of Rs. 18,000 to a Chaprasi,  the average monthly salary  of a farmer family is just Rs. 6000. Yield of rice in India in 2011 was 3.2 tonne  per hectare as against  7.5 tonnes in USA and 6.7 tonnes in Chi and 4.3 tonnes  for the world’s average.  Small farmers constitute 85.9%of the total farmers in India. Their increasing  number and shrinking farm size raises question about their economic viability. Small farmers are concentrated in rain fed areas  and cultivated crops  under high risk environment, often confronted  by frequent floods, drought and soil erosion. If we are to increase productivity without degrading the resource base, farmers have to choose the right seeds and the right types and amounts of inputs suitable to local conditions and apply them in the right way to ensure that productivity  growth is truly sustaible. We cannot compromise with  low productivity if we are to  ensure food security for all. Scarcity of pulses and  high price resulting from it have  already created the mece of pulses deficiency in the country. One of the largest challenges  traditiolly experienced by our farmers is lack of transparent and adequate information  to cope with changing  weather pattern , soil conditions as well as epidemics of pests and crop diseases.  Information technology can help farmers to make informed choices like which crop to sow where and when to sell the produce. So, it can directly help in increasing productivity as well as incomes . The current Government wants to raise productivity through better use of scarce water resources and extensive use of satellite crop monitoring system. Due to satellite intervention in the agriculture sector ,farmers can access advisories on mobile phones,  and as a result they can choose high yielding varieties  of seeds, apply fertilisers in a proportiote manner, decide the proper  time of irrigation shots .Through the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yoja , an attempt is made for the first time to use satellite technology  to facilitate accurate assessment  and speedy settlement of claims  Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop so that delays in claim payment can be avoided . The Government has put in operation three portals-farmer portal, kisan call centre and mkisan portal so that farmers can take decision  for efficient farming under varying agroclimatic  condition. The Government has recently launched two mobile apps.While the ‘Crop Insurance  app’ helps farmers to find out details  about insurance cover available in their areas , through the other app, ‘Agri Market Mobile’  farmers know market prices of crops in wholesale markets within 50 km radius of the device .In order to achieve rapid development of agriculture  in India through the use of ICT tiol  E- governce plan in agriculture was introduced during the last phase of 11th plan. It has been continued in 12th plan  as a part of the Sub Mission on Agricultural Extension (SAME). So, the initiative to provide information to farmers at their door step started during the UPA regime. Modi Government started  Digital India Mission last year. magriculture and mgram Bazar out of the seven components covered under mservices in Digital India Project  directly impact agricultural extension and marketing services. The use of technology  to improve the condition of the poor seems to be driving force  behind some of the  announcements made  as part of  Budget 2016-17. To ensure the benefit of minimum support price is accessed by farmers in all parts of the country , the Fince Minister  announced an online  procurement  system to be undertaken through FCI to bring in transparency and convenience  into the system. For dairy farmers,  he announced an advanced breeding technology with E Pashudhan Haat  or an e-market  portal. The Government is implementing the unified  Agricultural Marketing Scheme  that envisages  a common emarket platform that will be deployed in 585 regulated markets, The Unified Agricultural Marketing E platform will be dedicated to the tion on the birth day of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar on 14th April this year. The Central Government has urged the State Governments to introduce the  e-market platform  within the state to give the farmers the advantage  of selling the harvest  in any of the connected markets.  Will  information flows through ICT  be  sufficient to bring real big change to the lives of the farmers? A proper training programme uninterrupted services, electricity, availability of smart phones, tablets and computers to almost every farmers are the great challenges to this initiative . Government perhaps understands it. Therefore in budget 2016, Govt. plans to launch a mission to provide digital literacy to around 6 crore additiol rural households.  Of the 16.8crore rural households as many as 12 crore households  do not have computers  and unlikely to have digitally literate people. According to Situation Assessment of Indian farmers , 70%  of farmers do not have  any source of information that can help them adopt latest technology while 28%of all farmers  use any kind of information that is available rather than what they need. So, by providing quality information , agricultural scerio can be changed. But to use the data provided the farmers need motivation and encouragement. Experience of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan teaches us  the futility of providing services if the beneficiaries do not feel the need of it.  So, the immediate need now is to  conduct a tion wide evaluation study to know the impact of already provided information delivery system on agriculture   (developed by the  government and private sector) in respect of no. of farmers using and receiving mobile ebled  agri information services, increase in productivity, output and income of the benefitted farmers, increase in price realization in case of output sold, their grievances and changes required in information delivery system. Has it been successful to reduce the incident of farmers suicide? Last year, till September, 2016 cases of farmers committing suicides were reported from Maharashtra alone.  Again, without a regulatory authority will it be possible to dissemite timely and reliable agricultural information to farmers  in a systematic and planned manner.   But information can control only one side of the story. Agricultural output depends on several other factors as well.  If the farmers do not get the facility of irrigation what is the use of information ?So, there is the need to initiate strategic action  to improve utilisation of irrigation potential already created  to 90%from78%. Announcements of higher allocation  towards irrigation program as well as irrigation Benefit Program in Budget 2016-17  deserve acclamation. But nothing has been said where will the  water come up from. Green revolution was started in the country long ago in 1966 but its benefits remained confined to North West India. In Modi’s proposed second green revolution North East region will play a key role. But second green revolution requires an entirely new approach to ensure  perpetual growth in farm production  by abolishing supply side uncertainties.  North East is poor in both road and information connectivity.   With poor internet and tele connectivity how can the region take a lead in second green revolution?  Will they be able to take informed decision?