It just amazes me to this day how short memories are especially Indians suffer such memory losses when it comes to their own history including that of agriculture history. It is now anthropologically established that rice cultivation in India was known in 3000 BCE. Rig Vedic people were more of herders and animal keepers however in YajurVeda there are plenty if instances of mention of grains such as rice used in fire sacrifices (homas and havanas), barley, ghee and other grains. These grains were cultivated. There was sufficient food for all. There is not much mention of famines or droughts. Prior to the British rule Indian and Muslim rulers encouraged irrigation agriculture and there is plenty of evidence of canals, ponds and channels which catered for irrigation and stored water and recharged aquifers. However when British ruled India famines and grain shortages were common including in 1940s where grain from India was shifted to the British soldiers for WWII effort as documented in historical records. Much of the knowledge critical to Indian farming and agriculture was lost and India which contributed over 22% to the world economy was reduced to contributing about 3% to the world economy according to renowned economist Angus Maddison in his book. Amrthya Sen estimated that over 3 million people were killed due to sheer starvation in Bengal famine alone. Of course mismanagment of agriculture and cyclones etc did not help.
It is with this background I am highlighting this article below for all the young agriculture graduates. Over the decades farmers and indigenous peoples knowledge has been ignored in India and replaced by people with paper degrees. It is not say degrees are not important however any group of people who don't learn from knowledge of farmers who have done farming through trial and error over several decades can not be ignored. Prior to 1960s when Norman Borlaug worked on dwarfing genes in wheat and fertilizer companies started selling synthetic nitrogen as urea, Indian agriculture was organic agriculture. Organic agriculture is neither new nor innovative for India. However, it has to be done right to minimize losses and reduce wastage. Organic agriculture did not have the power to feed the people of India after the British Raj which numbered to 434 million. Yes organic agriculture has a place however a combination organic agriculture practices mixed with strategic Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy will help India to become a net exporter of several grains and earn valuable dollars for the economy. The article in Hindu below shows that a combination of farmers knowledge and agriculture practices can benefit not just an individual but a group of people.
So any new agriculture student should heed and learn from farmer knowledge in local area, use scientific principles learned during the degree, develop evidence based methods to prove farmer knowledge through replication reproducibility and repeatability principles and show how older knowledge in combination with modern practices.
Illiterate Lalitamma teaches trainee IAS officers
The Hindu-05-04-2013
R. Avadhani
OF HER OWN MAKING: Lalitamma in her field in Medak.
Can you imagine an illiterate taking class to trainee IAS officers? That’s what has been accomplished by Aaidala Lalitamma of Raipally village, about 50 kms from the district headquarters. But one may raise eyebrows at the thought until he/she converses with Lalitamma who more than willingly shares that she was the one to impart knowledge on non-pesticide management methods (NPM) to trainees.
Meet the 45-year-old Lalitamma who recently went to Lal Bahadur Sastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoori to take classes to the trainee IAS officers for one day.
Ms. Lalitamma is an active farmer who has been practicing NPM for the past five years in addition to following rain-fed harvesting system. She not only prepares her own seed and organic fertilisers and pesticides, but also sells it to others based on their requirement. She has been active in spreading NPM methods in the district and trains others in preparing required liquids and solids for their farms using cow dung, cow urine, neem leaves and other organic materials.
Her income grew after shifting to organic farming and she even has constructed a house. She had an income of Rs. 70,000 by growing leafy vegetables for three months.
“It’s a great experience to have an opportunity to teach NPM methods to the trainee collectors at their institute. I have explained to them on how I am into this, the advantages I am enjoying, the cost reduction in cultivation and being self-reliant in seed, fertiliser and pesticide requirements,” proud Lalitamma told The Hindu while sharing her Mussoori experiences. Did she fear to speak with them? “No. I felt as if I was speaking with my children and I was happy to share my knowledge with them,” she said, who has been cultivating 13 varieties of crops in her farm. She was taken in a flight from Hyderabad to New Delhi and then to Mussoori. Earlier, she had gone to Delhi to receive an award from the Union Government for her initiative in NPM practice.
