1. aAQUA - A CASE Study (http://www.aAQUA.org)
Index
About aAQUA 01 – 16
aAQUA in Media 17 – 26
Summary of 18 Q&A 27 – 30
Illustration of 18 threads 31 – 68
(Success Story/Discussion Q&A)
ICT for empowering Emerging Regions 71 – 105
(Presentation slides)

2. aAQUA : A Story of building knowledge from farmer
questions
Krithi Ramamritham1, Anil Bahuman2
1 IIT, Bombay 2 Agrocom, India
How farmers use aAQUA?
Patil is an onion farmer from Nasik area. He is worried by a
brown coloration on his crop which could mean reduced yields
and lower income after harvest. Just to be sure it means nothing;
he consults his friend and progressive farmer Sahebrao about it.
Sahebrao suggests using Photo Capture – a remote diagnosis
solution he recently purchased for his mobile phone. Patil is
guided by Marathi audio prompts, takes a photo of the affected
area and sends it to www.aaqua.org.
The agri-experts replying to aAQUA questions, study the photo sent by Patil,
diagnose it as Alternaria and suggest dosage and schedule of pesticides and
organic inputs to control the damage. He is excited to receive an answer
within 24 hours, and shares the experts’ response with Sahebrao. Sahebrao
finds the recommended solution as reasonable and advises Patil to apply the
control measures immediately. Patil approaches the market to purchase the
required inputs. He wants to learn to type text on his mobile phone so that he
can interact with the experts in future.
aAQUA receives questions every hour from different parts of the country
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3. Which Organizations support aAQUA?
In 2003, the Developmental Informatics Lab at IIT Bombay launched a web
portal for agriculturists – Almost All Questions Answered (www.aaqua.org).
The portal was tested in Pune district of Maharashtra by aAQUA partner
Vigyan Ashram – a rural school. School children collected the first questions
from local farmers.
Answers were provided by KVK Baramati by the team led by Dr Kadarbhai.
The agri-experts matched the language of the farmer with answers given in
Marathi, Hindi or English.
The portal and technology was licensed to Agrocom Software Technologies
Pvt. Ltd. for the purpose of scale-up and staff support.
The mobile team at the Developmental Informatics Lab at IIT Bombay is
extending aAQUA to the mobile phone to make it more easily available to
progressive farmers owning a mobile phone.
ICRISAT is helping design the communication strategy to help scale aAQUA
within Indian Council of Agricultural Research organizations – the backbone
of the agricultural research and extension system in the country.
Reputed agri-universities and their KVKs are exploring various tools available
in aAQUA to use what they find useful in their regions.
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4. Media Lab Asia IITB: CSE Building Entrance
The aAQUA Story: Genesis (2002-2006)
1. Media Lab Asia - an
organization funded by MCIT
was formed in 2002 with the
objective of scaling up and
commercializing technologies
developed at IITB that can be
used by the common man. Dr.
Bishnu Pradhan - with his past
experience working with
technology development and
transfer at IITs - took up the
position of Director at Media
Lab Asia. The objective was to
nurture technologies ready for
commercialization and create
some artifacts through
sponsored projects with the
mandate of developing new ICT
and electronics enabled
products and services to help
reduce socio-economic divides.
Prof. Krithi Ramamritham,
with his experience in
technology development and transfer set up a Lab at IIT Bombay called
Media Lab Asia-Bombay.
2. Dr. Krithi Ramamritham and few other faculties at IIT Bombay
spawned three projects – Interfaces for All (under Anirudha Joshi),
Agroexplorer (under Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharya) and Polysensors
(under. Dr Contractor and several others). Interfaces for All developed
prototypes of PC based applications for small town and rural users.
Agroexplorer developed a search portal for agricultural content
designed for farmers and agri-experts. Polysensors developed sensors
to speed up water-quality testing in village environment.
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5. Overview of Research Groups at Media Lab Asia IITB
3. Dr Bishnu Pradhan hired Anil Bahuman to start a collaboration
between MIT Media Lab in the US, IIT Bombay and Vigyan Ashram – a
rural school headed by Dr Srinath Kalbag, a visionary who created a 1
year Rural Technology Course to train rural school drop-outs and
empower them with skills to find jobs or turn into entrepreneurs. Anil
spent 6 months at Vigyan Ashram
supporting 3D fabrication (using
CNC machines), educational
software, well water resource
mapping and long-distance
wireless projects. He met Yogesh
Kulkarni, an employee of Vigyan
Ashram who helped market
educational CDs developed by
Vigyan Ashram.
Vigyan Ashram Entrance
4. Anil and Yogesh were guided by Dr Kalbag on the needs of rural people
and technology interventions that can have the largest impact in
increasing the livelihood of rural people. One of the projects that he
also invested in (in collaboration with N-logue, a company supporting
Rural Internet Services) was a group of 45 m towers that provided
telephony and internet connections in the Pabal area which in 2002-
2003 did not have cable TV, mobile signals or telephones. Anil and
Yogesh initiated trials in long distance wireless communication using
WiFi and broadcasting equipment.
5. 2003 was a tumultuous year for the team. Dr Kalbag passed away
leaving Vigyan Ashram in Yogesh’s hands. GoI did not renew the
contract with MIT Media Lab. The management team at Media Lab
4

6. Asia (based at Andheri, Mumbai) was dissolved due to several reasons
and the responsibility of continuing the projects that had been
incubated in the first year was given to the Directors of each of the IITs.
Most staff sitting outside IITs left the organization. Anil Bahuman was
inducted for technology deployment and transfer at Media Lab Asia at
IIT Bombay.
Appu, the farmer mascot Starting slide of our
presentations
6. Media Lab Asia at IIT Bombay had initiated some applications –
aAQUA (a forum to answer queries from citizens), Bhav Puchiye (a
price information website for farmers using simple color icons),
Devanagari Keyboard (a keyboard with a simple layout to help new
Hindi users to type quickly, later designed for other Indian languages),
Agro Explorer-Meaning Based Search for farmers and agri-community
(a search engine that was better than searching by keywords,
accomplished by using algorithms designed for multi-lingual
information retrieval).
sadas Market Rate for Crops: Bhav Puchiye Search in Hindi:
AgroExplorer
7. Anil and Pallab Bhattacharya were asked to study the possible
deployment of Bhav Puchiye, aAQUA and Devnagari Keyboard for the
Pabal network of kiosks – in Rajgurunagar, Shirur and Haveli talukas
of Pune district. They visited Pabal Internet kiosks, interviewed all
5

