A Workshop on Voice-Package of Practices(v-POP) was jointly organized by IIT, Kanpur and Zonal Project Directorate-4(I.C.A.R) under the banner of ‘Agropedia’ on Wednesday the 5^th March, 2014 at the Visitor’s Hostel of IIT, Kanpur. It was well attended and graced by agricultural experts and officials representing a cross section of the extension community, from

 

• the Agriculture Dept(State of Uttar Pradesh).
• NarendraDevUniversity of Agriculture &Technology, Faizabad.  
• KVK experts from Zone 4.
• ChandraShekharAzadUniversity of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur.

 

The inaugural addresses were delivered by Dr T.V. Prabhakar(IITK) and Dr A.K. Singh(ZPD-4), encapsulating some of the key highlights of the last 5 years and the iconic achievements that have been clocked and need to be signposted as milestones. Particular mention was made about the exclusive features which have been hosted at regular intervals.

 

The v-POP is a technological aid to offset the limitations of the conventional print media and is a handy resource for information seekers. Providing knowledge to farmers can be daunting because of the localized nature of agriculture and such information must be tailored specifically to distinct conditions. We chose 54 crops, staple to the agro-climatic zones within the State of Uttar Pradesh and comprising grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, plantations, flowers etc.  The subject matter has been compiled, detailing every aspect from seeding and sowing to harvesting, and sourced from multiple publications  of the Agriculture Dept(Govt of Uttar Pradesh)  such as Krishi-Manjusha. 

 

The delivery platforms have been  chosen to reflect the handicaps and shortcomings to which a vast majority of our farming community is inevitably subject  and the  implementation has been done across three platforms the web, android smart-phones and ordinary mobiles( which incidentally constitute the single largest user base amongst the farmers). The content has been packed into a 2GB micro SD card and the content is accessed in a voice format on ordinary mobiles and as a text and graphics cum voice on smart-phones.

 

The participants displayed a rare degree of enthusiasm in the proceedings and seemed enthused

by the utility on display. Dr Upadhyay and Mr Mahipal Singh  of the Agriculture Dept eulogized the concept and commended the initiative. The feedback session concluded with brief remarks from other distinguished participants such as Dr S.P. Singh( Extension Director at NDUAT) the SD cards were distributed and loaded on to the mobiles of participants with a brief demo on usage.

 

The workshop proceedings were moderated by Dr(Mrs) Neeta Singh and the presentation and demo were delivered by Dr Sharwan Shukla.