Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday launched a mobile App, National Pest Surveillance System (NPSS), for farmers to send photos of crops from their field, if affected by pest or insect. It will help the government to know the scale of infestation and respond accordingly.
Launching the app at a gathering of farmers, who had come to Delhi as special invitees to witness the Independence Day function, Chouhan said he has the personal experience of how soyabean crop got completely damaged within a few days of the first report. He underscored the importance of timely action for which “timely availability of information” is the key factor.
A farmer has to take a photo (instantly) of the crop using the app and the saved photo on the mobile can be uploaded, an official source said. “As the intention of the Government is to gather information and assess the scale of infestation it is equally important to ensure the location of the crop. So that the AI can analyse the situation better whether any particular pest attack is found at village level or in more villages in a district or in more districts or States,” the official said.
Saving costs
Chouhan said the current practice of farmers rushing to the local pesticide retailer to seek advice and buy the pesticides on suspicion of pest attack will reduce and help them save costs. Not only the app will help farmers to get the correct advice, but it will also help them to buy the correct pesticide to manage the pest, he said.
The Agriculture Minister said starting September, the Government will start a programme over All India Radio (AIR), titled “Kisano ki Baat”, where farmers and agriculture scientists will jointly interact to solve issues faced by the growers. To be modelled on the line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann ki Baat” programme, “Kisano ki Baat” will also be broadcast once a month over AIR, he said.
Stressing that farmers should be aware of the research of scientists, he said: “Our job is to connect farmers and scientists. Many times farmers do not have information, so they use the wrong pesticide. To ensure that farmers get the benefit of science immediately, we will start the farmers’ talk programme once a month, where scientists and agriculture department officials will participate along with him.”
‘Adopt natural farming’
He also asked Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), which are the government’s agencies to take technology to farmers’ fields through demonstration, to be fully connected to the farmers.
The minister urged the farmers to adopt natural farming and assured that if it is done correctly there will not be yield loss. He announced that the agriculture ministry has already prepared a Natural Farming Mission which will be released very soon.
He reiterated his last week’s statement in Parliament that no other Prime Minister has used the word “farmer” in his/her Independence Day address as many times as Modi. Chouhan said several Prime Ministers have hoisted the flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort in the past, but no government had called farmers to witness the event.