National Informatics Centre 

One-day Workshop on  Agricultural Resources Information System (AgRIS) Project at Gandhinagar (Gujarat)

AgRIS is a central Sector Scheme of Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India for Strengthening/Promoting Agricultural Information System in the country. It is an e-Government Programme for fostering agricultural growth, poverty reduction and sustainable resource use in India at grassroots. One day Brainstorming workshop on AgRIS Project to finalise approaches and strategies to build databases and Decision Support Systems for the pilot District Banaskantha of Gujarat for Arid-zone Typology was organized on 22^nd December 2005 at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information Technology, Gandhinagar. About 100 officers from State Government, State Agricultural Universities, ICAR Institutes, District Administration, NIC participated in day long deliberations. 

The main objective of this workshop was to identify the typology specific problems faced by the Farming Community with respect to agricultural production and productivity at grassroots level, Data Sources and Data items, Collaboration and linkages with institutions, Formulation of Implementation strategy, Information dissemination to farmers and Preparation of Action Plan for project implementation.  The Programme Schedule is enclosed at Annexure-1. 

Dr. K.S. Shelat, Principal Secretary (Agriculture), Shri S.S. Wagh, Additional Secretary (Agriculture), Shri M.Moni, Dy. Director General, NIC graced the inaugural session of the workshop. From NIC hqrs. Dr. A.K. Choubey, Sr. Technical Director and Shri IPS Sethi, Technical Director also participated in the workshop. 

Dr. A.K. Choubey, Sr. Technical Director and National Project Coordinator welcomed the dignitaries and participants and emphasized that day long deliberations will yield fruitful results and help in identification of regional problems faced by farmers. 

Shri Rajnish Mahajan, Sr. Technical Director and SIO Gujarat made a presentation on ICT for Agriculture and Allied Sector. Shri Mahajan mentioned about important role played by NIC during Monitoring of activities related to Krishi Mahotsav 2005, Flood Relief Management System, Intranet Portal for Agriculture which will provide ICT services related to 32 modules, Taluk wise rainfall data, livestock census with 64 lakh records. NIC is working as TSP for Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Gujarat. 

Shri M.Moni, Dy. Director General, NIC, made a presentation on Genesis and Vision of AgRIS and elaborated the participants about the need of AgRIS and shared his experiences, the best practices and significance of ICT at grassroots level for agricultural development plans. Shri Moni also mentioned about the road map for the development of Informatics network for agriculture and allied sectors laid during ISDA-95 conference. AgRIS will be reservoir of information and various stakeholders should focus on problem identifications leading to development of models and Decision Support Systems for planning process. The institutions should come forward for Research, Education, Extension, Training, Supply Chain models from pre-harvest to post-harvest. Information Push to farmers to convert him into a e-farmers will lead to sustainable agriculture development. 

Shri S.S. Wagh, Additional Secretary (Agriculture) talked about recent trends in Agriculture in Gujarat. The ICT has really helped the Department in monitoring of various schemes and activities and 70-80% reports are received through e-mail apart from on-line Informatics Support provided by NIC. 

In his inaugural address, Dr. K.S. Shelat, Principal Secretary (Agriculture) welcomed this initiative of Government of India. Dr. Shelat has emphasized the this workshop apart from problem identification should focus on information dissemination in local language to farmers. In Banaskantha district, out of 1236 villages about 600 villages are provided with a computer under e-Gram project. In Gujarat databases on (i) Taluka/Village level Plans, (ii) Soil Health Card, (iii) Livestock Census data, (iv) Land resources data, (v) Rainfall data, (vi) commodity wise market data, (vii) research data on crops through State Agricultural Universities etc. are available. To start with, the village-wise data for Banaskantha district should be put in the CD and send to all 600 villages covered under e-Gram project so that farmer knows the details. In each village atleast 5 farmers must be trained on using computers to take benefit of ICT initiatives of the Government. 

Later, various participants presented their views regarding implementation of AgRIS Project, which are summarized below: 

Dr. Manish Dash, NRC Equines mentioned that Participatory Rural Approach (PRA) is the best scientific approach to identify problems, prioritized them and provide solutions. We should also have impact analysis and feedbach mechanism from targeted audiences. 

