Online lessons by District Agriculture Training Center in Mysore are not only reaching out to farmers in remote and inaccessible areas on the periphery of forests and national parks in Mysore district, but are also benefitting farmers located all over Karnataka.
More than 10,000 farmers have availed online training on various farming practices during the last one year from the District Agriculture Training Center (DATC) in Mysore.
Started two years ago during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep farmers informed of the latest developments and provide solutions, DATC at Naganahalli has continued with the concept after an overwhelming response.
Initially, the training was for farmers in Mysore. But with the widespread presence of mobile phones even in rural areas and WhatsApp being a popular messaging service, the links have been widely shared by the farming community, said DH Yogesh, deputy director, DATC.
As a result, online lessons are not only reaching farmers in remote and inaccessible areas on the periphery of forests and national parks in Mysore district, but they are also benefitting farmers located across Karnataka.
DATC was established to provide field and technical assistance to agricultural officers, and has been conducting regular trainings for them. But with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, DATC decided to experiment with online training. The concept has caught on with the masses.
“During the current financial year so far 56 online training classes have been conducted, and 10,806 farmers have received training. We have two more months when additional classes will be started,” said Mr. Yogesh. This concept has caught the imagination of the government and such classes are now being organized in other districts as well.
84 online training classes were conducted in 2020-21 in which 28,778 farmers participated.
Lessons and training modules have been developed in collaboration with agricultural experts and scientists drawn from the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bangalore and the Department of Agriculture.
“There was a time when connectivity was an issue, but that too is more or less resolved. Farmers work in the fields as well as listen to expert-speak on various topics that are relevant to them,” according to Mr. Yogesh.
For DATC, the traditional offline training conducted at the institute has limited access as it requires registration, and the duration of the training is three days. Many people cannot afford to be away from their work for three days. But under the online training concept, they can continue to work along with taking inputs from experts.
In the last two years, training programs have been conducted to address issues ranging from rainwater harvesting and organic farming to outbreak of crop diseases and proper selection of seeds. Buoyed by the success, DATC has also launched a series of programs under digital outreach. Cover more farmers.
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