Patna: Farmers in Bihar now have a dedicated mobile application for them.
Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour (Bhagalpur), has come up with a mobile app called Bihar Krishi App, which can be downloaded from Playstore on one's smartphone.
The app helps farmers in several manners, including crop management, horticulture, opportunities in agriculture sector, weather related information, advice of experts on questions asked by farmers and even specific information about the quality of soil one is practising farming and use of fertilisers needed for the given soil.
"The app was developed a few days ago and the agriculture department will shortly come up with advertisements to promote its use on a wide-scale," said BAU director extension education R.K. Sohane, who played the key role in developing this app.
Highlighting one of the key features of the app, Sohane said using this facility, farmers could get weather-related information in advance which will help them in planning their farm-related works.
The BAU is taking help of the India Meteorological Department to deliver this service and provide authentic information to the farmers.
Another important feature pertains to the detailed information about the soil type of a given farm on the basis of which the app would guide farmers about the irrigation need and also the type of fertilisers needed to be used in the given farm. "We have done the soil-mapping of the state and this service is GPS-based which helps in getting exact location of the farm on the basis of which soil type is decided and suggestion is given to the farmers accordingly," said the BAU director.
The app also provides some of the routine information to the subscribers like improved farming practices, videos on new techniques, updates on the agriculture related activities, horticulture and crop safety.
Commenting on the utility of the app, a farmer from Barhari village under Goradih block of Bhagalpur district, Ranjan Kumar Suman, said: "I used the weather forecast through this app for undertaking paddy-related activities and delayed it by 10 days after getting information about delayed arrival of monsoon in the state."
But for now very few seem to know about it, as was evident from the comment of farmer from Rohinia village in East Champaran district Ranvijay Yadav. "I do use a smartphone and am conversant about various mobile apps. But I have no information about the Bihar Krishi App."
Sources in the agriculture department said this information gap about the app would not be there once the department starts making farmers aware of it through various means including advertisements.
Source:https://www.telegraphindia.com/