7. kiosk operators and studied their income-generating and information
services. MoU was signed between IITB and Vigyan Ashram to
promote and test aAQUA and other projects in Rajgurunagar, Shirur &
Haveli Talukas.
8. Anil and Yogesh interviewed 12 people for deployment team, 4 were
short listed and asked to spend 3 days in villages and build village web
sites. Finally two people were selected; Shantanu Inamdar and Rahul
Swami joined as Field Executives based at Pabal.
9. Bhav Puchiye, aAQUA and Devanagari Keyboard were installed at
Pabal Kiosks. Yogesh suggested collecting farmer questions and
answering them online. Vigyan Ashram students were given
assignments to collect farmer questions by visiting their homes and
farms. The questions were answered by Shantanu & Rahul who
consulted Internet and local expert-farmers. (September 2003)
10. Kiosk Operator Training was held at Baramati (Pune District) for Kiosk
Operators (these were the early days of rural internet kiosks, Pabal and
Baramati setup the first N-Logue Kiosks). Shantanu & Rahul were
asked to attend the Training workshop and meet other kiosk operators
in Maharashtra. While they were there, they met Dr Kadarbhai,
Director of KVK Baramati at the workshop and demonstrated the tools
developed at DIL on their laptop. Dr Kadarbhai showed interest in the
work and sought collaboration with IITB. Krithi & Anil met Dr
Kadarbhai and decided to sign a MoU regarding collaboration for
aAQUA, Bhav Puchiye and other projects.
Krishi Vidnyan Kendra Baramati Entrance
11. MoUs signed with KVK Baramati & Vigyan Ashram to promote aAQUA
in Rajgurunagar, Shirur & Haveli Talukas. 2 Experts at KVK began
answering the questions at KVK. Rahul Swami was asked to move to
KVK to assist the experts with aAQUA data entry and other technical
support. He also began gathering requirements for Bhav Puchiye
customized to the local Baramati Mandi.
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8. Question with photo from kiosk operator
12. Shantanu & Rahul formed a Kiosk Operator Association at Pabal (over
20 kiosks were present) to introduce new information as well as
revenue generating services to support kiosk operator income. Kiosk
Operator Association suggested farmer clubs & aAQUA “consultancy”.
IITB allowed the kiosks to charge for print outs of aAQUA answers
charged at Rs 10 and one of the kiosk operators with a degree in
management started agri-consultancy charging Rs 500 per acre.
Several farmer clubs were created among the more hard-working kiosk
operators who held regular meetings for farmers.
An early diagram showing the information flow between farmer and experts.
There were no mobile services then.
13. Media Lab Asia at IIT Bombay renamed as Developmental Informatics
Lab (DIL, close to our hearts). Several publications were released on
the DIL website. New people were hired at the lab – programmers,
designers and experts in languages (Hindi, Marathi). aAQUA team was
formed with Subhasri Duttagupta and Anil as their managers. The
team size grew from 4 to 9 people. Few internships were also offered
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9. for MCA students and final year students of Amritandamayi University
(Kerala), many of whom would join as full time staff.
A snapshot of early year statistics from aAQUA. The number of queries is less in
the month of February (and March) because its harvesting time. It picks up in
June again.
14. One of the recurring requests at the farmers’ meeting is if our project
could offer them alternative markets with higher income realization.
This was outside the scope of the project but a few IIT faculty donated
their own money to Vigyan Ashram to pilot a service linking farmers
and Pune market via the Kiosk Operator Association. Yogesh
introduced the Kiosk Operator Association to Mangesh Hospital where
they received their first steady orders for the supply of daily produce
with a limited budget to support the activity from Vigyan Ashram with
few expenses borne by the enterprising kiosk operators. The idea was
to look for orders from Pune software company employees as well.
15. After 3 months, the budget ran out and the orders did not pick up
beyond Mangesh Hospital. The service was not making money at the
small volume they were supplying and the Kiosk Operator Association
decided to quit. Shantanu and Rahul recounted the experience back at
IITB where they made scheduled monthly visits to interact with the
team and receive direction for the progress of aAQUA. By mid-2005,
several kiosks were sending regular questions on aAQUA with the
highest questions coming from an enterprising kiosk operator –
Babasaheb Sawant of Urali Kanchan village (Pune district) underlining
the observation (also mentioned in several studies) that the success of
kiosks depends on the entrepreneurial abilities of these operators esp.
their ability to generate income from other revenue streams. The main
May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
Forum
name
Crop 7 10 13 12 25 45 31 32 44 13
Animal 0 2 2 2 3 0 0 0 2 2
Others 0 7 2 1 1 5 2 1 2 1
Market 2 0
Total 7 19 17 15 29 50 33 33 50 18
Posted by
field Eng 1 11 10 4 4 15 7 5 4 4
Kiosk
operator 6 2 6 9 12
18
16 18 31 2
Users 0 6 1 2 13 17 10 9 15 12
Total 7 19 17 15 29 50 33 33 50 18 *
Response
by expert
Avg.
Response
Time (days) 2 2.2 2.5 3.6 2.4 2.2 3.88 2.68 2.27
Min
Response
Time
2.5
hrs
8
min
7
mi
n
20
hrs
2
hrs
9
mi
n 2 hrs 1 hr
10
min
4
min
Max
Response
Time (days) 4 6 5 6 16 22 14 5 17 7
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10. revenue earner at the Pabal & Baramati kiosks was MKCL’s MSCIT
course – an online IT exam mandatory for applying for several state
government posts. Below are the services offered:
16. aAQUA was answering questions from 3-4 states and was recognized
at an event in Delhi conducted by Digital Empowerment Foundation
with the first prize (Gold Award) for “India’s Best eContent Practices”
supporting e-Inclusion. aAQUA Campaigns (awareness-building by
meeting farmers and kiosks from village to village) were planned and
executed by Shantanu & Rahul – joined by the lab team on several
occasions. On one such occasion Prof Krithi met each kiosk operator at
their kiosk giving them photographs of the award and certificate, a
gesture to recognize that this would not have been possible without
their efforts. Several newspaper articles published by KVK Baramati,
Vigyan Ashram, DIL at IITB and others who learnt about the projects
helped bring questions to aAQUA from far-away places. Government
of Maharashtra portal recognized the work and requested write-ups
and all tools at IITB were placed on the homepage of the State
Government Website.
aAQUA deployment team
Anil Bahuman Manager
Yogesh Kulkarni Director, Vigyan Ashram
Dr Parab aAQUA expert at KVK
Rahul Swami aAQUA moderator
Shantanu Inamdar Kiosk marketing
Devendra Shrisath aAQUA experts moderator
Rural youths involved from Vigyan Ashram
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11. Maruti Tamhane
Antenna setting, testing
(Rajgurunagar and Retawdi)
Kailash Jadhav Antenna setting (Pabal)
Laxman Jadhav Welding and structures
Sachin Chavan Communication
Ashram students Assistance
10 Kiosk operators aAQUA kiosks
IIT Research Staff
Krithi Ramamritham Principal investigator
Subhasri Dasgupta Manager
Varun Chandrasekhar Research Assistant
Chaitra Rao Research Assistant
Hari Krishnan Research Assistant
Chandrasekhar Research Assistant
Sreeju Research Assistant
Nisha Mehadale Accounts
Vivekanada Tadala MTech Student
Snapshot of Team in February 2005 (Several people contributed to the
aAQUA effort, and only managers and faculty are acknowledged in the rest of
the text)
17. Several new projects were spawned in Agriculture, ideas coming
directly from field experiences and from our partners. Crop Doctor and
Recommendations (KVK Baramati), Digital Library (DIL), Multi-
Lingual Search on aAQUA documents improved by a large team of
translators working under Lalitha Nagarajan and Dr Pushpak
Bhattacharya (IITB), Experts’s Internet Cache search (DIL), aAQUA
ported to handheld devices such as the Encore Mobilus, Simputer with
small footprint databases, web crawling for Agri-documents to
supplement information on aAQUA, keyword tagging of aAQUA Q&A
to help categorize the Q&A and make it easier for experts to reuse
previous answers while answering new questions.
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12. Summary of Artifacts as on January 2005
18. By early 2006, under the leadership of Malati Baru and Anil, aAQUA
was receiving continuous questions from various parts of the country
without any promotion, but the Pabal and Baramati kiosks were
declining. This was because the requirements for an MSCIT Centre was
made more stringent for the sake of quality, which was not in favor of
small kiosks (since a minimum number of computers and
infrastructure was set). Most kiosk operators moved on to other jobs –
in data entry or IT jobs. Only those who had other primary revenue
earners continued in their village (e.g. Desktop Publishing &
Photography or Medical Store with PC kiosk).
aAQUA on the Encore Mobilus Handheld
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13. 19. The Lab’s experience with increasing aAQUA’s reach beyond the
Internet through strategic partnerships were slow because most
internet kiosk projects were growing at a very slow pace. The lab
turned to the mobile phone as an alternative to information
dissemination to reach the underserved. With 10 times the
penetration, this offered new possibilities in reaching out to large
number of farmers. Overtime, the lab under the leadership of Chaitra
Bahuman, developed a suite of applications meant for mobile phones
with basic computing capabilities. Though most applications required
high-end phones, we realized that the prices of such phones were
dropping rapidly. Some of our commercial partners though,
questioned whether we could take up large scale deployments if given
the opportunity. Would a lab be able to sign contracts, deliver data
products, maintain hardware and software strictly by deadlines and
provide support anywhere in the country. We considered incubating a
company to take aAQUA beyond where it had come. It had been a very
long journey since 2002.
20. In September 2006, Agrocom Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
was born with 5 cofounders – Krithi, Anil, Bishnu, Kadarbhai and
Yogesh. Media Lab Asia & IIT Bombay transferred the aAQUA
technology, content usage and commercialization rights to Agrocom.
While this is another story, the products are currently offered by
Agrocom are aAQUA Books in several volumes, aAQUA Box solution
with Offline Software and SMS and Voice-call delivery capability.
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14. Good Research
aAQUA is an artifact that incorporated innovations in several research areas
in computer science databases, caching algorithms, multilingual information
retrieval, catering to low-bandwidth connections. More details are available in
our publications at http://www.dil.iitb.ac.in/pubs.htm or you can search on
“aaqua” on Google Scholar Search at: http://scholar.google.co.in/
The current team at DIL helping improve aAQUA include Chaitra, Manjiri
Joshi, Vibhawari Kapale, Kalyansagar, Pradeep Agarwal, Jitesh Dundas.
Contact: chaitra@it.iitb.ac.in
The current team at Agrocom promoting aAQUA include Anil, Ajit,
Shashidhar, Amol, Ashish and Vijayanand. Contact: aaqua@agrocom.co.in
Defining Features
Some of the defining features of aAQUA are:
Capturing Questions in a Natural Manner. A review of the question-answer database
has shown that our farmers’ questions are (a) usually short sentences, (b) use wrong
grammar or spelling at times, (c) typed in English alphabet with words in local language, (d)
sometimes posted as scanned documents with text (e) some questions are uploaded as
pictures, audio or video.
Multlinguality. aAQUA is capable of multi-lingual retrieval in 3 Languages spoken among
Indian farmers – Marathi, Hindi and English, allowing the user to search and/or select
agricultural keywords on the database. The multilingual categorization is useful for users
fluent in two or more languages (which is quite common in India). The original search query
is expanded with their counterparts in each language. It allows users to search in their own
language and retrieve content in other languages.
Reuse of knowledge in previous answers. Unlike most online discussion forums and
web portals, a review of our search query logs has indicated that our users infrequently use the
Search feature. The “Browse by Agricultural keywords” was a feature motivated by the same
observation. When a question is asked, the expert uses this tool to find previous answers that
can be reused. e.g., If the expert is searching for Powdery mildew disease on tomato he could
look under Crops and and refine his search to Powdery mildew , see Figure 4.
Tagging of aAQUA threads. The agricultural keywords are in the noun form and are
tagged to enable classification by our group of agri-experts. The tagging method used is
similar to “labels” used by Google Mail or “tags” used by deli.cio.us. Retrieval of documents
by these keywords is being improved by incorporating stemmers and spell-checkers
(measured by “precision” and “recall”). The limitation is that the precision may be
compromised. E.g., If “powdery” is stemmed to “powder” the number of hits increase several
times, reducing precision and increasing recall.
Figure 2 : Refining search by Crop and Disease name
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15. Integrating with email and mobile phones. aAQUA has also been tailored to cater to
users with limited access to the internet in several ways. Users can post their questions over
email as well as mobile phone text (SMS) and receive their answers back.
Figure 3: Keyword search on aAQUA Mobile
We now reflect on the original goals of building aAQUA i.e. to provide access to agri-
information that is reachable, accessible, timely, customized, usable, and searchable and the
extent to which these goals were achieved.
aAQUA Goals
Reachable Across 290 districts
Accessible PC, PC with limited
Internet & Mobile
Affordable Kiosk operators charge
no more than Rs. 10
per question
Relevant Content customized to
citizens’ specific
questions
Usable Majority of users and
extension staff find it
easy to use
Searchable By keyword selection
or keyword search
Up to Date Answer updated
within 36 hours,
Archives are not
updated
Table 1: aAQUA vis-à-vis its goals
Agrocom, a spin-off startup company based at IIT Bombay is assisting in the replication of
aAQUA system within the Indian Agri-University and Agri-Extension System, specifically in
(a) increasing the number of experts on the panel (b) creating partnerships with organizations
who have a large number of farmer customers. It has an ambitious goal of reaching 1 million
farmers by 2011.
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16. Figure9: Where do aAQUA Questions come from?
aAQUA today is reaching out to 20,000 farmers over mobile
phones and Internet
15