General public are generally given an impression that there is a massive food shortage in the world and this is leading to price rises and food shortages. To a large extent this is not true. There is a massive food shortage due to waste, lack of storage for produced food and lack of infrastructure such as silos chillers etc. and of course transport logistics. I suggest to every agronomist and every plant breeder in the world to read the two articles below. SRI method of rice cultivation is not only making very significant improvement in rice production but also in economies of villages and social systems. However this system when used smartly is making impact on wheat potatoes etc too. This system uses number of plants per square meter very smartly, water minimally and weed management smartly. All these have led to significant production increases in countries like India ( read article 2 & 3)
Sumant Kumar photographed in Darveshpura, Bihar, India. Photograph: Chiara Goia for Observer Food Monthly
Sumant Kumar was overjoyed when he harvested his rice last year. There had been good rains in his village of Darveshpura in north-eastIndia and he knew he could improve on the four or five tonnes per hectare that he usually managed. But every stalk he cut on his paddy field near the bank of the Sakri river seemed to weigh heavier than usual, every grain of rice was bigger and when his crop was weighed on the old village scales, even Kumar was shocked.
This was not six or even 10 or 20 tonnes. Kumar, a shy young farmer in Nalanda district of India's poorest state Bihar, had – using only farmyard manure and without any herbicides – grown an astonishing 22.4 tonnes of rice on one hectare of land. This was a world record and with rice the staple food of more than half the world's population of seven billion, big news.
It beat not just the 19.4 tonnes achieved by the "father of rice", the Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, but the World Bank-funded scientists at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, and anything achieved by the biggest European and American seed and GM companies. And it was not just Sumant Kumar. Krishna, Nitish, Sanjay and Bijay, his friends and rivals in Darveshpura, all recorded over 17 tonnes, and many others in the villages around claimed to have more than doubled their usual yields.
The villagers, at the mercy of erratic weather and used to going without food in bad years, celebrated. But the Bihar state agricultural universities didn't believe them at first, while India's leading rice scientists muttered about freak results. The Nalanda farmers were accused of cheating. Only when the state's head of agriculture, a rice farmer himself, came to the village with his own men and personally verified Sumant's crop, was the record confirmed.
A tool used to harvest rice. Photograph: Chiara Goia
The rhythm of Nalanda village life was shattered. Here bullocks still pull ploughs as they have always done, their dung is still dried on the walls of houses and used to cook food. Electricity has still not reached most people. Sumant became a local hero, mentioned in the Indian parliament and asked to attend conferences. The state's chief minister came to Darveshpura to congratulate him, and the village was rewarded with electric power, a bank and a new concrete bridge.
That might have been the end of the story had Sumant's friend Nitish not smashed the world record for growing potatoes six months later. Shortly after Ravindra Kumar, a small farmer from a nearby Bihari village, broke the Indian record for growing wheat. Darveshpura became known as India's "miracle village", Nalanda became famous and teams of scientists, development groups, farmers, civil servants and politicians all descended to discover its secret.
When I meet the young farmers, all in their early 30s, they still seem slightly dazed by their fame. They've become unlikely heroes in a state where nearly half the families live below the Indian poverty line and 93% of the 100 million population depend on growing rice and potatoes. Nitish Kumar speaks quietly of his success and says he is determined to improve on the record. "In previous years, farming has not been very profitable," he says. "Now I realise that it can be. My whole life has changed. I can send my children to school and spend more on health. My income has increased a lot."
What happened in Darveshpura has divided scientists and is exciting governments and development experts. Tests on the soil show it is particularly rich in silicon but the reason for the "super yields" is entirely down to a method of growing crops called System of Rice (or root) Intensification (SRI). It has dramatically increased yields with wheat, potatoes, sugar cane, yams, tomatoes, garlic, aubergine and many other crops and is being hailed as one of the most significant developments of the past 50 years for the world's 500 million small-scale farmers and the two billion people who depend on them.
