On US President Obama’s trip to India, Indiancooperative.com has headlined “Iffco steals Obama’s heart”. The phrase was extensively used later by Iffco in its in-house newsletters.
But the story behind the headline has begun to unfold slowly and is leading a quiet revolution in rural India. It is for nothing that US President commented on Iffco Sanchar haat. He saw its potential which none of our home grown leaders could see.
About 50,000 farmers in Karnataka are now making use of their green SIM cards to get weather forecasts on their mobile phones. Several farmers around Bengaluru, Mandya and Mysore are using the green sim cards, through which the weather forecast five days in advance can be obtained.
In the states such as Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, over two lakh farmers are taking advantage of weather forecasts.
Sanchar Haat has yet to come up with All-India data but it surely indicates a revolution in rural areas.
Kisan Sanchar is an idea conceived by IFFCO to empower farmers through telecom for rural communication services by leveraging information and technology.
IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) was started in 2007 in partnership with Airtel and Star Global for empowerment of people living in rural India. It provides pertinent information and services through affordable mobile communications. It has led to improved decision making ability of farmers.
SIM card can be used on any GSM mobile, has information on animal husbandry, horticulture, crop insurance, government policies and schemes and sericulture.