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Ranchi, India, Jan 20, 2022 -- The state agriculture department has opened for the first time a centralised call centre for farmers which will address their grievances and provide farming related information in multiple languages.

The toll-free call centre (1800-123-1136) has been set up at the department’s office in Ranchi and will initially be manned by 12 people. The department also released a landline number (0651-7122712), Whatsapp/SMS (8797891222) for seeking farming related assistance.

The department also launched a ‘blockchain technology’ interface to create transparency in seed distribution and distribution of other agriculture schemes. After Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand will be the second state to use blockchain technology in government works, officials said.

State agriculture director Nisha Singhmar Oraon told TOI over the phone, "The USP of this call centre will be that operators can speak in multiple languages such as Santhali, Mundari, Oraon, etc, besides Hindi so that farmers calling from any part of the state can get proper assistance. Here, one can lodge their problems, or take any kind of agriculture related assistance. We have set a 15-day period for resolution of the problems. In case of failure, it will get escalated to a higher level."

On the blockchain technology, she said it will initially be used in seed procurement and distribution but they will gradually expand it for other activities. She said the department has come up with a website for blockchain technology and they are planning to train grassroots workers and other stakeholders on how to use it.

She said, "Last year, we rolled out a token system for farmers based on their unique ID for distribution of seeds to curb forgery or duplicity. Now, all those token IDs will be fed into the website. In case of enrolment of new farmers, new token ID will be created and registered on the website. Based on the allocation of seed to a particular farmer as per his/her requirement, we can track the entire detail of the distribution through the website."

Farmers too can equally track their consignment. "For example, when one orders anything from e-commerce sites, they can track the status of consignment. Our system too will work in the same manner. Another USP of this technology will be that if any lot of seeds fails in any district, we can track the whole chain of its distribution and recall them back," she said, adding that the main aim behind its introduction is to create transparency in the procurement and distribution process. "Jharkhand will be the second state after Andhra Pradesh to use blockchain technology in government works," she said.

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Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Date Posted: Thursday, January 20, 2022