18. About aAQUA in Media
Pune News Online, Pune, 2004-12-18
Title :Genext help for farmers, courtesy IIT
Pune, December 17: STALL number 102 had just four jeans-clad youngsters, two laptops
and a bunch of printouts. But the bedlam of literally hundreds of pajama-kurta-topi clad
farmers thronging seed, farm machinery, fertiliser, pesticide, horticulture stalls, fruit and
vegetable shows, the boys from IIT Bombay were in no way blindsided. All they had
were a few projects, but ones which offered next generation tech-based agri-solutions,
and that wasn’t lost on the agri community that descended on Kisan ’04, a large-scale
agri expo being held at the Agricultural Produce Committee ground on the Pune-Nashik
highway at Moshi. Advertisement Under the name of Media Lab Asia (MLA), the IITians
had on offer innovative IT-based equipment, such as the ‘Poly-Sens’ — a system for
water quality assessment. MLA claim that the microchip-controlled instrument can give
results across several chemical parameters, within a minute. ‘‘This saves waiting for
several days for results. As of now, the instrument costs upto Rs 10,000, but with a
manufacturing tie-up, the price would come down a lot,’’ says S Phatak, an ex-IITian
working with MLA. Also on offer is ‘aAQUA’, an online multilingual, multimedia Q&A-
based community forum for disseminating information from and to the grassroots of the
agri community. This forum results in development of content in one’s local language.
Another innovation which MLA claims is a step ahead of existing search engines in terms
of ‘understanding the query, not just keywords’ is the ‘Agro Explorer’ — an internet-
based search engine that answers queries in local languages. Also bringing IT to the
farmer is ‘Farm News Bureau’. Run by Nimitya Enterprises, the firm has on offer over 40
CDs, each describing how various crops and agri products should be planted, cultivated
and harvested. ‘‘We haven’t counted our sales, but in the past two days, we have sold
upto 500 CDs,’’ informed Milind Sadhale of Farm News Bureau. Also on display were
solar-powered equipment of different sizes, a flower show of hybridised species,
individual exhibits by farmers including a 70-kilo bunch of bananas. The exhibition is on
till Sunday.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=110818
The Hindu, Chennai, 2005-09-10
Title :St Jude's School wins IT quiz
CHENNAI: : "Merciless and brilliant" were the words quizmaster Giri Balasubramaniam
chose to describe the onslaught of Neetu Thomas and Naina Thomas, the pair that won
this year's TCS IT Wiz — an inter-school Information Technology quiz — for their school,
St. Jude's, Kotagiri. In the seven years of the TCS IT Wiz, Mr. Balasubramaniam said it
was the first time that an all-girls team had come first. The entire hall of schoolchildren
at the Kamaraj Arangam gave the winners a standing ovation. The Editor-in-Chief, The
Hindu , N. Ram, who was the chief guest, said to them "the future belongs to you. You
have a long way to go, though." Bala Vidya Mandir, Chennai, was the runner-up. Don
Bosco School came third. Over 750 teams participated in the quiz. Six teams made it to
the finals. Padma Seshadri, Nungambakkam, came sixth but they got a special mention,
as they were the youngest pair — both from class nine. The other teams were all class
12 students. The questions were enough to stump a person with an average knowledge
of IT. Take for instance aAqua — not everyone would know what it stands for — Almost
All Questions Answered, a kiosk-based, multilingual online forum to help Indian farmers
solve agricultural problems. But the audience — consisting mostly of excited young boys
with grubby knees and enthusiastic girls in pigtails — did. "Chennai please, I know the
excitement really gets to you," said Mr. Balasubramaniam, trying his best to keep the
cap-throwing, clapping, dancing crowd quiet. The quiz, which is organised to promote "IT
awareness and young talent," had five gruelling rounds in the finals
http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/10/stories/2005091016370300.htm
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19. Indian Express, New Delhi, 2005-10-28
Title :PM bats for Baramati
NIRMALA GANAPATHY Posted: Oct 28, 2005 at 0000 hrs IST NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 27
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today singled out Baramati, Union Agriculture Minister
Sharad Pawar’s constituency, for praise on its agricultural successes, and expressed
hope that Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) around the country would take ‘‘inspiration’’ from
there. Addressing the audience after inaugurating the first two-day national conference
on KVKs, the prime minister appeared to revise—at least in the context of Baramati—his
earlier criticism of the collapse of agricultural extension work and the huge gap between
the latest farm technology and farmers, a gap that KVKs are supposed to bridge.
Listening closely to the prime minister’s commendation was Dhananjay Bhovsar, a
programme officer associated with the KVK at Baramati. ‘‘Innovative measures are the
only way to make a difference in agriculture extension,’’ he said. A case in point is a pilot
project scheme called aAQUA, acronym for Almost All Questions Answered. Floated by
KVK Baramati in association with IIT Mumbai and Vigyan Ashram, it provides online
answers to questions asked over the Internet in an attempt to bridge the farmer-
research gap. AQUA is currently operational in 11 kiosks, covering 44 villages in
Baramati and neighbouring areas. ‘‘Everyday, we have 25-30 farmers coming to the
kiosks with a range of questions,’’ said Bhovsar. ‘‘Information technology has to be
strengthened so that farmers can access the research undertaken by scientists.’’
Baramati, of course, is far from being the norm. Agriculture secretary Radha highlighted
the fact in her presentation, by complaining that scientific findings were not making their
way to the farming community. ‘‘There’s a lot of research happening, but it takes years
to reach farmers,’’ she said, adding that the gap needed to be bridged. The onus is
clearly on the scientific community, with the prime minister saying that a second green
revolution could be achieved only if researchers provided crop-specific, region-specific,
resource-specific and farm-specific solutions. ‘‘I am told there are estimates that indicate
that even with the current available technologies, it is possible to double the present
food production by the end of the 11th plan,’’ Singh said. Agriculture experts agree that
farmers are able to access barely 30 per cent of what scientists know. ‘‘There are
thousands of technologies, the KVKs are supposed to transfer them to the field. But
hardly 30 per cent reaches the farmer,’’ said P Chandrashekara, deputy director
(agriculture extension) at the National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management in
Hyderabad. ‘‘KVKs also need to link farmers to post-harvest techniques and markets.’’ In
defence of the extension failure, it may be said many more outposts are required. ‘‘We
train farmers in the latest technology, but in a month we can train only 150 farmers,’’
said K S Bhargava, training associate agriculture engineer in the Kutch KVK. ‘‘There are
not enough workers, not enough KVKs.’’ The prime minister had earlier announced that
each district in the country would have its own KVK by 2007. At present, of the 588 rural
districts, 492 have a KVK each to provide scientific knowledge and training to farmers.
The Indian Council for Agriculture Research is in the process of setting up KVKs in the
rest of the districts by the end of the Tenth Plan period. Also in the works: provision for
e-linkages to 200 KVKs along with extension of soil and water testing facilities in 326
KVKs.
http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/80872/
DIL, IIT Bombay, Development Informatics Lab, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, 2006-01-01
Title :aAQUA – A MULTILINGUAL, MULTIMEDIA FORUM FOR THE COMMUNITY
aAQUA is an online multilingual, multimedia Agricultural portal for disseminating
information from and to rural communities. It answers farmers' queries based on the
location, season, crop and other information provided by farmers. aAQUA makes use of
novel database systems and information retrieval techniques like intelligent caching,
offline access with intermittent synchronization, semantic-based search, etc. aAQUA's
large scale deployment provides avenues for researchers to contribute in the areas of
18

