To reach out to maximum number farmers, the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) launched an

“offline version” of its website www.agropedia.net on Wednesday.

In January, the IIT-K had launched a website to help farmers learn more about crops and farming. But in the wake of poor Internet connectivity in small towns and rural areas, most could not access the website.

To make this offline version operational, the IIT-K team working on the Agropedia programme, has developed a special software that has been installed in a small server. The software contains the details of the website and makes it possible for farmers to get their queries answered without Internet connection.

This small server can be installed at any location and has the capacity to connect with a group of 10 to 15 computers. The IIT-K team plans to install the small servers in all the Krishi Vidyan Kendras (KVK) where the farmers can access them.

The project engineer of Agropedia programme, Vikas Awasthi, said: “In the last nine months, the website has been visited by farmers and agri experts from 160 countries. From India, over 30,000 experts and farmers have logged on to it.”

He claimed the offline version can take verbal questions and commands from farmers. “As many farmers are illiterate, we have introduced the touch screen facility. Here, a farmer simply has to follow verbal instructions from the computer to get his answers,” he said.

At present, the website provides information on 9 crops — rice, wheat, chickpea, litchi, sorghum, sugarcane, vegetable pea, groundnut and pigeon pea. It also informs the farmers about climatic changes, fertilisers and pesticides.

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