Agriculture: 1 million farmers to get tips by phone

The provincial government aims to teach farmers how to use modern production methods by sending them information on their mobile phones.

Agriculture Department officials said that by March the government planned to register one million farmers in the programme. The farmers will be trained to use modern technology to increase production, they said. Moreover, farmers will also be able to ask for solutions to specific problems by sending questions via their mobile phones.

They said that farmers would have to provide their CNIC numbers, mobile numbers and details related to their agriculture land and crop for registration. The details will be sent to a communication technology centre set up at the office of the agriculture director general. The centre will communicate with the farmers.

The Agriculture Department (Faisalabad extension) has been given a target of registering 20,000 farmers for the programme. A registration cell has been set up under the supervision of District Officer Chaudhry Abdul Hameed.

The DO said that the department hoped the programme would improve the farmers’ knowledge of crops and production.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2012.