20. knowledge management, cross-lingual information retrieval, and providing accessible
content for rural populations. Apart from agriculture, aAQUA can be configured and
customized for expert advice in education, healthcare and other domains of interest to a
developing population. This demonstration showcases the utility of various component
DB/IR technologies built into aAQUA to enhance the QoS delivered to rural populations.
http://www.dil.iitb.ac.in/docs/aAQUA.pdf
i4d, Maharashtra, India, 2006-03-09
Title :Sixth Annual Baramati Initiative, 9-11 March 2006, Maharashtra, India
Sixth Annual Baramati Initiative, 9-11 March 2006, Maharashtra, India ICTs in
agriculture Saswati Paik Sr Assistant Editor The Sixth Annual Baramati Initiative on
Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and Development was held in Vidya
Prathishthan's Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Baramati from 9th to 11th
March, 2006. This year, the focus of the conference was on ICTs in agriculture. In the
inaugural session, VIIT Governing Council Chairman, Sharad Kulkarni said that the
process of exploring avenues is in progress, through which governments, NGOs, and
entrepreneurs can focus on e-Agriculture. In his speech he mentioned the history of
establishing the engineering college in Baramati. In 1992, Sharad Pawar, who is at
present the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, dared to dream of translating 128 acres of
barren land into a prominent centre of education. He mentioned some of the initiatives
taken by this institution in terms of IT-enabled 'affordable' services. Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission was the keynote
speaker. He threw some hard challenges to the 6th annual Baramati Initiative on ICT
and Development. He pointed to the importance of the agriculture field in India and
termed IT one of those 'defining technologies' that bring about a drastic change. He
mentioned that India has done extraordinarily well as supplier of IT to the world, this
nation has responded incredibly rapidly, as part of the global supply chain of IT, but our
record of applying IT to our own society back home has actually been quite poor. The
first technical session was on Innovative Practices showcasing the Benefits of ICT for the
Agriculture Sector'. Krithi Ramamrutham, of IIT-Bombay, described aAQUA, a corpus of
quickly-updated, demand-driven agricultural information, translations repository. 'Aaqua'
stands for 'almost all questions answered'. It aims to make online forum allowing
'questions from the grassroots to be answered by experts in the field'. Peter Smeets,
Alterra Landscape Centre in the Wageningen UR in the Netherlands spoke on e-
Agroparks in the Netherlands. The paper of Amol Goje, Director of VIIT was presented by
his colleague which focused on the importance of community FM radio in agriculture.
Helmut ewes from Agrista, Durban discussed about the prospect of technology in
agriculture sector. S.P.Wani from ICRISAT, Hyderabad discussed the organisational
activities of ICRISAT in agriculture using ICT as a major tool. The second session was on
'Role of ICT in Facilitating Agri-finance and Agri-insurance. R.Balakrishnan, Executive
Director, NABARD described the activities of NABARD in micro credit and also described
its ICT based services in rural areas in India. Edwin Moyo of Zimbabwe, the CEO of the
Trans Zambezi Industries Ltd, shared his views and experiences in using ICT in
agriculture. Suresh Sethi, Country Head – Transaction Banking Group, YES Bank Limited
presented his paper entitled as 'Role of ICT in Agricultural Finance and Insurance'. In his
paper he mentioned about the 'Infothela' project, an initiative of IIT, Kanpur. The paper
of Sonu Agrawal from Weather Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd. was on 'Financial
Services in Rural Areas and Role of Technology. Prashanth from Basix discussed the role
Basix in micro credit and livelihood using ICT as a tool. Vineet Rai from Aavishkaar India
Micro Venture Capital Fund focused on role of technology in delivery of financial services.
Question from the audience floor was raised regarding the scalability of the project by
Basix, it was replied that the project is scalable. Another question was regarding the
experiment made so far on estimating crop damage with the help of satellite imageries.
The reply received that the experiment will be done in this year itself. The last session of
first day on 'Research on use of ICT in agriculture' was moderated by V.P.Sharma,
Director, MANAGE, Hyderabad. Gopi N Ghosh, Assistant FAO Representative and
19

21. Resource Person, Food and Nutrition Security Community discussed about knowledge
management in food and agriculture, with example of functioning of UN Solution
Exchange. 'Gramya Vikas: A Distributed Collaboration Model for Rural Development
Planning' was the theme of the paper by J. Adinarayana, Gopesh Tewari and Anand
Vadlamani from Agro-Informatics Lab, Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, IIT
Bombay; the paper was presented by J Adinarayana. V.P.Sharma presented his paper
'Cyber Extension: Innovative Uses of ICTs for Agriculture, Lessons from Case Studies'.
During the question-answer session, suggestion were provided to make Krishi Vigyan
Kendras (Agricultural Science Centres) in India more market oriented, ensuring more
transparency of the finance spent for ICT projects in agriculture and initiating public
monitoring for food security with the help of ICT. On the second day of the conference,
there was a field trip to nearby KVK and sugarcane factory. Then the technical sessions
were started. The first session was on 'Government and e-Agriculture: Government
Support for e-Agriculture'. V.P.S.Sharma, Dean, College of Agribusiness Management,
GB Pant University described the thrust agribusiness sectors and government initiatives
in context of the State of Uttaranchal (India). T.C.Benjamin, IAS emphasized on the
need of computerisation of land records and government support in this regard, with
special reference to 'Mahabhulekh' project in Mumbai. Askar Abubakirov from Ministry of
Agriculture, Kazakhstan, described the national projects set up by the regional network
offices of his country. D.B.Deshmukh presented the status and potential of e-Agriculture
in Maharashtra. M.Moni, DDG, NIC, New Delhi narrated the ICT dissusion for sustainable
grassroots development in India. S.Sharma, Director, IASRI, New Delhi explained in his
paper the ICT initiatives in IASRI. During the question answer session, the questions
were raised regarding the reliability of the data from 'Mahabhulekh' on crop information.
Benjamin explained the same. The second session of this day was on 'Corporate
Experiences – Trade Facilitation through ICT', the moderator of this session was Frida
Youssel, Coordinator for UNCTAD (the UN's Conference on Trade and Development)
finance and risk management commodities branch. The paper on 'Manobi' project of
Senegal was presented by Malick Ndiaye. SPIC agribusiness was narrated by Narayanan,
Head, Agribusiness, SPIC and trade practices in Canada was explained by Apurva Mehta,
Senior Advisor, Trade, Consulate General of Canada, Mumbai. Meher Baburaj, Chief
Operations Officer, NCDEX, highlighted National Commodity Development Exchange.
Joseph Massey, Deputy Managing Director, MCX shared his experiences in trade
facilitation through ICT. There was a discussion at the end on the security in transaction
through Internet and also the future plan or possibility of opening rural kiosks by SPIC.
'The Power of Collaboration: Success Stories' was the theme of the last technical session.
The vision of Agriwatch was presented by Meenakshi. Swetank Gupta, CEO, Gramdoot
Seva Kendra explained the project 'Gramdoot' in Wardha District. Rural credit and supply
chain management system was described by Rohit Nagotra, COO, Ekgaon Technologies,
Sashi demonstrated the technicalities of the system. P.Krishna Reddy,z Head, e-Sagu
Project, IIIT, Hyderabad and Ganesh Rao, Vice President, Moerheim Roses India Pvt Ltd
also explained how the collaboration practices may serve the agriculture sector, sharing
their experience in this field. At the last session, the report on 'Say Yes to Agribusiness'
by Sharad Pawar and 'New Era of Economic Development – Maharashtra' by the Union
minister for Finance, India, P. Chidambaram were launched. The plenary session on the
future of e-Agriculture was moderated by G.Chandrasekhar, Associate Editor of Business
Line and Sharad Kulkarni. Addressing the plenary session, the Union Minister for
Finance, India stressed on the need for technology bound development in farm sector at
Baramati, Maharashtra. He identified five key components- water, credit, technology and
market, required to transform the agrarian sector into a profitable exercise that will
attract investments. Describing the current state of co-operative sector being in
shambles, the finance minister expressed his confidence that all state governments will
sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Rs 14,500 crore scheme to revitalise
the co-operative credit structure. Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO of YES Bank
presented the valedictory address. Saswati Paik, saswati@csdms.in
http://www.i4donline.net/articles/current-article.asp?articleid=639&typ=Rendezvous
20

