The Hindu Business Line : Agriculture info centre inaugurated at Madurai

A DISTRICT Agriculture Information-cum-Guidance Centre was inaugurated at the office of the Joint Director of Agriculture here, from where the farmers can get information on the latest technology on agriculture, Government schemes and the export feasibility of their produce.

Created at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh, the new facility, apart from displaying colourful charts on integrated pest management, drip irrigation, common diseases and control mechanism, also has a computer with Internet connectivity and an audio-visual kit.

According to the Joint Director of Agriculture, Mr Ramaraju, Madurai is one of the 10 districts to get the facility, where both the farmers and the officials have direct access to information on new findings worldwide.

Efforts are on to computerise the data of district agriculture profile such as rainfall level, irrigation system, dam level and village-wise date on crop rotation, normal area of cultivation, types of crop and soil fertility, for which the farmers would have access on all working days between 10 a.m. and 5.45 p.m. Three agricultural officers will be available at the centre, who will provide answers to the farmers' queries on irrigation, he added.

He added that with the Internet facility, the specimens of crops affected by new diseases could be Web cast to research institutes across the State and technical opinion obtained from experts. In addition, the officials will have regular interaction with the scientists in agricultural research institutes, such as the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, and India Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, on the latest developments.

The other districts that have this facility are Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Tirunelveli, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam. The officials are also taking steps to create a Web site with all the details of the district, so that the farmers can have access from their villages. There is also a plan to launch a programme to answer the queries of farmers through e-mail, he added.

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