Haryana: IFFCO dedicates Digi Platform to farmers

Tense IT Head A K Gupta, anxious Director R P Singh and a MD who would not settle for anything less than his dream!  That was how the new pan-Indian portal “Indian Cooperative Digital Platform” aimed at transforming the rural landscape took birth. And it was finally the D Day for the team when MD dedicated it to the farmers of the country at Rewari in Haryana this Sunday.

Billed as game-changer the portal allows farmers to both sell and buy agri products from anywhere in the country. It will serve IFFCO’s member societies and 4 crore farmers across the nation. It is seen as the largest pioneering effort by IFFCO in developing a vibrant online community.

This is a first ever digital platform built in 10 languages. It is an online community to empower farmers and the member of IFFCO societies to interact, share ideas and explore immense opportunities available in the country, said IT Head A K Gupta.

Given the poor literacy in our rural areas the products are also displayed less in words and more through photographs and graphics.Our MD Dr U S Awasthi wanted to make it as user-friendly as possible and that is why we have employed minimum use of languages, said IT Head and the man tasked with the job of concretizing the dream of MD.

Recounting the early discussions with the MD Gupta would say “it looked almost impossible to develop something like this in the given deadline but MD saheb was unsparing. And now we have done it! It is his guidance as well as subtle pressure that finally ensured the launch of the portal”, said Gupta.

Launching the portal in Rewari IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi said it is a new beginning for IFFCO. It is the beginning of digital era for the villages in the country; it will act as a unifier for the rural folks.

More than 1800 farmers had come to participate in the function in Rewari where MD stressed on strengthening the cooperative network. He also encouraged participation of women and youth in the cooperative movement.

The platform aims to create a single unified portal. It also provides multiple services to farmers including— rural e-commerce, classifieds, discussion forum, multilingual chat, and entertainment.

The platform will attempt to tap the talent acquired in several generations of rural India and bring to it the necessary platform to save it from imminent extinction, said Gupta explaining the MD’s motivation in launching this platform.

On this occasion Rewari was pasted with IFFCO’s Golden Jubilee celebrations cut-outs. It was MD’s 60^th destination. As usual IFFCO exhibition, cultural shows and health check-ups were organized on the occasion.

The high-light of the show however was description of IFFCO in the folk song Ragini which captivated the audience no end.