22. DNA, PUNE, India, 2006-03-20
Title :Interactive website takes IT harvest to farmers
Information from agricultural experts through an interactive website promises to serve
as potent manure for farmers for a rich harvest. Farmers across rural India can now dig
up relevant demand-driven farming knowledge via aAqua.org, an initiative of the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay and its partners. From the website, Prasad
Kaledhonkar got to know about the white patterns emerging on tomato plant leaves in
Tamil Nadu. A farmer's daughter, Niyatee Nilesh of Thane, received advice on buying
agricultural land, while Shirish from Maharashtra learnt about using waste water from
the kitchen to irrigate gardens. The website provides crop recommendations through a
crop-keyboard browser. It also contains a section called "crop doctor" that explains
different crop diseases through photographs. The section "Bhav puchiye" (Ask the price)
has practical use, as it displays market rates of different agricultural products from
across India. "aAqua stands for almost all questions answered," says Krithi
Ramamrutham, IIT-Bombay's head at the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information
Technology. "It used to be called Aqua. We added a small 'a' in front of it, that stands for
'almost'. We want to be as realistic as possible," he says. For the interactive website,
IIT-Bombay has brought together diverse strands. It merged Indic text input, iconic
(icon or picture-based) interfaces, meaning-based search, digital libraries, community
forum, and water-quality sensors. The work required skills from diverse disciplines like
e-pedagogy, multimedia content, computer-based training, education, and light
databases. "aAqua can be deployed in any domain - education and health too. It's
actually a very simple idea. You and I use it for discussing other things. Here, we need
more images, multi-lingual capability, a query facility, and meaning-based search," the
US-returned Ramamritham said in an interview. The aAqua.org shows up in Marathi,
Hindi and English. It offers information also on crops, animals, officials'
recommendations, market information and schemes for farmers. It has 940 members,
1,364 topics and 3,321 posts. "What we have done is signing up experts from various
Krishi Vigyan Kendras (the network of farm-extension services in India)," says
Ramamrutham. Anyone wanting the info can sign up through a simple process and ask.
Those experts have been working in various parts of Maharashtra including Baramati,
Pabal, Pune and Khed. Work on this first prototype began in November 2003. Oddly, it
started just as a course project. "We started working on it in real earnest when we saw
its full potential," says Ramamurtham. "We are now trying to scale up. Our challenge is
that aAqua's reach should be larger," he adds. IIT-Bombay used its active natural
language processing lab to design the website. "We try to get most of the language
translated automatically, through an intermediate language (or artificial pivot language)
known as UNL or universal networking language," adds Ramamrutham, who himself
grew up in an agricultural village in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. Ramamrutham calls this a
"great learning experience". But their work has also been recognized with the Manthan
Award, an Indian prize for sites with useful content. "We are looking to go to deeper
ways to use this technology. For instance, forecasting disease, going by census and
other information. We want to enlarge its scope of applicability," he said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_interactive-website-takes-it-harvest-to-
farmers_1018971
Linux Journal, Internet, 2006-03-24
Title :Taking Free Software to the Farmers and Fields of India
Editor's Note: This article has been updated since its original publication. Thanks to work
done by the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Bombay) and its partners, IT-
savvy and knowledge-hungry people across rural India now can find relevant, demand-
driven farming knowledge on the aAqua.org Web site. So far, the site has been a great
way to bring together people such as Prasad Kaledhonkar, who has a clue about what
the white patterns emerging on tomato plant leaves are; farmer's daughter Niyatee
21

23. Nilesh, who wants advice on buying agricultural land; and Shirish, from rural
Maharashtra, who wants to learn about using waste water from the school kitchen to
irrigate gardens and crops. aAqua stands for "Almost All Questions Answered". Dr. Krithi
Ramamritham, IIT-Bombay's head at the Kanwal Rekhi School of Information
Technology, said, "It used to be called Aqua. We added a small 'a' in front of it that
stands for 'almost'. We want to be as realistic as possible." Dr. Krithi Ramamritham In
addition to connecting users, aAqua.org also provides crop recommendations archived by
keywords, a search tool to see if a particular question already has been answered and a
"crop doctor" with photographs of diseased crops, archived by keywords. The bhav
puchiye (ask the price) feature has practical use. Market rates from across India are
displayed for farmers and agro-traders. The aAqua Web site contains several forums in
Indian languages (Marathi and Hindi, currently) and in English. These forums deal with
crops, animals, officials' recommendations, market information and schemes for farmers.
The site now has 940 members, 1,364 topics and 3,321 posts. "What we've done is sign
up experts from various Krishi Vigyan Kendras [the network of farm-extension services
in India]", Ramamritham explained. Anyone wanting information can sign up through a
simple process and start asking questions. The aAqua project has brought together some
diverse groups. To build a solution that works in the field, IIT-Bombay merged Indic text
input, iconic interfaces, meaning-based searches, digital libraries, community forums and
water-quality sensors. This work brought together skills from a variety of disciplines,
including e-pedagogy, multimedia content, computer-based training, education and light
databases. The project members have been working in an area in the central Indian
state of Maharashtra, around the Baramati, Pabal, Pune and Khed areas. Work on the
first aAqua prototype began in November 2003. Interestingly, the project got its start in
a school course. "We started working on it in real earnest when we saw its full potential",
Ramamritham said. "We now are trying to scale up. Our challenge is aAqua's reach
should be larger", he added. Tomcat, MySQL and mnvforum When asked if Free/Libre
and open-source software made the aAqua project possible, Dr. Ramamritham said,
"Very much so." The software behind the aAqua Web site is based on lab-developed
algorithms for translation, caching and the like that use Java, JSP and Java Servlets
technology. The application currently is deployed on a Tomcat Web server, version 5.
The software also can run from any Servlet container that is compatible with JSP 1.2 and
Servlet 2.3. The Oracle 9i database, with Unicode UTF-8 support, is used as the site's
backend software. aAqua at Work aAqua also has been configured to work with MySQL,
with Unicode support (version 4.1 onwards). aAqua can be viewed using any popular
Web browser, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera and so on. The digital library
software uses C++, Perl and Java and is deployed on a Jakarta Apache server, version
2.0.52. In addition, aAqua is built with mvnForum, a FLOSS-based discussion forum
application. mvnForum, in turn, uses other FLOSS components, such as Lucene, an
indexer and search engine; Tomcat; and many other components. Ramamritham said
the team opted to use mvnForum because it is "easy to use, easy to set up" and offered
the option of attaching files to a post, a fully customizable GUI. Among its attractive
technical features are support for Unicode characters, which is "a must given India's
multilingual orientation". In addition, the MVC architecture behind mvnForum also
supports most popular databases, such as MySQL, Oracle 8i/9i, SQL Server, PostgreSQL,
hsqldb, Interbase/Firebird, SAPDB, db2 and Sybase. "We wanted industrial strength
support for databases as well as easy replicability, hence multiplatform support was
essential" Ramamritham said. To deal with the many languages written and spoken in
India, IIT-Bombay used its active natural language processing lab when working on the
aAqua project. "We try to get most of the language translated automatically, through an
intermediate language known as UNL, or universal networking language", Dr.
Ramamritham explained. Overall, Ramamritham said the aAqua project has been a
"great learning experience". The team's work has been presented with the Manthan
Award, an Indian prize for Web sites having useful content. As for the future,
Ramamritham said, "We're looking for deeper ways [of using] this technology, for
instance, forecasting diseases by using sensor data and other information. We want to
enlarge its scope of applicability." To this end, the project has received a request for
information from the Development Gateway Foundation, which is interested in the
possibility of building such portals for other countries. In addition, the government of
22

