Project VISTAAR
Project VISTAAR, or the Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources, is a collaborative initiative launched by IIT Madras in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare in India. This project aims to enhance the agricultural extension system through digitalization, significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural services provided to farmers.
Objectives of Project VISTAAR
– Enhance Agricultural Extension Services: The primary goal is to strengthen agricultural extension services by providing farmers with timely access to relevant information and resources, thereby improving communication between farmers and agricultural experts.
– Integration of Start-up Solutions: The project aims to integrate information about over 12,000 start-ups in the agriculture sector, facilitating easier access for farmers to innovative technological solutions and services.
– Empowerment through Digital Tools: By utilizing digital tools, VISTAAR seeks to enhance overall productivity within the agriculture sector, making high-quality advisory services accessible for crop production, marketing, and supply chain management.
Key Features
– Open and Interoperable Network: VISTAAR is designed as an open, interoperable public network that allows various stakeholders—such as farmers, service providers, and technology platforms—to participate actively. This decentralization encourages collaboration and innovation across the agricultural ecosystem.
– Community-Driven Approach: The initiative emphasizes community-driven empowerment of farmers, ensuring that their voices are amplified within the network. This approach fosters a sense of agency and choice among farmers.
– Trusted Information: A critical aspect of VISTAAR is its commitment to providing trustworthy and verifiable information to users, which is essential for making informed decisions in agriculture.
Future Prospects
The future of Project VISTAAR appears promising as it aims to create a robust framework for agricultural extension services. By connecting farmers with innovative solutions and enhancing their access to information, VISTAAR has the potential to transform agricultural practices in India significantly.
Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
The scheme aims at making the extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable by disseminating technology to farmers through new institutional arrangements viz. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level to operationalize extension reforms in a participatory mode. Digital initiatives taken up in agricultural extension include;
- VISTAAR – Virtually integrated Systems To Access Agricultural Resourcs being developed as a DPI for Agriculture Extension
- Apurva AI- Capturing farmer innovations- Acts as a peer to peer learning Platform and provide content for advisory retrieval through VISTAAR Bot and also for impact Assessment of schemes (AIF completed)
- Wadhwani- Krishi 24X7 for Realtime News monitoring, Tamil language and image-based cotton pest identification to be plugged in with FLEW/farmer profile mapping
- Kisan Call Centre – Integration with VISTAAR and other IT applications and with Kisan Sarathi (ICAR) for direct contact with Agri experts
- RAWE- Integration of Agri students for behavioral interaction through VISTAAR Bot and Feedback system
- IMD- Weather forecast integrated through DAMU along with advisory delivery through VISTAAR
- NRLM- Decentralised Extension Mechanism ( Krishi Sakhi, Pashu Sakhi , Matsya Sakhi etc) – Capacity building on Digital Extension -VISTAAR
Source: PIB