People work on a rice field in Bihar. Photograph: Chiara Goia
Instead of planting three-week-old rice seedlings in clumps of three or four in waterlogged fields, as rice farmers around the world traditionally do, the Darveshpura farmers carefully nurture only half as many seeds, and then transplant the young plants into fields, one by one, when much younger. Additionally, they space them at 25cm intervals in a grid pattern, keep the soil much drier and carefully weed around the plants to allow air to their roots. The premise that "less is more" was taught by Rajiv Kumar, a young Bihar state government extension worker who had been trained in turn by Anil Verma of a small Indian NGO called Pran (Preservation and
Proliferation of Rural Resources and Nature), which has introduced the SRI method to hundreds of villages in the past three years.
While the "green revolution" that averted Indian famine in the 1970s relied on improved crop varieties, expensive pesticides and chemical fertilisers, SRI appears to offer a long-term, sustainable future for no extra cost. With more than one in seven of the global population going hungry and demand for rice expected to outstrip supply within 20 years, it appears to offer real hope. Even a 30% increase in the yields of the world's small farmers would go a long way to alleviating poverty.
"Farmers use less seeds, less water and less chemicals but they get more without having to invest more. This is revolutionary," said Dr Surendra Chaurassa from Bihar's agriculture ministry. "I did not believe it to start with, but now I think it can potentially change the way everyone farms. I would want every state to promote it. If we get 30-40% increase in yields, that is more than enough to recommend it."
The results in Bihar have exceeded Chaurassa's hopes. Sudama Mahto, an agriculture officer in Nalanda, says a small investment in training a few hundred people to teach SRI methods has resulted in a 45% increase in the region's yields. Veerapandi Arumugam, the former agriculture minister of Tamil Nadu state, hailed the system as "revolutionising" farming.
Given $15m by an anonymous billionaire to research sustainable development, Uphoff went to Madagascar in 1983 and saw the success of SRI for himself: farmers whose previous yields averaged two tonnes per hectare were harvesting eight tonnes. In 1997 he started to actively promote SRI in Asia, where more than 600 million people are malnourished.
"It is a set of ideas, the absolute opposite to the first green revolution [of the 60s] which said that you had to change the genes and the soil nutrients to improve yields. That came at a tremendous ecological cost," says Uphoff. "Agriculture in the 21st century must be practised differently. Land and water resources are becoming scarcer, of poorer quality, or less reliable. Climatic conditions are in many places more adverse. SRI offers millions of disadvantaged households far better opportunities. Nobody is benefiting from this except the farmers; there are no patents, royalties or licensing fees."
Rice seeds. Photograph: Chiara Goia
For 40 years now, says Uphoff, science has been obsessed with improving seeds and using artificial fertilisers: "It's been genes, genes, genes. There has never been talk of managing crops. Corporations say 'we will breed you a better plant' and breeders work hard to get 5-10% increase in yields. We have tried to make agriculture an industrial enterprise and have forgotten its biological roots."
Not everyone agrees. Some scientists complain there is not enough peer-reviewed evidence around SRI and that it is impossible to get such returns. "SRI is a set of management practices and nothing else, many of which have been known for a long time and are best recommended practice," says Achim Dobermann, deputy director for research at the International Rice Research Institute. "Scientifically speaking I don't believe there is any miracle. When people independently have evaluated SRI principles then the result has usually been quite different from what has been reported on farm evaluations conducted by NGOs and others who are promoting it. Most scientists have had difficulty replicating the observations."
Dominic Glover, a British researcher working with Wageningen University in the Netherlands, has spent years analysing the introduction of GM crops in developing countries. He is now following how SRI is being adopted in India and believes there has been a "turf war".
"There are experts in their fields defending their knowledge," he says. "But in many areas, growers have tried SRI methods and abandoned them. People are unwilling to investigate this. SRI is good for small farmers who rely on their own families for labour, but not necessarily for larger operations. Rather than any magical theory, it is good husbandry, skill and attention which results in the super yields. Clearly in certain circumstances, it is an efficient resource for farmers. But it is labour intensive and nobody has come up with the technology to transplant single seedlings yet."
