Centre keen to adopt Gonda model of fertiliser supply through KISAN

The central government has shown interest in the fertiliser distribution system to farmers through Krishak Information System and Network (KISAN) introduced by Gonda district administration.

In a letter to Gonda District Magistrate Roshan Jacob the Union Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT) has sought details of the project to study its feasibility in implementing it across the country.

"We have received a letter from MoIT regarding the details of the project. They have appreciated the project and expressed their willingness to implement it in the whole country," Jacob said. As per the letter, the Centre is considering implementation of an easy model to track the supply of fertilisers in the country to prevent black marketing of fertilisers.

The KISAN project was implemented by Jacob in Gonda district. Under the project the farmers were registered with the Jan Sewa Kendra (JSK) across the district. The complete details of the farmers including his land, fertiliser requirement, seeds, pesticides, agricultural implements used by him, saving account number, Kisan Credit Card were registered and a receipt was handed over to the farmer.

"Presently the focus is only on fertiliser supply and we will take up supply of seeds, pesticides in our next phase," Jacob added.

Once the fertiliser availability is ensured, the farmer gets a call on his mobile phone through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) which informs him about the fertiliser availability at the nearest cooperative society and even private retailer. He is also informed about the date on which he can get the fertiliser on the fixed price.

"Earlier, we planned to send SMS but realised it won't work with farmers so we settled for IVRS. Usually a farmer makes several rounds to the cooperative society for fertiliser and eventually he is told that stock is over. We provide specific date and price on which he can get the fertiliser," Jacob said. Fertiliser supply to farmers is a big ordeal for farmers in the state. Nearly 10,000 farmers got themselves registered with KISAN service since December 2012 when it was launched in the district. The number is increasing every day.

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