Kisan call centre

Kisan call center is for responding to the issues of the farming community. It enables the farmers to easily access to the various information related to the Agriculture.

1. KISAN CALL CENTRE MEENU SAJEEV MALG18R408

2. Introduction   The  Department  of Agriculture and Cooperation(DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India launched  Kisan Call Centre on January 21, 2004 to deliver extension services to the farming community. The purpose of these call centre is to respond to issues raised by farmers, instantly, in the local language. These call Centres are working in 14 different locations covering all the States and UTs . KCC provides answers to farmers on queries related to agriculture, horticulture, plant pathology, soil sciences, and animal husbandry and so on. The information dissemination to the farmers is mainly categorised into three types, namely, information on Pre-cultivation, Cultivation and Post Cultivation.

3. KISAN CALL CENTRE Country wide eleven digit number allotted for KCC - 1800-180-1551  This number is accessible through mobile phones and landlines of all telecom networks including private service providers . Replies to the farmers' queries are given in 22 local languages . Call center services are available from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all seven days of the wee

4. Intervention The major topics handled by KCC experts are as follows:- Disease and pest control for different crops grown in the region. Good agricultural practices, livestock management, fishery, etc. Best practices in agriculture in the state as well as of other states. Crop related information in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry aromatic plants, spices, plantation crops, cash crops, etc. Vermi -compost , organic farming, including organic plant protection, etc. Information on HYV seeds and nutrient management for different crops. Market related information for different crops in the state. Farmer support programmes which are being implemented by the government of India. Agriculture related information that impacts farmers, farming practices, etc.

5.   Level of Operation of KCC   The Kisan Call Center, consists of three levels – namely  Level-I   - the basic Call Center interface, with high quality bandwidth and local language proficient Agriculture Graduate sitting at KCC.   Level-II  - Subject Matter Specialists on concerned important crops and enterprises. Level- III  - the Management Group to ensure ultimate answering and resolution of all the farmer's query.

6. Level 1 L-I personnel are made available to reply instantly . Available in all seven days. From 06-00 a.m. to 10-00 p.m . The call coming to the call center is picked up by an operator (level –I expert) who after a short welcome message takes down the basic information and the query of the caller . The first level operators preferably would be an agricultural graduate. The operators should know local language.

7. Level 2 The level –II consists of Subject Matter Specialists (SMS ). A vailable regularly in all working days during working hours. In case the first level-I Personnel is not able to answer the question, he forwards (in call sharing mode) the call to the concerned Subject Matter Specialist .  The question asked is transferred to the Level-II functionary to reply the query.  In case, it is not possible to answer, there is a system to revert to the caller by post / fax / e-mail or by telephone.

8. Level 3 The level – III consists of a dedicated cell located at the Nodal Office , Directorate of Jute Development, Kolkata . This would receive the questions that have not been answered at the first and the second levels. Appropriate replies to these questions would be then framed in consultation with the concerned specialists available within or outside the State, by the nodal cell. The replies would be sent to the farmers promptly by post/e-mail/fax/ telephone etc within 72 hours.

9. Conclusion The Kisan Call Centre is a fusion of two separate technologies, namely, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Agricultural Technology . The software captures callers' details and the query. The information is processed into an Management Information System output which helps area-wise, crop-wise and problem wise analyses within the time-space framework. It helps to provides preventive and advance action solutions from both qualitative and quantitative aspects. It also helps to identify pest attacks in any particular geographical area. The information collected is provided to the State Agriculture Department for taking suitable timely action through broadcasting on Kisan call centre itself .

10. Reference http:// djd.dacnet.nic.in/kccdetail.html http:// agritech.tnau.ac.in/kisan/kisan_concept.html https://rkvy.nic.in/static/download/RKVY_Sucess_Story/Madhya%20pradesh/Kisan_Call_Centre.pdf