Farmers told to enrol in crop survey mobile app

Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said that all farmers in the district must enrol in the 'Farmer Crop Survey Mobile App' and must upload the details of their agricultural crops to update their RTCs. The information fed through the application will help farmers in availing government benefits such as compensation.

Speaking during a workshop organised by the district administration and the department of agriculture at the DC's office in Mangaluru on Thursday, the DC said that Karnataka is the first state to experiment with the mobile phone-based crop survey.

From last month, details of the crop survey are being collected through the Android-based application 'Farmer Crop Survey Mobile App' by crop surveyors in all 422 villages in the district. The survey is 50% done. The government wants farmers to directly take part in the survey and hence has directed the district administration to ask farmers to enter the crop details through the app. The farmers have to download the mobile application and enter the details of the crop. The details are to be uploaded through the app every year.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Kumar said that there are 10 lakh RTC plots and the crop survey of five lakh plots are done. The lands converted from agricultural to non-agricultural purposes, government lands and the lands acquired by the government for public purposes are excluded from the survey.

Android phones needed

The farmers registering with the app should have bank accounts. The usage of the app requires mobile phones enabled with Android 4.5 and above versions. If the farmers do not have such phones, they can use others' phone to upload the information.

The farmers have to download the mobile phone application, register themselves by providing Aadhaar number and other details before entering the details. Every crop is provided with a code and there are about 1,500 crop codes made available in the app. The crop details will be integrated with the e-platform Bhoomi and will be updated in column 12 of the RTC showing crop details.

No internet connection is required to enter the details. However, internet connection is needed to upload the crop details. The software is designed in such a way that the filled in details are automatically uploaded when the internet data is on. This is done keeping in mind the limited availability of internet connection in rural areas and interior regions.

Assistant Commissioner Renukaprasad and Agriculture department Joint Director Kempegowda were present among others.