The Telangana government and the city-based ICRISAT joined hands to implement Information and Communication Technology-based knowledge sharing platforms and other agricultural innovation initiatives to improve productivity and profitability of small-holder farmers.
The partnership will explore areas of collaboration in the field of digital agriculture along agriculture value chain and also explore the possibilities of ICRISAT playing an active role in the ‘T Hub’ (an incubator launched by the Telangana government).
The collaboration was launched as part of the Digital Telangana Week, an ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) release said.
A tripartite MoU was signed by C Parthasarathi, Secretary and Agri-Production Commissioner, Jayesh Ranjan, Secretary, IT, Electronics & Communications, and ICRISAT Director General David Bergvinson in the presence of state Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj K T Rama Rao, it added.
The partnership will help launch innovative digital platforms that aim to revitalise information dissemination in rural areas, expert systems for providing real time advisories and better access to market information by small-holder farmers in the state, the release said.
“The digital agriculture initiative will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual farmers. This will help farmers to access agricultural-related and market-related information, which gives them an opportunity to sell their produce at fair prices,” Bergvinson said.
“Access to timely information and knowledge can be a great leveler and help millions of farmers in Telangana to improve their yields, incomes and resilience since they can now make informed choices about good farming practices,” Rao said.
Reddy said it is very appropriate to launch the digital agriculture activities at a time when use of digital gadgets is on the rise in rural areas.
The outcome of the collaboration will be to enable the government create new economic opportunities for rural populations through digital agriculture and enable consumers to create direct linkages to farmers, the release added.