Prabhakar Mayya, a farmer from Ujire, uploads a photograph and writes on a social networking application: “This is a simple device to feed baby cow.”
The photograph shows an artificial teat fixed to a plastic bucket for feeding calves. By feeding in this manner, any injury to the hybrid cow’s udder could be avoided, says Mr. Mayya.
He is one among a group of 122 members, including farmers and agriculture department officials, on the social network application Telegram used by the State Department of Agriculture for communication with farmers.
The department has named the group, launched about three months ago, as ‘progressive farmers’.
This initiative is the brainchild of the Commissioner of Agriculture Subodh Yadav who was also the former Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada. All Joint Directors of Agriculture in districts are its members.
“Rain is around 20 per cent less in July and it was 41 per cent less in June on an average for Karnataka,” wrote the Commissioner of Agriculture on July 20.
Farmer members of this group could directly interact with the Commissioner of Agriculture and agriculture scientists for solutions on crop diseases or to know about some department schemes, Mr. Mayya told The Hindu . Mr. Mayya said that once he faced some problem in the mechanised paddy transplantation method. When he uploaded the problem on the group, a member from Davangere replied and suggested a remedy which worked out.
H. Kempe Gowda, the Joint Director of Agriculture, Dakshina Kannada, told The Hindu that the group and the technology helped in sharing knowledge among officials about the government’s schemes to farmers.
The group members also share information on weather, rain, seeds, crops and the like.
On Wednesday a member shared some information about availability of self-sharpening sickle for cereal crop harvesting.
A member should have a smart phone and internet connectivity to join the group. The mode of admission to the group is through joint directors of agriculture or assistant directors of agriculture. Farmers interested to join the group could contact it, Mr. Gowda said.