But some larger farmers in Bihar say it is not labour intensive and can actually reduce time spent in fields. "When a farmer does SRI the first time, yes it is more labour intensive," says Santosh Kumar, who grows 15 hectares of rice and vegetables in Nalanda. "Then it gets easier and new innovations are taking place now."
In its early days, SRI was dismissed or vilified by donors and scientists but in the past few years it has gained credibility. Uphoff estimates there are now 4-5 million farmers using SRI worldwide, with governments in China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam promoting it.
Sumant, Nitish and as many as 100,000 other SRI farmers in Bihar are now preparing their next rice crop. It's back-breaking work transplanting the young rice shoots from the nursery beds to the paddy fields but buoyed by recognition and results, their confidence and optimism in the future is sky high.
Last month Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz visited Nalanda district and recognised the potential of this kind of organic farming, telling the villagers they were "better than scientists". "It was amazing to see their success in organic farming," said Stiglitz, who called for more research. "Agriculture scientists from across the world should visit and learn and be inspired by them."
A man winnows rice in Satgharwa village. Photograph: Chiara Goia
Bihar, from being India's poorest state, is now at the centre of what is being called a "new green grassroots revolution" with farming villages, research groups and NGOs all beginning to experiment with different crops using SRI. The state will invest $50m in SRI next year but western governments and foundations are holding back, preferring to invest in hi-tech research. The agronomist Anil Verma does not understand why: "The farmers know SRI works, but help is needed to train them. We know it works differently in different soils but the principles are solid," he says. "The biggest problem we have is that people want to do it but we do not have enough trainers.
"If any scientist or a company came up with a technology that almost guaranteed a 50% increase in yields at no extra cost they would get a Nobel prize. But when young Biharian farmers do that they get nothing. I only want to see the poor farmers have enough to eat."
Article 3 from Guardian UK
India's rice revolution: Chinese scientist questions claim of massive harvests
Revelations in last week's Observer Food Monthly have created controversy over the truth of record yields
People work on a rice field in Nalanda district, Bihar, India, where world record yields are said to have been achieved. Photograph: Chiara Goia/Observer Food Monthly
China's leading rice scientist has questioned India's claims of a world record harvest, following a report in last week's Observer of astonishing yields achieved by farmers growing the crop in the state of Bihar.
Professor Yuan Longping, known as the "father of rice", said he doubted whether the Indian government had properly verified young Indian farmer Sumant Kumar's claim that he had produced 22.4 tonnes of rice from one hectare of land in Bihar in 2011.
Yuan, director-general of China's national rice research centre and holder of the previous record of 19.4 tonnes a hectare, asked: "How could the Indian government have confirmed the number after the harvesting was already done?"
The dispute centres on a controversial method of growing rice that is spreading quickly in Asia. System of Rice Intensification (SRI) uses fewer seeds and less water, but seeks to stimulate the roots of young plants, mainly with organic manures. It can work with all kinds of seeds, including GM, and has the effect of getting plants to grow larger, healthier root systems.
Many scientists initially doubted whether yields of this magnitude were possible, but peer-reviewed papers have shown consistent improvements over conventional rice farming methods.
Yuan told the Chinese press after seeing the Observer Food Monthlyarticle: "I introduced the intensification method to China myself. It could increase yields by 10-15% in low-yield fields, but it's not possible for fields that are already producing relatively high yields."
However, Norman Uphoff, professor of agriculture at Cornell University in the US, defended Kumar and the Indian authorities. "The yield measurements for Kumar and other farmers in the Nalanda district of Bihar, which matched or exceeded the previous record, were at first rejected by Indian scientists, who did not believe such results were possible.
"The measurements were made by staking out 10 by 5 metre plots in the centre of one-acre fields, not sampled crop-cuts from small areas. The 50 square metre plots were harvested with hundreds of people watching the cutting, threshing and weighing because everyone anticipated unprecedented yields," he said.
