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| Photo 1: Inside the 1917 iTEAMS ARC |
Meghalaya,
a predominantly agrarian State, rich in agro-biodiversity is still yet to
unleash its agricultural potential. Many of the States’ commercial and unique
produce viz. Lakadong turmeric, organic vegetables, natural honey, coffee,
cashewnut, strawberries, etc. are still absent
in diverse intra and inter markets of the States. Majority of the farmers are
confined to selling their produce in daily/weekly village markets or in main
markets in the Districts.
Walking through the streets of the biggest
market in the state of Meghalaya,
Iewduh Shillong, the streets are crammed with vegetables and fruits vendors and
producers. This leads to high competition among them and paves way for the
wholesalers and traders to suppress the price of the produce, thus depriving
the producers of their rightful gain. A large majority of the farmers are still
in the dark about different local based organizations or online portals for
selling their produce and only a handful of the farmers in the State have
access to such marketing platforms. Moreover, the lack of timely access to
proper information and poor infrastructure like roads, cold storage facilities,
etc. impede farmers from their well-deserved earnings.
The Department of Agriculture, Government of
Meghalaya, with the motto of “Connecting farmers to markets’, launched the
project 1917iTEAMS (Integrated
Technology Enabled Agri Management System) in December 2017. The project which
is based on Information Communication Technology (ICT) aims to cater to the
needs of the farmers with just a phone call away as mobile telephony is the
technology of choice for people from all walks of life today. Further, Meghalaya
which ranked among the top 10 States of India with a potential growth rate in
rural tele-density (Open Government Data Platform India, 2014), is in a much
better position to capitalize on and take benefits from the various digital
initiatives for digital empowerment of the masses and provision of digital
delivery of various services to the citizens.
1917iTEAMS, a first of its kind project in the hilly
terrain, is designed to connect farmers to the Agri- Response Centre(ARC)
through a toll-free number 1917 for services related to agro-advisory services,
market intelligence and transporting of agricultural produce by Agri-Response
Vehicles (ARVs). The project is equipped with Incoming Communication Officers
(ICOs) who are Agricultural & Veterinary Masters graduates as Level 1 Experts themselves and
Dispatch Officers (DOs) in charge of ARVs. Farmers are connected to the ICOs
through the Toll-Free number 1917, where the latter assists them in any queries
related to disease and pest management, package of practices on apiculture, fisheries, Sericulture,
scheme related information, health management of livestock, providing buyer
information and any other allied sectors information. There are also Level 2 escalations to Subject Matter
Experts(SMS) who are employees of the Agriculture and Allied State and Central
Government departments.
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| Photo 2: 1917 iTEAMS ARV loading farmer's produce for transportation |
Although still in its infancy, with just three
months of implementation, the 1917iTEAMS project has been able to carry through
its intentions and objectives. The project has been able to provide assistance
to more than two thousand queries of the farmers especially on crop disease and
pest management. In-spite of the fact that the project has not been advertised
at large, the ARVs have been the service
of choice of about Fifteen Percent newly registered farmers who
were in need of transporting agricultural products to and from their villages
to markets.
One of the main objectives of 1917iTEAMS is to
connect farmers to markets eliminating wasteful intermediation and multiple
handling by middlemen, thereby significantly reducing transaction costs. The
project has been able to provide a market information platform for a significant
percentage of its registered
farmers who inquired about selling off their produce. A noteworthy story so
far, a registered farmer of 1917iTEAMS from a remote village in Jaintia hills
complained to an ICO of 1917iTEAMS about the poor marketing of his produce
apropos to which a Shillong based organization was introduced to him for buying
his produce. Through this introduction, a successful business transaction was
built between the farmer and the organization, and additionally with the
farmers of the entire and nearby villages.
Many
other successful marketing networks has also been created between the poultry
registered farmers of 1917iTEAMS with other Shillong based organizations and
local chicken vendors. What is more, in many cases, a marketing network was
created by 1917iTEAMS among
the registered farmers themselves
for buying
and selling their required commodities. One such instance where this scenario was
applied was for buying and selling of piglets among the registered farmers and this initiative was
highly appreciated.
Agriculture is an important sector of Meghalaya’s
economy and information is vital for development and well-being of the rural
masses. ICT in agriculture can act as a driving force in this development
process. 1917iTEAMS has applied ICT to the advantage of Meghalaya’s small,
marginal and resource-poor farmers
by disseminating
timely agricultural information pertaining to soil enrichment, seed selection,
disease and pest management, organic
cultivation, prevailing markets, demand-supply status in respect
of different products and their
current market prices. The information helps farmers in taking timely decisions
on crop product diversification strategies and positioning of the same in right
market to get optimum revenue. With more milestones to accomplish,
1917iTEAMS aims to empower the farmers of the state of Meghalaya to reach their highest
potential.