24. Western India's Maharashtra region has linked the aAqua site to its own main page. As
for other uses of the aAqua model, the metrology department of Pune, in central India,
is interested in seeing what the model can do for the department. MarathiWorld.com is
interested in using the aAqua model to answer career-counseling queries. And, Drishtee,
a project in North India project, sees potential in this model being used for a citizens'
complaints system. In short, the aAqua model can be used in a variety of disciplines.
According to Dr. Ramamritham, "aAqua can be deployed in any domain--education and
health too. It's actually a very simple idea."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8938
Pune Newsline, Pune, India, 2006-06-19
Title :For afflicted farmers, solution is just a click away
A web portal developed by IIT Bombay addresses all the queries Express News Service
Pune, June 18: In a village far away, farmer Vitthal Shinde was bogged down with a
problem. His tomato crop has been affected by an unknown disease. But Shinde is far
from worried. He simply heads to the nearest computer kiosk, and types in his query on
a web-based forum. Within no time, his query is answered along with related pictures by
experts from Baramati. This scenario is today a reality, thanks to aAQUA (almost All
Questions Answered), a web portal initiated by Development Informatics Lab at Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) in collaboration with Baramati-based Krishi
Vigyan Kendra and Pabal-based Vigyan Ashram. The unique initiative was among a
collection of entrepreneurs and NGO’s who exhibited their work at the IIT Bombay
Alumni Association meeting held on Saturday, which focused on ‘Science and Technology
for the Benefit of Society’. Advertisement The highlight of all the exhibitions was the
presentation of the Ashden award-winning Compact Biogas Plant by Priyadarshini Karve
of the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI). Presentations were also made by
RPS systems (energy-saving LED lamps), Pune Design Festival, Herbal Home Gardens,
and event sponsors BMC Software. The Alumni meet also served as a platform to
announce the IIT Alumni 2006 Global Conference, organised by Pan-IIT, an umbrella
organisation of all IIT’s in India. To be held in Mumbai from December 23-25, the
conference will veer around the theme ‘Inspiring and involving IITians to transform
India’. The three-day conference is likely to be inaugurated by President Abdul Kalam,
and will see around 20 eminent speakers like Larry Page, Steve Jobs and Sri Sri
Ravisankar.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=188781
Mumbai News Line, Mumbai, India, 2006-11-12
Title :BRAINSTORMING- I At IIT, cutting edge ideas that’ll change our lives in
the future
At IIT, cutting edge ideas that’ll change our lives in the future Research on to develop
locket that warns of heart attack, hands-free cars and much more; focus now on
marketing Mihika Basu Mumbai, November 11: Hands-free driving, a locket that alerts
you of an imminent heart attack, energy from the sun and wind as a petrol substitute
and earthquake-resistant buildings. These are only a few innovations that could make
our lives that much easier if research scholars at Bombay IIT have their way. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s word of caution that research projects at premiere institutes
of excellence were not being converted into products may have put the scanner back on
IIT’s cutting-edge quotient. But even as it combats adverse opinion on the effectiveness
of its R&D programme, work is continuing on some key innovations, which if completed
successfully, could change the paradigm of how we lead our lives in the future.
Advertisement For instance, the silicon locket when worn by an individual, will make it
possible to instantly monitor various cardiac parameters to help in quick diagnosis. In
the event of the slightest abnormality, the locket is designed to send automatic alerts—
including the last few seconds of ECG data— to a central server or the nearest hospital
23

25. using a mobile phone interface. “This will work like an instant life-saving device,” said IIT
Bombay R&D dean Krithi Ramamritham. Another project, which IIT feels will
revolutionise the automotive sector, involves “intelligent vehicles”. Now being designed
at IIT Bombay, these cars will be hands-free or “drive-by-wire or brakes-by-wire”
vehicles—in addition to being “hybrid” as they will operate on a mixture of hydrogen or
electricity and normal fuels. “Our petrol reserves will be exhausted over the next 30
years and a major focus of our work is to develop alternate sources of energy,” said
Ramamritham. Consequently, sustainable energy and alternatives to fossil fuels like
energy from sun, wind and water are also being worked upon at the institute. During his
recent visit to the institute, the Prime Minister expressed his dissatisfaction at the fact
that research projects at institutes like IIT Bombay were getting restricted to papers
instead of being converted into substantial products. “The PM’s statement has been an
eye-opener for us,” said the dean. “Lack of proper marketing is responsible for closing
down important research projects. We are going to focus on marketing in a big way now.
Moreover, our society still thinks that anything made abroad is better than what is
developed in India.” Another major thrust area for the institute is the use of
communication technology for the socio-economic growth of farmers. A multi-lingual
question-answer system called aAQUA, which has been functioning for more than a year
now, is a significant step in that direction. “It’s a community forum for delivering
information at the grassroots level and includes videos, pictures and images for non-
literate and semi-literate people,” explained Ramamritham. Research is also on for a
seismic risk assessment of Mumbai to estimate the extent of damage to life and property
in the event of an earthquake or flood so that suitable disaster management measures
can be planned. The institute, which gets Rs 40 crone for basic research and Rs 12 crore
for consultancy (company-specific) research, claims most these projects will be complete
within the next five years. “We at IIT are looking at long-term solutions instead of
shortcuts,” Ramamritham added. TOMORROW: At IIT, good ideas turn into good
business
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=209247
The Hindu Business Line, Chennai, 2007-01-22
Title :Say it in your own lingo
The unique features of the Brahmi Input Method are: it is based on the way all Indian
languages are taught — a top vowel row with consonants in sets below; the Matra key is
used for the vowel signs and the Halant key for halfconsonants. COMMUNICATE, with
local flavour - K.K. Mustafah Words come alive in our mother tongue. There are those
expressions, phrases, metaphors that sound right only in the language of our town. Now
you will be able to type that exact saying while writing an e-mail, with a keyboard
designed for Indians. Based on the ancient script of Brahmi, the keyboard is being
designed for the 95 per cent of Indians who don't know English. This keyboard can be
modified to cater to 40 or so modern Indian languages. Descendants of the Brahmi
alphabet include: Bengali, Devanagiri, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Khmer, Malayalam,
Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu and Tibetan. A US-based company, Kalibonca LLC, has
acquired the rights to license the Brahmi Keyboard, Brahmi Phone Keypad and other
input methods based on the Brahmi Layout. Several companies, including Reliance
Communications ADAGroup, are evaluating the product for sale to millions of Indians,
according to the firm. "We believe that the Brahmi Input method is the key to cracking
the Indian language market as all Indians understand the Brahmi input method
intuitively," says a spokesperson. Invented by Dr Mahesh Jayachandra, the Brahmi
keyboard has been licensed by the company. Kalibonca is currently tying up with
computer makers, keyboard vendors and kiosk makers. This will be useful when rural
broadband connectivity is established and villagers look to the Internet to solve their
daily problems. IIT Mumbai's aAqua (almost All QUestions Answered) project, for
example, will receive a boost once these keyboards are in use. The project brings online
experts together to solve questions posed by rural denizens. Most problems are crop-
related and the questions are asked in Hindi/Marathi, said Prof Krithi Ramamritham,
24