"These results were achieved with hybrid varieties which derive from Yuan's own innovation of hybridising rice, considered for decades by most rice scientists to be impossible."
The measurements were later acknowledged as valid by both the Indian Council for Agricultural Research and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Last week the government of Bihar, where nearly half the population of 100 million live below the poverty line and 93% depend on growing rice and potatoes, endorsed SRI, saying its rice production increased to a record 8.2m tonnes last year, against 3.1m tonnes in 2010-11. "The quantum jump is due to the use of the new SRI technique of rice production," said the finance minister, Sushil Kumar Modi.
SRI, which was developed by a Jesuit priest working in Madagascar in the 1980s, divided scientists when it was first introduced. However, it is now being shown to work with many crops, often in conjunction with organic farming.
Last week a farmer from the village of Sohdih, also in the Nalanda district, claimed to have set a world record for potato-growing using organic/SRI farming. Rakesh Kumar was said by district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agrawa to have harvested 108.8 tonnes of potatoes per hectare. The harvest, yet to be confirmed by the Indian central authorities, was said to have been verified by experts, scientists and officials.
Amir Kassam, former director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's Science Council at the UN's food and agriculture organisation, said that many people still doubt the success of SRI. "I would say to them, 'go to the fields and see the evidence'. There are now close to a million hectares under SRI and that cannot be regarded as a delusion. It is real."
Professor Robert Chambers of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University said. "SRI is an astonishing win-win for farmers and the environment. Some scientists have been slow to recognise it, and have even rubbished it in peer-reviewed journals, but its success and spread have been phenomenal."
Trace elements contribute towards yield increases significantly. Indian soils lack trace elements and they need to be supplemented with zinc too. Please promote this to farmers.
From Hindu 20 Feb 2013
Boron foliar spray increases crop yield
S. C. KOTUR
Foliar application of boron is also known to enhance crop growth, number of fruits, fruit size and yield of many crops.
This technology was tested in some farmers fields in Bangalore on ash gourd, Pumpkin, and bitter gourd.
In addition to boric acid, urea was dissolved in the spray solution at 0.5 per cent to enhance absorption of applied boron.
BETTER YIELD
A progressive farmer Mr. Umesh of Gopalpur, Hessaraghatta obtained 28-36 per cent increased production at an expense of Rs. 50/ha on boric acid and urea in each crop.
Another farmer Mr. Bhadradev Kumar of Muthkur region also adopted foliar application of 25 ppm boric acid along with one per cent urea 25 days after planting to flowering (45 days).
He obtained an average increase of two fruits per vine from one and five ashgourds from three in a vine.
Against an estimated yield of 56 tonnes from a hectare Mr. Kumar got 49 tonnes per hectare by adopting this technology.
In ‘Arka Baharl bottle gourd variety grown at the Indian Institute of Horticulture farm (IIHR) farm, the number of fruits increased from two to three per vine.
The weight of the fruit increased to 950gms from 880gms leading to an increase of 50 per cent of bottle gourd fruits.
IMPROVED HEALTH
This substantial increase in production is attributed to an increased fruit set caused by improved health of the pollen. A favourable boron status of the cucurbit vine caused:
(i) proper growth of pollen tube after fertilization leading to an enhanced of fertilization of eggs in the ovary leading ultimately to enhanced the fruit set in each vine; and (ii) substantial growth or enlargement of the fruit since every fertilized egg in the ovary releases growth hormones responsible for fruit enlargement leading to a significant increase if its weight.
Owing to these twin factors, the farmers were able to get a better yield.
The farmers Mr. Umesh of Gopalapura can be reached at -9739261883 and Mr. Bhadradev Kumar of Muthkur at 09482307788.
