IIT Roorkee launches 'KISAN' mobile app for dissemination of Agromet Advisory Services

Roorkee (Uttarakhand) [India], February 19 : Indian Information Technology (IIT) Roorkee launches the 'KISAN' mobile app for dissemination of Agromet Advisory Services (AAS), on Saturday.
In continuation of the series of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' program, a regional farmers' awareness program, organized at Water Resources Development and Management (WRD&M) Department, IIT Roorkee under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) project.
Farmers from Haridwar, Dehradun, and Pauri Garhwal districts along with the stakeholders participated in the program and they were sensitized about the AAS, jointly provided by the Agro-Meteorological Field Unit (AMFU) Roorkee and India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Dr K K Singh, Additional Director General Meteorology, IMD, New Delhi, apprised that the block-level weather forecast and weather-based Agromet Advisory Bulletins (AAB) are being provided to the farmers for all six blocks of Haridwar district by the AMFU Roorkee every Tuesday and Friday.
Additional Director General Meteorology said, "Farmers can now easily access these bulletins on their mobile phones through the "Kisan" app.
He also said that the special feature of the 'KISAN' app is that the weather forecast and advisory bulletin will display only for the block selected by the farmer. Dr Singh added, the farmers can share their feedback about these bulletins which would be helpful to improve the quality of bulletins as per farmers' requirements." He further added that the app is bilingual and users can select either Hindi or English language at their convenience.
Dr Khushboo Mirza, Senior Scientist in Regional Remote Sensing Centre (RRSC), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), has developed the "KISAN" app under the guidance of Dr C S Jha, Outstanding Scientist and Chief General Manager at RRSC, NRSC, ISRO, Hyderabad.
"The app will be updated from time to time as per the user's requirement so that the purpose of the farmers of the region could be solved," Dr Mirza said. She also demonstrated the working procedure of the 'KISAN' app through a PowerPoint presentation.
In the event, Professor A K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee said, "IIT Roorkee is actively involved in working with farmers for the adoption of better agricultural practices by using the benefits of modern technology. This is a small step towards helping farmers use the latest technologies for reducing the risk component of agriculture."

Dr V M Chowdary, Director, Mahalanobis National Center for Crop Forecasting (MNCFC), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, also addressed the inaugural function. He further gave in detailed information on the extensive use of remote sensing technology in the agriculture sector.
A video, prepared by AMFU Roorkee, describing in detail the GKMS project, has also been launched in the program. This video is available in Hindi and English language at the YouTube channel and website of the project. Besides, a booklet published in Hindi entitled "Agrometeorological Advisory Services for cereal crops, horticultural crops and livestock" has been released in the inaugural session by the dignitaries.
The youth farmers from various villages, who created WhatsApp groups of the farmers from respective villages and disseminated the AAB through these WhatsApp groups, are named "Mausam Mitra" by AMFU Roorkee.
A very limited number of farmers and media personnel were invited to the program as per the COVID-19 protocol. The live program was also telecasted through the YouTube channel of the GKMS project, AMFU Roorkee.
The event ended with the formal vote of thanks given by Prof. Ashish Pandey, Nodal Officer, GKMS Project at AMFU, IIT Roorkee.