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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Call centre out of reach for farmers in state

Call centre out of reach for farmers in state

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published Published on Jun 25, 2010   modified Modified on Jun 25, 2010

Farmers are desperately crying for help but the Kisan Call Centre’s (KCC) toll-free helpline in the state is practically inaccessible.

The BSNL helpline 1551 or 1800-180-1551 from other connections is difficult to reach simply because calls to other helplines are choking this particular number.

With the monsoon setting in, farmers needing advice call up the helpline for suggestions, advice and solutions to their problems, but given the situation, they are having to try continuously for as long as two hours to get connected.

The toll-free number set up by the Union ministry of agriculture is available countrywide. For those calling from Andhra Pradesh, the calls land at the call centre in Hyderabad where agriculture graduates answer the queries of farmers.

According to the KCC sources, calls seeking services from BSNL or the water board are flooding the farmers’ helpline.
The agriculture graduates who receive the calls not related to them take a while to direct such callers to the helplines of the other services concerned.

The call centre is run by a private agency for the ministry of agriculture, Government of India. “We will look into the problem if farmers are finding it difficult to access the call centre,” said B Nagadeep, manager of the KCC.

For the farmers who are fortunate to get through to the line, they are put on to agricultural scientists at the National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management, Rajendranagar, if they need further advice. Since last year as many as 1,07,528 farmers had sought advice from the KCC. However, now with the number being not so accessible, farmers are disappointed.

On Thursday, a farmer from Medak was fortunate to have got a timely advice from the KCC when he called up to find a solution to a disease blighting his red gram crop.

Another helpline run by the state government is accessible but those manning it said the trickle of calls now would become a flood in the days to come.

“Perhaps because the progress of the monsoon is not as much as it is expected, not many farmers are calling. When farmers become desperate, they call to find out what they can possibly cultivate with limited or no rains,” said Dr M Lava Kumar Reddy, senior scientist and coordinator, Farmers Call Centre, Secunderabad.

At this call centre, five agriculture scientists from the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (Angrau) answer queries of the farmers. As many as 16,000 farmers were given guidance on crops and other agriculture-related issues since May 2009.


The Times of India, 25 June, 2010, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Call-centre-out-of-reach-for-farmers-in-state/articleshow/6088726.cms


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