The Hindu Business Line : <I>Expert advice for farmers on mobile </I>

Hyderabad March 29 Mr Pande told Business Line that geographical position system (GPS) has been used to provide the necessary input information to farmers.

"We extensively worked in grape gardens near Sangli, potato farms in North and cotton fields in Vidharbha in Maharashtra, and toured parts of Uttar Pradesh and Pondicherry and worked closely with the MS Swaminathan Foundation on areas of farm information such as fertiliser inputs, weather and tide reports," Mr Pande explained. This application aims to enable them use mobile phones and seek necessary information.

The receiver would be able to exactly assess as to where the farmer is calling from and accordingly advise him on how to go about addressing a specific problem he is faced with. This could be a pest attack for which necessary information could be obtained from a central control room or expert guidance from institutions like MS Swaminathan Foundation.

Mr Nikhil Jain, Chief Technology Advisor, Qualcomm, which is supporting the innovations said that the company has earmarked $1 million for its Wireless Reach Application Funding Programme.

Under the programme 21 companies were short-listed and of this TCS was chosen the winner. Five ideas would be funded through this initiative to translate them for broader usability.

The TCS innovation has received a shot in the arm for being chosen for the Wireless Reach Brew Application Funding Programme.

The short-listed projects for global contest will receive $100,000 to further develop this application— Educating/Advising Farmers Through Mobile Phones.

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