It is being launched jointly by the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) and India Meteorological Department (IMD), and is to be financed under the Farmers' Technology Transfer Fund (FTTF).
The project aims at creating awareness, increasing farmers' knowhow and capacity building for enhanced income through adoption of new technologies, reduction of costs, getting better price for produce and securing technical inputs for crop management, NABARD spokesman Subodh Abhyankar said.
In addition to Pune, the other districts to be covered under the scheme, to be launched on September 3, include Ahmednagar, Washim, Bhandara, Amravati, Jalna, Gadchiroli, Sindhudurg and Hingoli.
"Nearly 50,000 farmers from 500 farmers' clubs promoted by NABARD will be provided weather-related information and crop advisories by way of free SMSes in the pilot initiative," he said.
The three-year plan envisages using ICT tools for providing need-based agro-meteorological advisory services to ryots in the context of local farming and culture, and ensure a two-way communication between agriculture experts and grassroots level communities, Abhyankar maintained.
Under the project, which will mainly focus on ICT initiative for improving productivity of land and production of crop to augment income of farmers, the IMD's Agri-Met field units will provide weather and crop-related advisories right from sowing to harvesting operations with technical expertise. (more)