Collaborative innovation- Farmers & Scientists not Farmers vs Scientists
This article below clearly illustrates the capacity farmers have for innovation. Many farmers have local knowledge and historic knowledge which often gets ignored by scientists who have a view such knowledge is irrelevant. Although this knowledge may be anecdotal and at times unreplicated as they say where there is smoke there is a potential for fire. Young agricultural scientists should take note of this knowledge base and work with the farmers by overlapping the scientific methodology to enable testing of the knowledge. Although some organizations are practising what is called a participatory breeding, I believe it has limited applicability as one need three Rs in research Repeatability, Reproducibility and Replication. However caution should be exercised while using such knowledge and understand the cause and effect and separate the two aspects rather than blindly follow it.
Fermented castor solution traps pests of sugarcane, groundnut
From The Hindu
M. J. PRABU
Special ArrangementInsects like rhinocerous beetle shown dead after falling in the pot.
Green revolution led to serious issues like insect resistance
Andiyur village in Erode district is well known for groundnut and sugarcane cultivation.
But the farmers there face a recurring pest problem called white grub that makes it difficult for them to harvest a good yield. Managing the pest proves difficult for the groundnut cultivators as the grub lives under the soil and its lifecycle takes a year to complete.
It feeds on the root system of the crops and the plants wither and die. Annually nearly 41 per cent of crop loss is being reported from this region.
No effect
“Chemical control measures did not prove to be a long-standing solution for this and the pest keeps recurring,” says Dr. K. Alagesan, Program Co-ordinator, Myrada (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency), Gobichettipalayam, Tamil Nadu.
A progressive farmer G.R. Sakthivel, who grows sugarcane and groundnut, repeatedly faced losses due to this pest.
“I used almost all the pest preventive measures available in the market for this but the problem continued. No amount of specialist intervention could offer a long standing solution to this.
Accidental discovery
“One day I casually happened to see a large number of the grubs moving on a heap of de-oiled castor cake I had left near my cow shed. This made me think of using this as an effective trap for the insects. I tried it first in a small mud pot in my sugarcane field and found that it had the desired result. I started increasing it for my entire crops,” he says.
Detailing the method on how it should be done, the farmer says:
“Select some five litre mud pots and bury them till the neck at different places in the field. Pulverise about 5kg of castor seed and mix it in five litres of water. Keep this solution undisturbed in a plastic drum for 10 days.
Foul smell
On the 11th day pour two litres of this liquid in all the buried pots and fill it with water till the neck portion. The odour that comes out from the pot attracts the pest towards it.
“In addition to white grub this solution is also found effective to control the notorious rhinoceros beetle that infests coconut trees,” explains the farmer.
In fact, coconut growers are well aware about the rhino beetle and its damage to fronds and small nuts. This method is a good way of controlling it and does not require a big investment.
The mud pot with the solution needs to be buried near the trunk of the tree and attracted by the odour from the pot the insects come towards it and fall into the pot and die.
Collect the dead insects found floating in the pot once every 2 days and keep filling the pot with solution whenever the quantity gets reduced. The solution can be kept for a period of three months, according to Mr. Sakthivel.
Myrada did an extensive study on this indigenous technology over a period of four years and found that about five pots suffice for an acre. This method is found to reduce the plant protection expense to 20 per cent since the cost of the entire process comes to Rs.200-250.
Expense
If farmers use the conventional methods they need to spend anything from Rs.450 to 600 for buying chemicals.
Though the farmer developed this concept some 10 years back, today nearly 300 farmers in the region follow this for their groundnut, sugarcane and cotton crops.
“We found that there is an 80 per cent reduction in white grub and rhinoceros beetle pest population and 35-40 per cent yield increase in sugarcane and groundnut crops when this castor trap is used.
Problems galore
“Though, during the start of the green revolution fertilizers and pesticides led to high yields in hybrid crops, later on it led to serious issues like development of insect resistant, resurgence and residual problems.
“Natural and non pesticidal methods for controlling pests have been in place since time immemorial. But sadly the present generation of farmers has either forgotten their efficiency or are not prepared to accept them,” says Dr. Alagesan.
