And now, a call centre for farmers

The extension service has been outsourced by the government to an NGO co-operative called Andhra Pradesh Sahakara Vignana Samiti Ltd. Operators enter detailed data — the farmer’s name, village, mandal, district, telephone number and nature of the query into the computer.

Questions are dealt with at several levels. The basic questions are answered with information available on the desk top. If they are a bit complex, the calls are transferred to level II, to scientists and department officials, all of whom have research backgrounds and field knowledge. The highest level is that of joint directors of agriculture who provide the answer to the call centre within 48 hours for relaying to the farmer concerned.

In addition to answering calls, the centre performs another function — it generates various reports to assist decision-makers. It collects data on the district-wise sowing of crops, the number of calls made and whether they were addressed to a crop production scientists, crop protection scientists, horticulture scientist, plant breeding scientist, or the Agriculture department.

In the beginning, the centre had teething problems. Out of some 3,000 calls per day, only 80-100 calls matured, others got disconnected or dropped. Now, with the process much smoother, officials from Andhra Pradesh believe the call centre is well on its way to becoming a hit.