| Connecting farmers to information sources |
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| Written by Priyanthi Daluwatta | |
| Wednesday, 27 September 2006 | |
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A social mobilization programme was held for Meewala village farmers on 26th September 2006. Eighteen farmers (of which three were women) were sponsored a field tour to Audio Visual Centre, Department of Agriculture at Gannoruwa by the virtual village project, where they were introduced to using ICT to assist in getting answers to their daily problems in the field. “Dial 1920 and talk to the help desk at Audio Visual Centre to seek answers to any crop related problem, the out going call is free for 3 minutes” Mr Sisira Kumara explained the services offered. The service will also connect free of charge the experts in the specific areas of agriculture with farmers in the country.
The group visited the agro technology park, model home garden, agro museum, soil chemistry lab, the seeds out let and also the Agriculture Department’s publication unit where they purchased books on farming. “Meeting the experts in the agriculture field was useful as we were able to get answers to persisting problems in the field, it was good to know about the free help line number. I got information on planting crops according to the land area and the use of organic fertilizer ” – Siril Rajapakse, a farmer who grows paddy, pepper. “I will implement the “water ghost” set up to chase away the harmful animals to the field” says 71 year old Thennakoon, a retired school teacher now a farmer after listening to the explanation by the agriculture instructor on a man made set up across the water stream which will act as a prevention method for animals at night. Mr S Sumanasiri from Sarvodaya IT Division gave his input through out the journey as resource person guiding them on how to use the existing resources using communication technologies. The field visit was a continuation for the group discussion held in the village with Sumanasiri regarding farming issues earlier this month. The field officers of the project, Athula and Nadeeka were given assignments on how to gather agriculture related village requirements and connect with the resource centres to provide solutions to farmers. The organizers anticipate that in the future a photo taken from the project camera of a pest or a plant disease will emailed to the agriculture experts to provide answers. The staff of the Audio Visual Centre and the Agriculture Instructors at Gannoruwa are acknowledged for sharing their expert knowledge with the participants. Special thanks to Ajith for capturing the field visit on the video and Melro for the digital photos.
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 September 2006 ) |
