General Knowledge-Kisaan SMS Portal: FAQs

Kisaan SMS Portal: FAQs

FAQs on the features and working of the Kisaan SMS Portal launched by the President of India on 16.07.13

What purpose does the Portal serve? There is already the Kisan Call Centre facility to address farmers’ concerns.

Kisan Call Centre is an expert advisory system and the farmer needs to call the toll free number 1800-180-1551 to seek expert advice on different matters related to agriculture and allied sectors. In the case of Kisaan SMS Portal, a farmer keeps getting SMS messages providing information or delivering services or giving advisories on his mobile from experts, scientists and officers at various levels after once opting for messages on agricultural practices / crops of his interest.  The messages are sent to farmers residing in jurisdiction of the officers/ scientists / experts concerned.

Is it intended to routinely broadcast generic advisories across the country?

No way. While some advisories could have a wide footprint, most messages, especially alerts, will be location specific. The messages will further be customized based on a farmer’s preferences.

In that case, farmers will need to register themselves to receive messages?

Yes and no. Existing farmer databases of farmers available with Central as well as State Governments are being integrated with the Portal. Farmers in the combined database will get messages that have universal appeal.  In this database too, farmers have been grouped location-wise and crop/practice-wise. So, farmers in a particular area will get messages relevant to that area only.

Farmers who are not in the database and those wanting messages customized to their requirements will need to register themselves with the system. Farmers can register for this service by calling the Kisan Call Center on the toll free number 1800-180-1551 or through the web portal. SMS based registration is also available. Farmers can give up to 8 choices for their preferred crops/activities.

  

Does the system cover crop production only or other farming and allied activities?

It includes crop production, including horticulture; animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.

The system will send messages relating to not only production aspects but also marketing of produce.  Messages relating dealer information etc will also be sent to farmers.

This Portal provides a platform to officers, scientists and experts of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, India Meteorological Department and food grain procurement agencies for disseminating information, giving topical and seasonal advisories and providing services through SMSs to farmers.

When so many people will be sending SMSs, won’t there be duplication and contradiction?

Adequate IT enabled and administrative safeguards have been built into the system to minimize such a possibility. There is also a search facility based on text and topic using which all previous advisories can be searched before sending a new SMS.

How many farmers is it likely to cover?

The Kisaan Portal aims at reaching information, advisories and services to more than 12 crore farmer families across the country. 

How is this system different from SMS services being provided by various organizations?

The existing systems have a limited scope in terms of reach and services provided. Some are closed systems, i.e. provide information and services to only those farmers who are members of a particular organisation or buy a particular product. Kisaan SMS Portal is all-India service, fully free to the end user department / organisation and about all farm activities.

What types of messages does it intend to send to farmers?

The following are the likely messages to be sent initially.  New types of information and services will keep getting added as the system progresses.

·         Weather forecast

·         Weather alerts

·         Advisories on outbreak of disease/pests of plants and animals

·         Crop advisories on appropriate technologies suited to local situations, etc. 

·         Advisories on new or most suitable crop variety/ animal breed

·         Market information

·         Information on Schemes and Programmes of Government of India to enable farmers to avail of assistance / knowhow and to enroll themselves for demonstration etc.

·         Soil test results

Can farmers get information in their language of choice?

Farmer, when registering, need to give the language in which they want SMS messages. If the mobile of the farmer does not support the language of his choice, option is given to receive the SMS in that language written in Roman Script.  

Is there a plan to give voice messages, especially for the benefit of people who are unable to read or comprehend text messages?

Provision for sending voice messages will also be started shortly for farmers who are not familiar with SMS.  Internet based text to voice engines are already available. But most farmers can’t afford to pay for GPRS / 3G charges.  Therefore, handset based text to speech engines are under development. 

-Courtesy: Press Information Bureau