MOBILE BASED AGRO ADVISORY SERVICE, AN EFFECTIVE TOOL TO DISSEMINATE SUGARCANE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY FOR FARMERS

S.K. PATHAK¹*, S.R. SINGH², P. SINGH^3
1Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, 242001, Uttar Pradesh, India
²ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mirzapur, 231 001, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India
³Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, 242001, Uttar Pradesh, India
* Corresponding Author : skp.upcsr@gmail.com

Received : 05-06-2019     Accepted : 26-10-2019     Published : 30-10-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 20       Pages : 9162 - 9164
Int J Agr Sci 11.20 (2019):9162-9164

Keywords : Sugarcane, Knowledge, Attitude, Skill, Mobile
Academic Editor : M. Sabesh, Dr B.S. Vyakarnahal, C.M. Gulave, R. K. Rathod, S. Maneva
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Uttar Pradesh Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur, 242001, Uttar Pradesh, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Sugarcane is the most popular cash crop of tropical zone and successfully cultivated by farmers of tropical as well as subtropical India. It occupies 4.73 million hectares area and produced about 376.90 million-ton sugarcane in India. Uttar Pradesh occupied 57 % area of the country i.e., 2.7 million hectare and cane production is 182.07 million ton with highest producer of sugarcane as well as sugar in India but per hectare average yield is still below from some states of India. Keeping this in view U.P. Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahanpur started Mobile based Sugarcane advisory services on the mobile phones of farmers of U.P to facilitate them about latest available Sugarcane production technology. A sum of 65000 farmers were added by this service and 5.0 lakh massages regarding complete package of practices including land preparation, soil health, balance use of fertilizers, sowing/planting methods, irrigation, INM, IPM and plant protection technology were sent to the farmers from time to time. After completion of the message, feedback was also observed from concerned farmers and analysed. For this study out of 65000 registered farmers only 50 farmers were selected randomly. Based on their feedback analysis, it is observed that due to timely information to the farmers on their mobile phones, their knowledge level was increased, Attitude and skills were also changed resulting into saving in production cost on one hand and productivity of cane as well as sugar in the state on other hand.

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