Commerce secretary Rita Teaotia on Friday called for greater use of mobile app technology and integrated traceability systems to identify the farmers and laboratories from where farm produce is sourced and tested. “It is important to make best use of technology so that problem areas can be tracked and solutions found,” she said.
Ms. Teaotia was speaking at the unveiling of a new mobile application with an integrated traceability system ‘Hortinet’.
The app was developed by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority for facilitating farm registration, testing and certification of fruits and vegetables for export from India to regions such as the European Union.
The mobile app will allow farmers to apply online to facilitate their farm registration and tracking the status of application and approvals by State Government and Lab sampling by authorised Laboratories, an official statement said. The app initiative is expected to increase the accessibility and reach of the traceability software system among the farmers and other stakeholders, it added. The app will also assist State Horticulture/ Agriculture Department to capture real time details of farmers, farm location, products and details of inspections like date of inspection, name of inspecting directly from field. Ms. Teaotia said there is a need to move towards adoption of similar standards for domestic market and export market since the Indian consumer is also expecting and entitled to the best quality product.
