BHUBANESWAR: The
Naveen Patnaik government has announced plans to distribute smartphones to farmers with an aim to educate them on the best agricultural practices and to disseminate crucial information on farm operations. The move, which comes ahead of next year's assembly and
Lok Sabha elections, has drawn protests from opposition parties who accused the ruling BJD of misutilizing the state exchequer for political gains.
State cooperation minister Surya Narayan Patro said Rs 3 crore has been sanctioned by the government for the purpose. "Farmers who have registered with the primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS) will be eligible to get the smartphones. Around 2,000 registered farmers from each of the 30 districts will be handed the smartphones," Patro said.
Though the state government has been providing mobile phones to farmers since 2013-14, Patro said user-friendly smartphones would help them get information in a more reliable manner.
"Smartphone applications like Whatsapp will enable farmers to receive video footage on modern
technologies, their usage, information on various crops in accordance with the types of land and weather, fertilizers and methods to use them, knowledge on organic farming and how to add value to crops," Patro added.
The move also aims to educate farmers about the benefits of various government schemes meant for them.
The cooperation department has constituted a technical committee that would meet in the first week of August to take a call on the design and feature of the smartphone and guidelines to shortlist farmers.
Naveen Patnaik
