The Agricultural Resources Information System

The following is the abstract to the full article published by Madaswamy Moni, of the National Informatics Center, Department of Information Technology, Government of India.

Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, agriculture remains high on the international agenda because it brings together critical issues like water, poverty, hunger, and health. There have been both national and international efforts (DOT Force of the UN, the UN/ESCAP Committee on Poverty Reduction, the Millennium Development Goals, PovertyNet of the World Bank, etc) to improve information flows and communication services to eliminate poverty (ICT for Poverty Reduction), which are a necessary but not sufficient condition. In poor rural areas, where agricultural productivity is low and unreliable and there is food insecurity, better information and knowledge-exchange can be important in lessening poverty.

This Paper deals with the Government’s Digital Initiatives and Agenda (viz., AGRISNET, AgRIS, AGMARKNET, DACNET, VISTARNET, APHNET, FISHNET, HORTNET, SeedNET, PPIN, COOPNET, FERTNET, ARISNET, AFPINET, ARINET, NDMNET, etc), as a step towards “reaching” agricultural knowledge and technology to the Small Holders (Resource-Poor-Farmers) of the Country. To usher in “agricultural governance” in the country, the establishment of AGRISNET as the “national information infrastructure” is emerging as a pre-requisite. As “resources application and agronomic practices” are to match with soil attributes and crop requirements, the Agricultural Resources Information System (AgRIS) is a “way-forward” to improve agricultural productivity in rural areas, and a much “needed domestic strategy” for sustainable rural livelihoods.

Development and Use of ICT in Agriculture has a promise in ushering agricultural growth, “but miles to go”. This digital opportunity is becoming a positive force for fostering Agricultural Growth, Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Resource Use in India. What was a “technology push” in 1990s is taking the shape of “consumer pull” at grass-root level in India to usher in agricultural governance in the country. This is a step towards establishing a location-specific e-Government model for the Poor in India.

Read the full paper here.