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Bagadi village, Dhar (Madhya Pradesh): “Farmers were getting Rs. 300 per quintal from local traders for potato crop within local market, but KO (Kiosk Owner) services revealed the current rate in Indore Mandi to be Rs 400. Timely information motivated them to shift their potato produce to Indore Mandi at better prices.
Within same area, village committees were also benefited through timely intimation of grants from State Finance Commission. Ordinarily money was transferred by District Council to bank accounts of village committees, notified through post or committee meetings. KO services enabled intimation on same day through e-mail, resulting cutting down of effort and cost.”
- a Drishtee success story.
A silent revolution is taking place in rural India: a revolution that empowers farmers with relevant information to make their lives better.
The year 2000 saw the advent of a few business models that would help the Indian farmer change his life. These models used the tools of ICT to provide the information that the farmer needs – be it regarding better price for his produce, seeds, weather, fertilizers, plant diseases, etc. Most of these models were franchisee-based, operated through individual, Internet connected kiosks, which also helped create a crop of young, rural entrepreneurs. These young men and women represented a new and emerging rural India. They were convinced that their efforts in raising the bottom of the pyramid would bring them better profits.
Today, they lead this silent revolution in rural India.
The most noticeable of the ICT projects is e-Choupal, the largest Internet-based corporate involvement in rural India run by ITC-IBD. Started in 2000, e-Choupal is a network of Internet kiosks that lowers procurement costs giving the farmers more benefits. ITC-IBD has set up e-Chaupals to reduce the costs of production that used to go to the intermediaries.
“ITC e-Choupal web portal brings real-time information on weather forecasts and customized knowledge on better farming practices to the farmers' doorstep to improve his crop management. ITC e-Choupal supply chain brings good quality farm inputs at competitive prices to increase his farm yields,” S Sivakumar, chief executive (Agri Business), ITC.
For proper implementation the approach differs from one state to another. “The crops that are grown are different, viz. wheat, soybean, maize, barley, sorghum, mustard, pulses, coffee, shrimp, etc. Consequently, the market dynamics are different. The information and knowledge components are accordingly tailor-made. On the other hand, the infrastructure in these states, viz. power, telecom, roads, irrigation, markets, etc is also at different stages of maturity. Again the logistics arrangements made by the ITC e-Choupal differ taking these variations into consideration,” explains Sivakumar.
“There is value addition to the agri product being bought from the farmers, in the form of processing and branding. For example, wheat is processed into Ashirvaad atta, Sunfeast biscuits and pasta.’’
e-Choupal is becoming a value-added channel by carrying various farm inputs, consumer products and financial services to rural India in a more efficient manner than other modes. “Currently, pilots are underway to deliver health and education services also on e-Choupal platform,’’ says Sivakumar about e-Choupal’s future plans.
Sanchalaks (mostly a farmer) manage the e-Choupal kiosks and assist the farmers to avail the features of crop-specific websites created by ITC-IBD in local languages. The farmers get to know about the current prices, price trends in the market, details of risk management and weather forecast.
ITC-IBD has installed over 5000 kiosks for the project. About Rs 250 crore has been invested so far for e-Choupal.
iShakti, the ICT segment of Project Shakti, developed by Hindustan Lever Limited enables farmers to have a solution for a pest problem. iShakti too runs through kiosk run and operated by Shakti entrepreneurs. It provides information and services to the farmers through a portal, which has contents pertaining to a variety of rural issues. The project engages content partners like CARE International and Azim Premji Foundation, which provide the relevant inputs to the farmers. Online experts suggest appropriate pesticides for the farmers and also answer kiosk users’ queries.
In Andhra Pradesh, i-Shakti tied-up with APonline. Among others, agricultural grievances also form a part of the services.
Launched in 2001, iShakti has users running into thousands and is being implemented in 12 states.
esagu, devised by the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad in 2004-2005 crop season, is an extension system that involves farmers, coordinators and scientists. The coordinators are appointed out of the educated youth in the villages. The benefit can be gauged by the fact that the project has resulted in a net gain of Rs 3820 per acre. This has been due to reduced input cost over complex fertilizers and pesticide sprays, and increased yield. It has also increased production by 1.5 quintals per acre, saved fertilizers by 0.76 bags and pesticides by 2.3 sprays per acre. Within a span of two years the project has been extended to 35 villages in six Andhra Pradesh districts.
“The response time is 24-36 hours. We have 12 experts who address farmers’ problems. Each village has coordinators who work from Monday to Friday and obtain crop status through digital photographs and texts. The status is sent to the experts who advice the farmers through the coordinators. The response time is 24-36 hours,” explains G Shyamasunder Reddy, research scholar, IIIT.
The three-tier system consists of farmers as end users, coordinators as intermediaries to obtain crop status through digital photographs and text and communicate the advice to the farmers. The scientists with knowledge system prepare farm advices.
“Farmers cultivate the crops with suggestions from agricultural scientist. Crop and location specific advice are given to the farmer. The lag period between research effort to practice is also reduced,” adds Reddy.
However, improper bandwidth is a cause of concern for the authorities handling esagu. Another grey area is some of the farmers are not willing to pay for the esagu service. Though a free service initially, farmers now have to pay Rs 200 per acre every year. “At the moment only 30-40 percent of the farmers are willing to pay. In future we expect more farmers who are willing to pay for the services,” says Reddy.
To negate the bandwidth problem, courier service is being employed. All information, saved in a CD is sent to experts.
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