IIT Roorkee Launches ‘KISAN’ mobile App for dissemination of Agromet Advisory Services
Roorkee: In continuation of the series of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ program, a regional farmers’ awareness program was organized at WRD&M Department, IIT Roorkee under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) project. Farmers from Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal districts were participated in the program. Farmers and other stakeholders were sensitized about the Agromet Advisory Services jointly provided by the AMFU Roorkee and India Meteorological Department (IMD). A mobile App “KISAN” has been launched to easily and timely access of these services to the farmers on their mobile phone. Dr K K Singh, Additional Director General Meteorology, IMD, New Delhi apprised that the block-level weather forecast and weather based Agromet Advisory Bulletins are being provided to the farmers for all six blocks of Haridwar district by the AMFU Roorkee every Tuesday and Friday regularly. Farmers can now easily access these bulletins on their mobile phones through “Kisan” App. He said that the special feature of the ‘KISAN’ App is that the weather forecast and advisory bulletin will display only for the block selected by the farmer. Dr. Singh added that the farmers can share their feedback about these bulletins which would be helpful to improve the quality of bulletin as per farmers’ requirement. The App is bilingual and users can select either Hindi or English language as per their convenient.
Dr. Khushboo Mirza, Senior Scientist, Regional Remote Sensing Centre (RRSC), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), New Delhi has developed the “KISAN” app under the guidance of Dr. C S Jha, Outstanding Scientist and Chief General Manager at RRSC, NRSC, ISRO, Hyderabad. Dr Mirza told that the App will be updated time to time as per the user’s requirement, so that the purpose of the farmers of the region could be solved. She demonstrated the working procedure of the ‘KISAN’ App through a power point presentation.
Prof. A K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee said “IIT Roorkee is actively involved in working with farmers for the adoption of better agricultural practices by using the benefits of modern technology. This is a small step towards helping farmers use the latest technologies for reducing the risk component of agriculture.”
Dr. C S Jha, Outstanding Scientist and Chief General Manager, RRSC, NRSC, ISRO, Hyderabad said “Most of the farmers are having smart mobile phones now-a-days, hence the mobile App is a better option for the dissemination of Agrometeorological Advisory Services. In this sense “Kisan” mobile app is able to meet the meteorological needs of the farmers.”
Dr. V M Chowdary, Director, Mahalanobis National Center for Crop Forecasting (MNCFC), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi also addressed the inaugural function. He apprised that crop yield forecast are also being issued at different stages of crop besides weather forecast which is helpful for various government agencies to take policy decisions. Dr Chowdary discussed in detail about the extensive use of remote sensing technology in agriculture sector.
A video, prepared by AMFU Roorkee, describing in detail about the GKMS project, has also been launched in the program. This video is available in Hindi and English language at the YouTube channel and website of the project. Besides, a booklet published in Hindi entitled “Agrometeorological Advisory Services for cereal crops, horticultural crops and livestock” has been released in the inaugural session by the dignitaries.
At the outset Prof. Ashish Pandey, Head, WRD&M Department welcomed the dignitaries and participants. He apprised about the Agrometeorological Advisory Services being provided by the AMFU Roorkee.
Chairman of the Bhu-Amrit Farmers Producer Organization Ravi Kiran Saini, progressive farmer Jaipal Singh, Om Prakash Kamboj from Dehradun, Ex Pradhan Kalu Ram and youth farmer Monu Saini, Ashish Dabral from Pauri Garhwal also shared their views about Agromet Advisory Services.
The youth farmers from various villages, who created WhatsApp group of the farmers from respective villages and disseminating the Agromet Advisory Bulletins through these WhatsApp groups, are named as “Mausam Mitra” by AMFU Roorkee. The ‘Mausam Mitra’ who are doing excellent job has been felicitated in the program. Gurvindar Singh, Naveen Kumar, Vinay Kamboj, Abhishek Pawar and Manoj Giri are few of them.
Dr Purushottam Kumar, Head, KVK Dhanauri, Haridwar, Dr Y P Saini, KVK Scientist, Dr Vijay Deorari, Chief Agriculture Officer, Haridwar, Dr Rohit Thapaliyal, Scientist, Met Centre Dehradun, Prof. Basant Yadav, WRD&M Department, IIT Roorkee, Rohit Giri, Agromet Observer attended the program. A very limited number of farmers and media personnel were invited in the program as per the COVID-19 protocol. The live program was also telecasted through YouTube channel of the GKMS project, AMFU Roorkee.
The program was conducted by Dr Arvind Kumar, Technical Officer, GKMS Project, and formal vote of thanks were proposed by Prof. Ashish Pandey, Nodal Officer, GKMS Project at AMFU, IIT Roorkee.