Bharat Vistar to offer farm advice in 13 regional languages: Union Agriculture Minister Chouhan
Hyderabad, Sept 18 (TNT): Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said Bharat Vistar would be expanded to 13 regional languages to enable farmers to access agricultural advice through mobile phones in their own languages.
Addressing the concluding session of the Regional Agriculture Conference for Southern States here, Chouhan said the system, currently available in Hindi and English, would be expanded to include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
Farmers would be able to raise queries in their own language and receive responses in the same language, he said. Chouhan also directed that state government schemes be integrated with Bharat Vistar at the earliest.
Recalling the commitment under the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan, Chouhan said states could organise 15-day or 20-day agricultural campaigns according to their convenience, with scientists from the Centre accompanying them.
Scientists from the Government of India and Krishi Vigyan Kendras would visit villages and fields, interact directly with farmers and facilitate discussions between farmers, scientists and agriculture department officials, he said.
“We have 16,000 scientists,” Chouhan said, emphasising the role of ICAR institutions, KVKs and agricultural universities in taking research to farmers.
“Unless farmers and scientists sit together, and unless research reaches the farmer, it will not be enough. Research must move from lab to land,” he said.
Chouhan said India should work towards becoming a global leader in agriculture and a major food supplier to the world.
“We have to make India the world’s food basket. It can be done. It is not impossible. It will happen, but all of us have to work for it,” he added.
TNT TS