26. Dean of R&D, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology,
Mumbai, speaking at a telecom event in Bangalore recently. Queries have been received
from all parts of India — from the North-East, Kerala and Maharashtra. According to the
experts who designed this, the villagers are unable to articulate their thoughts using the
input devices commonly available. Hence the project uses multimedia — images instead
of text, to elaborate on the question. Such a keyboard will boost the amount of content
coming from rural India. This will mean more literature in local languages on the Web —
what Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, egged Indians to upload. There are around
3,000 to 10,000 articles in Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada, with the
number of Kannada articles growing at 22 per cent per month and Bengali ones at 35
per cent. There were only 1,000 articles in Hindi on Wikipedia. Mobile phone to rescue
Meanwhile, mobile phones are also racing into villages and alleviating the economic
situation there. With keypads in local languages, mobile users in rural India will have
power at their fingertips. C-DAC, Motorola, Infosys and W3C are working on realising
this. "We are focussing on licensing the technology to cell-phone providers," says the
Kalibonca spokesperson. The unique features of the Brahmi Input Method are: it is based
on the way all Indian languages are taught — a top vowel row with consonants in sets
below; the Matra key is used for the vowel signs and the Halant key for halfconsonants.
Also, the keyboard can be bilingual — the user can shift between English and Hindi as
required. Once these various technologies, companies and institutes achieve success, it
will spell hope for the rural folk. Hope for better expression, communication and growth.
preethij@thehindu.co.in
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2007/01/22/stories/2007012200150400.htm
Telegraph UK, Delhi, India, 2007-12-10
Title :Text message helpline for Indian farmers
By Peter Foster in New Delhi Published: 4:18PM GMT 10 Dec 2007 Embattled Indian
farmers facing the threat of drought, pestilence and cyclonic storms are turning to
mobile telephones to give them advance warning of livelihood-threatening disasters
which could lie ahead. Although much of Indian agriculture still relies on the bullock and
the buffalo, the use of mobile phones to warn of dangers and share market information
is promising to revolutionise life for many. In a scheme set up by India’s equivalent of
Oxbridge - the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai - farmers are using SMS
messages to receive alerts and ask questions of experts and colleagues. Called "aAQUA"
- short for "almost all questions answered" - the scheme enables farmers to enquire
about everything from projected rainfall patterns, disease forecasts for plants and
animals and to how to milk buffaloes more efficiently. More than 100m new mobiles are
sold in India every year and in India’s rural areas - where 65 per cent of the population
still live - the mobile is changing life far quicker than the internet which connects less
than 4 per cent of the population. "We realised that the internet is not penetrating as
fast as we thought," said the Dean of IIT Mumbai, Krithi Ramamritham, "while recent
mobile phone penetration is high in rural areas, so we decided to make use of this
phenomenon." It is hoped that the service will ease the plight of many distressed Indian
farmers who, according to a recent Indian government report, commit suicide at a rate
of one every 34 minutes because of debts, crop failures and other problems. The service
receives a wide range of questions from the "rates for cucumbers in Kolapur market" to
advice on building cow barns and request for "a list of Indian exporters for stevia", a
herb used as a sugar substitute. Typical was the query from a Mr Gaju Lambhade, a
small farmer in Maharashtra: "Sir. Will it be good to use milking machine for milking 10
Buffaloes? In future I will be increasing the number of buffaloes. Which make of milking
machine is good and what will be the approximate cost of it?" And back comes the reply,
complete with a list of suppliers for milking machines, some advice on which machines
were the best quality and a warning that cow milking machines need to be adapted with
special teats to work on buffaloes. The schemes pioneers believe its potential is limitless
and say they are already in talks with an Indian mobile handset manufacturer to
construct a phone with special features just for farmers.
25

27. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1572129/Text-message-helpline-for-Indian-
farmers.html
Indian Express, Mumbai, 2007-12-10
Title :Crop problems? Farmers can text IIT Bombay for answers
When disease strikes their crops, don’t be surprised if farmers in Maharashtra fish out
their cellphones and start punching out an SMS. Chances are they are messaging IIT,
Bombay for answers. In a step forward from its multi-lingual web portal aAQUA (almost
all questions answered), which answers agriculture and animal husbandry-related
questions, IIT-Bombay has now put in place a software where registered farmers can
have their queries answered on a mobile phone without having to go to a kiosk or cyber-
cafe. “We realised that the Internet is not penetrating as fast as we thought. Also recent
numbers indicate that the rate of rise of mobile phone penetration is higher in rural
areas. So we decided to make use of this phenomenon to reach out to maximum number
of farmers,” says IIT-B Research and Development Dean Krithi Ramamritham. In initial
research, the institute determined how many agricultural households had access to
Internet connection, the type of mobiles they possessed, the functions they used in a
cellphone and the kind of information they needed. One of the findings, for example, was
that while a vast majority of farmers in the state used mobile phones, the grape farmers
owned the high-end ones
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/crop-problems-farmers-can-text-iit-bombay-for-
answers/248582/
IBN Live, Mumbai, India, 2007-12-30
Title :Farmers hook on to the net to reap a rich harvest
Mumbai: IITians are helping farmers find answers to their crop problems. And they do
this with SMSes. Standing in the middle of his vineyard with a laptop in hand, 30-year-
old Sandeep Khode is perhaps the face of the new techno-savvy Indian farmer, who gets
expert agricultural advice by posting queries online at www.aaqua.org. "This site helps
me get good advice and is also a great way to keep a tab on the market," says Sandeep
Khode, a grape farmer. A Brainchild of IIT Bombay, aaqua (Almost All Questions
Answered) does just what its name suggests, with advice on everything from how to
improve your crop to tips on marketing the produce. "The idea was to bridge the
technological divide,” says Prof Krithi Ramamritham, Dean, R&D, IIT Bombay. Farmers
can register on the website free of charge. They can then post their queries in English,
Hindi or Marathi. Experts at the agricultural universities answer the queries. They can
even text their queries to the number 56767666. The website also has a handy database
of frequently asked questions. With nearly 4000 registered users, farmers from across
the country have been logging into a whole new kind of Green Revolution.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/farmers-log-in-to-get-eadvice-on-agri-issues/55266-11.html
EuroIndiaICT, IISC, Bangalore, 2008-11-11
Title :Euro India ICT
Krithi Ramamritham, Dean of R&D, IIT Bombay expresses his views on the EuroIndia ICT
Project at a EuroIndia Information Day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uVervLgUfk
26

28. Summary of Q&A
aAQUA Success Story Video Interview. (page no. 31)
The below video was shot on Dec 6, 2009 at Mumbai and Mr.Shashi Kumar
Yadav a registered aAQUA user was interviewed. Mr.Shashi Kumar has
interacted with experts since 2006 and discussed about setting up a dairy
business. His family was convinced in six months about the progress he made
and he is now shifting back to his home town in state of Rajasthan and
expanding his dairy business along with Vermicompost generation and
distribution.
His story is one among the success stories of people effectively using aAQUA
forum and becoming successful in the field of agriculture.
http://www.agrocom.co.in/video.php
Market Study (page no. 32)
1. Which is more profitable business - Forum Q&A # 14223
In this Q&A, the user wants to get a clear idea as to which business he wants to
start, so the expert explains him about the poultry business as well as dairy
farming so that he is prepared before he gets into his new project. Also, some of
the good practices which needs to adapted in dairy business is provided by the
expert.
Training Related Q&A (page no. 34)
2. I am interested in about training - Forum Q&A # 3259.
In this Q&A, the farmer is interested to start cattle farming and is on look out for
information about available KVK's in state of Gujarat. Expert responds to him
with the list of KVK's and the one nearest to him, also expert offers to provide
training which is held in his KVK Baramati as well.
National Research Center Related Q&A (page no. 36)
3. Grape Rootstock - Forum Q&A # 5256
In this Q&A, the user is asking a particular grape to be grown in a particular type
of soil and the expert is answering about some varieties of grapes which can be
grown in any soil. Also, he is referring the user to visit the National Research
Center for Grapes for more information.
Pesticide Related Q&A (page no. 37)
4. Lady finger - Forum Q&A # 14413
In this Q&A, the farmer is interested in growing lady finger and he wants more
information. One expert provides him with all the information regarding seed
preparation, land preparation, sowing, optimum temperature, seasons to sow
along with diseases and pest information. The other expert joins in and provides
various seeds available and how to manage pests, which fertilizer to be used.
This is an example of collaboration between experts.
Seed Related Q&A (page no. 39)
27

29. Summary of threads (Success story / Discussion thread)… continued
5. About papaya - Forum Q&A # 2291
In this Q&A, it is initiated by a Marketing manager of a seed company in Delhi, a
farmer from Andhra Pradesh is delighted to grow more such exotic crops and
inquires more. The expert comes in and provides him additional details of
approaching agricultural service center, also he provides the various information
about how to start right from preparation of sowing bed to disease management
including site selection. Information about how to market Papaya milk is also
provided. There are several seed related questions on aAQUA. Some KVKs have
used aAQUA Mobile to promote events selling seeds and saplings - the targeted
promotion has consistently helped increase the participation in these events.
Animal Cure Related Q&A (page no. 43)
6. Vigyan Ashram Goat Story - Q&A # 920
In this Q&A, there is goat which is bitten by dogs and the local veterinarian is
not available. So a question on aAQUA is put and followed up over the phone.
The expert is thus able to reply immediately, instructions are followed and the
Goat is saved. So in real time, aAQUA has helped save a life - there are several
other animal and animal-rearing related queries on aAQUA.
Banks and Loan Related Q&A (page no. 45)
7. About Loan - Forum Q&A # 14416
In this Q&A, the user wants to buy agricultural land and is on the look out for
the information. The expert provides the information about the local NABARD
(Rural Bank which specializes in lending to farmers and also guides farmers on
smart investing) office where he can locally contact for further information.
Marketing Related Q&A (page no. 46)
8. Broiler Farm Marketing - Forum Q&A # 10267
In this Q&A, the farmer wants to sell his birds directly to market, as he is
making losses by selling to middlemen, so he inquires about the available
markets. The expert provides with list of market and thus helps him out to sell in
the market directly.
Animal Husbandary Related Q&A (page no. 47)
9. Cost of Jersey and Hallstone cows - Forum Q&A # 2659
In this Q&A, the user is asking which breed of cow to be used to start his dairy
farm. The expert requests him to gather local market data, its demand and other
things. Along with it, the expert also offers the user to visit their KVK to learn
more about dairy farming patterns in Maharashtra and learn before he actually
begins the project. This way aAQUA has been useful to several entrepreneurs in
clearing their basic questions and doubts. See one of our users talk about how
his dreams of a dairy came to reality here:
Crop Information (page no. 51)
10. Crop Adaptability - Forum Q&A # 5977.
In this Q&A, a progressive farmer is excited about entering into a new crop -
China Garlic in Maharashtra. The expert warns against this plan, he is advised
28