Dr. Raman Bahi Patel, Director (Extension)  Agriculture University mentioned that best approach is to visit farmers through PRA and identify problems, through farmed linkage system access the feedback, formulate technical programme for research and development, develop recommendations, technical assessment and refinement of solutions and bridge up the adoptive gap. 

Dr. K.N. Patel, Director (Ext.), Anand Agriculture University said that we should focus on situation problems, specific problems and infrastructure problems. PRA is the ideal tool to identify problems. In each district KVKS are working and each KVK has adopted 10 villages. KVKs should work for extension and training and prepare action plan thru PRA. Also SAU, NGOs and Cooperative societies should work together at villages. ATMA working in 8 districts should also be involved. 

Dr. R.S. Pathak, Director(Ext.), Agriculture University who has worked in Banaskantha for 14 years mentioned that illiteracy is very high, knowledge is very poor. It is mainly dry farming area with av. Rainfall of 350 – 600 mm. We must promote package of practices and technologies for such areas. Information on water harvesting and rainfed farming should be provided. 

Dr. M.B. Simaria, JD (Animal Husbandary) has given livestock scenario and various activities of the department undertaken in Gujarat. Milk cooperative societies are available in every village and they could be used for information dissemination to the farmers. Research useful to the farmers should be disseminated in Knowledge farm. Animal care is done mostly by women members so training is very important. Livestock census 2003 data is available for entire Gujarat and could be used under AgRIS project. 

Dr. D. Shukla, Veterinary Officer, Directorate of Animal Husbandary talked about major problems and nutritional deficient diseases of livestock. These are:

(i)                 Regarding livestock health “microelement/micro nutrient mapping of soils” of Banaskantha district must be taken up.

(ii)               Forecasting of livestock diseases so that vaccination and other control measures strategy will help the farmers to save their valuable livestock.

(iii)             Skin deficiency disease are related to nutritional status of livestock and the information should be made available.

(iv)             AI related work can be well performed by in time Insemmination work available to farmers. 

Dr. K. P. Patel informed that Anand Agriculture University have done some study related to micro-nutrient management. If suitable, it could be used at Banaskantha. 

Dr. Ismail Dhruj, Asso. Director of Research, Junagadh Agricultural University Junagadh have presented following steps to be undertaken for success of project:

-         Pest and diseases information

-         Training to end user (farmers)

-         To launch AgRIS in Banaskantha, 6-7 Video conferenceing with CM and senior officals

-         Dairy data on net

-         Organise 2-3 workshops at Banaskantha

-         Village profile on web

-         Natural resources information

-         Agricultural implements and machinery information with dealer details

-         Directory of Agricultural graduate students and motivate them to work in villages during vacations

-         Monsoon information

-         Animal sales/purchase information

-         Seed availability and prices

-         Market prices of commodities

-         Subsidies and scheme details of various departments 

Dr. Patel, Dy. Director Horticulture suggested the following steps: 

-         Arrival and market prices of local and remote markets for horticulture products

-         Weathers, diseases and pest information alongwith contingency management plan

-         Input availability, prices, quality standards on-line

-         On-line farm credit

-         Developmental schemes information

-         Area and production forecasting

-         Linkages between researcher, policy makers and farmers

-         Farm advisories and solutions 

Dr. Jayesh Tailati, Coastal Salinity cell mentioned about water scarcity problems. Assessment of Ground water requirement, crop water requirement and drinking water requirement is needed. 

Dr. R.L. Mehta, SAC Ahmedabad mentioned about role of Remote Sensing and GIS for Agricultural development. Village Development Plans for Gujarat is available with BISAG. Surface and Ground water mapping should be undertaken. 

Shri Neeraj Garg, BANAS Dairy informed that dairy cooperative societies are available in every village. About 800 societies have computer. They should act as a information dissemination source for farmers. 

In the concluding session, Shri IPS Sethi, Technical Director, NIC presented the summary of discussions and findings and requested each participant to send 2-3 page concept paper on development of AgRIS for Banaskantha district. 

Shri Shailesh Shah, Technical Director, NIC Gujarat State centre presented the vote of thanks.

Annexure-I

-   Genesis  & Vision of AgRIS by DDG (MM)

Venue: DA-IICT, GH – 0, NEAR INDRODA CIRCLE, Gandhinagar.