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Journalism of Courage
The G B Pant University of Agriculture at Pantnagar,along with some other premier institutions,has undertaken an ambitious project that aims at making use of information and communication technology (ICT) in empowering farmers with better knowledge of crops. This is being done to meet the challenges pertaining to climate variability,degeneration of soil and water,water scarcity,food security as well as globalisation.
The project is sponsored by the World Bank through the National Agriculture Innovation Project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). A sum of Rs 886 lakh has been allocated for all the partners in the project,including Hyderabad-based International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics,IIT-Kanpur,IIT-Bombay,and University of Agricultural Sciences,Dharwad.
Under this project,eight lakh farmers across the country will be provided information on their mobile phones.
If successful,the ICAR will extend the project throughout the country in the next-phase.
According to a spokesperson of the University,The main objective of the project is strengthening ICT arrangements in selected Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
Vice-Chancellor B S Bisht said,In the context of globalisation,redesigning of the existing extension system has become important and indispensable to meet the challenges faced by farmers. This could be realised by the diffusion of innovations through agricultural research among farmers .
