ICTs in agriculture/aqua extension

Efforts are going on to improve the performance of agriculture/aqua extension system by extending the developments in ICTs.

(a) Developing eSagu system (which is an IT-based Personalized agricultural advisory system) since 2004. The objective of Esagu system is to deliver a quality agricultural expert advice by considering farm as unit. The advice is provided at regular intervals to each farm. Through eSagu experiment, it has been shown that it is possible for the agricultural expert to provide the expert advice by observing the crop status through digital photographs and text. It has been shown that the agricultural knowledge can play crucial role in improving the farm productivity. The impact results show that the system is encouraging integrated pest management/inegrated nutrient management, judicious use of pesticides and fertilizers by avoiding their indiscriminate usage. The impact study showed that the farmers got the additional benefit of Rs 3,820/- per acre by saving fertilizers, pesticide sprays and getting extra yield. The cost to benefit ratio of eSagu system is 1:3. (b) The eAquaSagu System has been built and operated to deliver timely expert advice to fish farmers. The impact study results show significant benefits have been accrued to farming community.

Faculty

1. P Krishna Reddy (Head)