To know more, interested readers can contact Mr. G.R.Sakthivel at No. 149, Ganeshapuram, Gettavadi (P.o), Talavadi (Via), Sathyamangalam(T.K), Erode District-638461, Mobile: 94863 16041 and Dr. P. Alagesan, Programme Co-ordinator, Myrada Krishi Vigyan Kendra, No.272, Perumal Nagar, Puduvalliyampalayam Road, Kalingiyam – Post, Gobichettipalayam – 638453, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, e-mail: myradakvk@gmail.com, website: www.myradakvk.org, Phone : 04285 241626, 241627.
When I started with learning computer usage, the computers were big boxes which needed to be programmed and printers were another big clunky box. DOS was the in thing and windows meant those in a house. People never thought this thing called computer was amounting to anything. Some thought their children were just wasting time and money nothing else. Only a few understood the power of being able to program a machine to do things we wanted them to do. Wind the clock to 1986, I saw my first PC. Hey it had floppy disks which were 5.5 inch things and we could write in Dos and make it do things. It held such low amounts of data it was funny.
Fast forward 2013. Today everyone uses a computer in one form or the other as a PC, a Laptop, a Tablet, a smart phone, smart TV etc. The computer invasion into our lives is so encompassing that offices stop if there is a power failure or a virus on a computer. No one knows what to do if all computers fail in the world for some unknown reason. When computer usage is so pervasive and its existence is impossible to miss why is that training is done using old technology which can daunt many who are afraid of technology? The article below clearly illustrates my point. When I learnt project management a popular saying was Keep It Simple Stupid ie KISS principle. What that meant was you the trainer is very stupid if you can not keep it simple and convey the message to the audience in a simple easy manner. Over and over again I have to emphasise to any one teaches anything, the only principle is to give your message out to people in a simple clear concise manner to your audience if that audience is non academic and are beginners in anything. Otherwise you are the Stupid one not them. This principle seems to be completely ignored by the IT sector employees or the those who train people in computer usage. When computer industry has been time again shown that when hardware and software become complicated then immediately the usage declines even among the educated populations.
Let us take the example of a McDonald's Point of Sell (POS) machine. The whole equipment is designed towards efficient customer service in minutes. It is not designed to show how clever McDonald's IT engineers are but to show how good the MMcDonald's products are and how fast can the checkout person sell it. The face of the POS has only apps with pictures of the items linked to prices which the checkout person can click. It adds up the total and service is sent to the cooks and delivery is brought out and service in done in minutes. No need to look at an Excel or any other spreadsheets, no need to stand there and hunt for the product item and waste every ones time. It does not expect the checkout person to be an IT expert. Just click and serve.
POS Machine
Here in the example below the trainer is trying to show a group of farmers a keyboard and trying to instill enthusiasm in them. Imagine this scenario where the trainer was standing trying to use an app that the farmer can click with one finger -no need to learn complicated key boarding he/she need not have to go to typing exam. The information re weather rainfall soil etc pops out and farmer gets the information he/she needs without worrying about how they will learn to use this thing called computer. No stress but lot of learning.
Why is this so hard to conceive among trainers? Is it the lack of thinking? It is the fear that they could be made irrelevant if things become too simple? or is it the thinking in a box mentality?
Over and again I see teachers, trainers making things so complicated that one needs to get a PhD to blow their nose. In my opinion any one who trains others in technology needs to find a simpler easier way. Learning technology should not be a fear ridden experience it should be a joyous necessity. If technology has to encompass the lives of rural India apart from infrastructure needs one needs to make it SIMPLE. NO complicated web pages, no complicated URLs, no complicated layers of slow loading pages nothing. Simple web pages preferably as apps which a farmer can access to get information they need to do what they do best ie farming. It is the job of every good IT coder to think about the simplest form of user friendly software not IT friendly ones. If IT sector cant distill complicated technology to a simple one and enable users to adopt it as fast as they did mobile phones, it will take decades for information to penetrate the rural sector enmasse'.
