Atmanirbhar Krishi App: Here's all you need to know

On 29 June 2021, the Centre launched the Atmanirbhar Krishi App in order to provide farmers with actionable agricultural information and early weather alerts. 

The information relevant to the farmers curated by various government departments on the national digital platform 'KisanMitr' is now being available through the Atmanirbhar Krishi App. The app has been designed and built by the Tech Mahindra Makers Lab team.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Professor K. Vijay Raghavan said, "With the Atmanirbhar Krishi app of the KisanMitr initiative, farmers will have in their hands, evidence-based information generated by our research organizations like IMD, ISRO, ICAR, and CGWA. This information, when used by the farmers to make decisions on cropping patterns, mechanization of small farmers’ holdings or stubble burning, will ensure that decisions are made factoring in the importance of sustainability of water and environment, and judicious use of resources. An app available on a basic phone with information in a language comprehensible to farmers will also enhance inclusivity during the decision-making process."

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How the app was envisioned?

Data related to soil type and health, moisture, weather, and water table were collected and analysed to generate personalized insights related to crop selection, fertilizers requirements, and water needs for each farmer at the farm-holding level. The app was envisioned in 5 stages:

1- Data aggregation

2- Building centralized insights

3- Enable local expertise (KVK) supported interactions and insights

4- Deriving Machine Learning inferences

5- Continuous improvement

Atmanirbhar Krishi App: Salient Features

The salient features of the Atmanirbhar Krishi App are as follows:

1- Simplified language

2- Available in 12 languages

3- Free of cost for farmers, start-ups, KVKs, SHGs, or NGOs

4- Works on minimal bandwidth keeping in view the connectivity issue

5- Doesn't collect any inputs from the farmer

6- Relies on geo-location of the farmers

7- Data relevant to other locations can be collected by entering the Pincode of that particular area. 

8- Available on both Android and Windows platform

Atmanirbhar Krishi App: Significance

1- It provides real-time useful and appropriate information to farmers digitally.

2- The app will facilitate KVKs to interact with farmers more specifically as per the existing ground realities.

3- KVKs may also integrate the information available with them on existing cropping systems and agronomic practices while interacting with farmers.

4- The information available on the app will ensure that the decisions made by the farmers are based on the importance of the sustainability of water and the environment. 

5- It will also help the farmers in enhancing inclusivity in the decision-making process.  

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Bengaluru-based Indian Centre for Social Transformation (ICST) Founder Trustee Raja Seeva is one of the major stakeholders in the development of Atmanirbhar Krishi App and KisanMitr.

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