Bhubaneswar : The Farmer Facilitation Cell at the Krushi Odisha Mela witnessed the participation of over 2000 farmers across three days of the event. Farmers leveraged the facilitation cell to apply to different government schemes in the agricultural domain through the GO-SUGAM web portal, register for the Krushak Odisha state farmers’ database, and apply for loan products from more than 40+ banks through the Government of Odisha’s credit platform- SAFAL. Through the 3 day event, hundreds of farmers successfully completed their scheme and loan applications on the government’s agri-tech platforms with the help of dedicated departmental staff designated to the Facilitation Cell.
The Government of Odisha is organising its annual edition of the Krushi Odisha event at the Biju Patnaik Ground in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The theme for the event this year is emerging technologies in agriculture- interpretations of which were seen across the event- ranging from the content of exhibitions to the topics of Krushi Shiksha Shivirs. However, one of the most striking manifestations of the theme was the technology-driven Farmer Facilitation Cell. The Cell witnessed high participation from farmers who were seeking to discover different services and schemes provided by the Government in agriculture and allied sectors and understand application modalities for the same. Some of the most popular schemes for which the Facilitation Cell received the most queries and applications include the Farm Mechanisation DBT Scheme, the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, and the Mukhyamantri Krushi Udyog Yojana.
The Farmer Facilitation Cell was set up at the Krushi Odisha event for the first time this year. Farmers from different districts with varied practices in the agricultural domain expressed their satisfaction with this service centre as it allowed them to complete different scheme and loan applications with the assistance of scheme officers from the Government. Department officials too remarked on the ease with which they could help farmers using technology-driven approaches and web portals.
One of the most remarkable demonstrations at the Farmer Facilitation Centre was the Ama KrushiAI- an artificial-intelligence-powered agricultural-domain ChatBot that can be used by farmers and department officials to get information and advisory pertaining to agriculture and allied sectors. The first of its kind in India, this bot leverages ChatGPT and Bhashini- India’s nationally recognised language translation algorithm to provide information to farmers in English, Hindi, and Odia in both speech and text. Its demonstration at the Farmer Facilitation Centre allowed farmers to understand this technology and suggest recommendations that would improve its efficacy before its rollout across the state. The Ama KrushAI ChatBot was also demonstrated in the Krushi Shiksha Shivir on Private-led extension in command areas prior to being formally launched by the Hon’ble Governer during the closing ceremony of Krushi Odisha.
The Farmer Facilitation Centre represents a unique approach to delivering schemes and services to farmers during events such as Krushi Odisha and will be implemented by the Government with even greater rigour in the coming years and events.
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