Everyone who trains others especially for money should note It is not about your brilliance. It is about their learning. Your intent may be good but if your communication method is complicated people will shun it no matter how important the message is. So the GAP will remain a GAAAAAAAAP.
IT people should focus on Indianization of IT and allow local language content to be used in mobile phones,Tablets, PCs, Laptops etc. not through transliteration but though innovative coding. In Karnataka the computer when a farmer opens it should start in Kannada and end in it. People should develop e-books eflyers etc in Kannada and upload it. Demonstration of agriculture technology in the local language should be uploaded on it YouTube to encourage farmers to learn new technology, Webnairs should be conducted for training many more farmers who can not travel. The mindset of the trainers and IT technologists has to change if Indian broadband penetration has to move from 150 million to meet at least Chinese level of 630 million.
Technology can do wonders only when people using them can be comfortable with them to learn new things and not fearful to do so.
A portal in which the A to Z of farming is just a click away The Hindu article published 31-01-13
M. J. Prabu
Breaking the communication barrier and knowledge gap is a must today
The science of communication is getting more advanced everyday. From desktop computers/laptops and ipads to smartphones, information is just a click away. “What our farmers need today for successful farming is the right information that can be made available to them easily. Breaking the communication barrier and knowledge gap that exists today becomes imperative.
Three centres
“From our side we have initiated the e-Extension Centre putting to optimum use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and created a website called Agritech portal” (www.agritech.tnau.ac.in) which gives an exhaustive A-Z list of of agriculture,” says Dr. S. Haripriya, Assistant Professor (Horticulture), TNAU, Vridachalam. “Our Vriddhachalam Kendra has devised a three-day training programme to farmers of Cuddalore district with minimum educational qualification of 10th standard to make them aware about how to use a computer and browse the Internet for gathering information related to their fields,” she says. Interested farmers in the region are asked to pre-register for this training at this Kendra. Based on the responses from them we plan to select about 10 farmers per batch usually on first-come-first-served basis. Five desktop computers with internet connection are being used to impart the training. During the training, basic theoretical information and hands-on training regarding what is a computer, how to operate it, browsing the Internet to get agriculture related information etc are scheduled to be imparted. In the last two years about 200 farmers have been trained in similar programmes.
Statistics
“We kept a record on the farmers who underwent the training and were able to find that an average of five farmers accessed agricultural information using the net in a week using the computer hub in this Kendra. Around one percent of them started using computers in their households,” she says. Recently, the farmers started gathering new information from the portal approached the specialist of this Kendra for further action oriented queries. On knowing about the prevailing weather conditions in the State from the weather network page they started to pre-plan the cultural operations, harvesting and drying of the harvested produce. Some proactive farmers have also used the portal to choose major markets in South based on the produce price data available on the dynamic market information page.
When the State is facing a power crisis for nearly 10 to 12 hours daily how can farmers be expected to use computers?
No excuse
“Presently the power cut is for 12 hours in all districts. But there is some supply for the remaining hours. And many farmers use the supply time to charge their mobiles. Wi-fi and data card for net browsing are becoming a common facility on mobiles these days. If one person in the family (college going student) has a good handset then the farmer can easily get information from it. “Take the case of Kissan mobile services. Several farmers use the facility as and when required. And today almost all high school students have laptops provided by the government. Such computers have battery back up for nearly 4-5 hours so this is not really a problem for interested farmers. All one needs is the attitude,” she says categorically.
Both English and Tamil
The web portal has both Tamil and English versions, the regional version prepared by specialists from this Kendra. Both the manuals are designed in an illustrative format to facilitate quick and easy viewing. More emphasis has been given on teaching methodology, particularly communicating the contents in a simple and understandable way to the farmers. In this emerging era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), there is a necessity to bridge the digital divide currently prevailing among the farmers, according to her.
For more information, contact Dr.S.Haripriya, Assistant Professor (Horticulture), email id: kvkvri@tnau.ac.in , phone: 04143-238353, mobile: 9952342287.