30. Summary of threads (Success story / Discussion thread)… continued
to grow something else (though the expert here didn't suggest an alternative -
this would have been better) as it would be a failure due to climatic conditions in
his region. This particular Q&A demonstrates how farmers use aAQUA to reach
out to the online aAQUA community to ask questions while trying (or even
before trying as in this case) their own experiments.
Fertilizer Related Q&A (page no. 53)
11. Conversion Factor - Forum Q&A # 14135
In this Q&A, the farmer is inquiring about the conversion factor and wants to
calculate how much of fertilizer and which proportion if he buys, he can provide
the best nutrients to the plants. The expert clearly explains the ration proportion
by giving example of NPK proportion and its equivalent in percentage and to
quantify in Kilograms. Experts usually avoid scientific jargon e.g. measurements
are made in teaspoons as against parts-per-million.
Disease Related Q&A (page no. 54)
12. Onion Information - Forum Q&A # 12418
In this Q&A, the user is expecting more information about Onion, the expert
delivers comprehensive information about onion-growing, probable diseases
which can affect the crop and how to take care of it.
Disease Related Q&A (page no. 56)
13. cucumber - Forum Q&A # 922
In this Q&A, the farmer is experiencing disease in his cucumber farm and has
tried medications based on seed company representative which yields no good
result. He then poses question in aAQUA and then he follows the instruction
provided by experts and recovers his entire crop. This Q&A demonstrates how
experts can save farmer's livelihood and in turn it is a success story.
Harvest and Stumps Related Q&A (page no. 61)
14. HARVESTING HYBRID NAPIER RBN-13 VARIETY - Forum Q&A # 13703
In this Q&A, the farmer is inquiring about the Hybrid Napier and is not sure as to
whether to sow Napier RBN-13 seeds or use stumps. The expert provides him
the right answer and also directs him with the seasonal requirements for better
harvest of Napier.
Training Related Q&A (page no. 63)
15. Agril cources - Forum Q&A # 14337
In this Q&A, the user is inquiring about various advanced agricultural courses
available, so that he will guide his brother to do so. The expert clearly indicates
what are the various programs available under Govt. Of India and NABARD, so
that one can take Extension work as well and be an entrepreneur. Also, he
provides valuable information such as availability of loan, subsidy, interest
exemption etc.,
Loan Related Q&A (page no. 64)
16. Loan for dairy farm in Karnataka - Forum Q&A # 14346
29

31. Summary of threads (Success story / Discussion thread)… continued
In this Q&A, the farmer wants to start a Dairy farm and is in need of loan, one
experts provides him a list of Nationalized banks and the other experts provides
him, the address of the nearest bank which is available at his village and guides
him to meet the manager.
Seeds Related Q&A (page no. 66)
17. Lemon variety - Forum Q&A # 14499
In this Q&A, the farmer wants to grow Lemon and is inquiring more about
available seed varieties. The expert provides him with a matrix of information
from which he can select and suggests him to get local Agriculture expert advise
as well.
Animal Related Q&A (page no. 68)
18. Nellore or Deccani sheep - Forum Q&A # 14233
In this Q&A, the farmer is trying to get answers as to which breed of sheep
farming would be profitable for his business. The experts clearly answers the
question and asks him to follow some best practices and key things to be
considered for making it a profitable business. Also, the experts provides various
links to other websites - a common trend in aAQUA to connect users to other
sources of information on the web.
Unlike some Q&A Websites where the Q&A are private and can only be retrieved
by the user who posed the query, aAQUA queries are always online by default.
The advantage is visibility, transparency and searchablility. The down-side is
that - since posts are public by default - spam posts may be online for 24 hours
(more on rare instances) till they are removed by the moderator.
30

32. Welcome: bahuman
Last login: 2010-01-05 18:22:52
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agrocom
aAQUA Advertising and
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33. Welcome: bahuman
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पशु / Animals / पशु > which is the more profitable business?
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pbhayya
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Chitguppa
Karnataka
India
Joined: Sep 2, 2009
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Dear sir,
my self Prakash from bidar karnataka
i want to start business in my home town chitguppa bidar district karnataka
actuly i am confused bitween the starting a firm of dairy or goat or poultry firms.
i want to know which is the best safe and nore porfitable business amoung this three
but in future i will start this three also but i want to know which one start 1st
plz sugest which business give more profit with less expenses and less risk
[Nov 10, 2009 11:58:39 AM] [220.227.91.226]
santoshpapal
Member
Akole
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Mar 17, 2007
Posts: 22
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Dear Prakash,
Its on ur interest
First you should think on present assets and inputs available with you. Also milk, meat
and egg market availability near ur village.
If u have some 1 ha land u can have dairy business first. but the establishment cost will
be much. Also maintenance is more incase of Poultry and Goat. Still think on availability
and interest.
----------------------------------------
Santosh A Papal
9923796430
[Nov 10, 2009 12:59:28 PM] [124.247.241.226] Weather Info
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
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Mr .Prakash Bhayya :-
Please go through following points for all the above fims like firm of dairy or goat or
poultry firms etc:-
Whichever is the business, want to become profitable needs following things (Dairy
/poultry/goat point of view):-
1)Quality animals:- Animals which can sustain in perticular climatic conditions & having
proper dairy character needed for dairy business.Eg- In Konkan region, there is high
rainfall in rainy season and drought situation on summer season.so the kind of animals
which are suitable for this region may be Jersey cows,Surti & Mehsana buffaloes.
2)Management- As the production of animal is increases according to high quality
animals demand for good quality fodder,concentrate,water,housing and care is needed

34. Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Dr.
D.P.Bhoite
Phone Number:
02112-255207
more .If this is not fulfilled ,then dairy owner can have a loss in terms of less milk
production as well as economic losses.So it is necessary for dairy owner to access his
strength for providing this kind of facilities for its animals.So for that if dairy owner has
good kind of knowledge (By training & practice)and will to do whatever work in his dairy
farm,then he can be profitable dairy farmer.As per my knowledge this is 24 hours
business & it can not be as supervisor's job.
3)Facilities:- Whatever facilities required for dairy like availability of farm
land,availability of fodder throughout the year,availability of veterinarian,skill for first
aid treatment,skill for feed formulation is important for dairy farmer.Dairy owner must
provide minimum kind of facilities which are needed for his animals.
4)Market- Before producing milk or other dairy product,it is better to search what are
market opprtunities in your area.See if there is no any dairy farm functioning in your
srea what are the resions behind it?If there is no any farmer who dare to take this
entreprice then it is opportunity to you set up good quality of dairy farm.If market is not
there ,try to create your own market by creating demand for your product in the
market.
5)Value addition- In business of dairy farming,it is better to not to rely on only one
entreprise or product eg- Milk,If you do value addition in milk to prepare
Khoa,Shrikhand,basundi etc.,You will get more money,If you do value addition in
cowdung by preparing vermicompost you will get more money .
So think on this aspect, Do personal visits for survey the area,try to find out market as
well as study market chains developed in that perticular area.Then make decision for
dairy farming .
6)To be updated- For dairy owner it is necessary to aware about new practices &
changes in dairy farming.So for that he must take training before starting the dairy or
any animals related enterprise & after that timely necessary trainings to become
updated .New practices,trends & changes in management will be helpfult to reduce the
losses & improve production of animals.He must be adaptive & positive in nature &
willing to take responcibilities or change as & when needed.
7) Keep records- Some farmers which do not have land but are successfully run dairy
business because they keep records for feed,fodder,Milk production,Reproduction,health
& management aspects.In which they can get ideas as well as point our problematic
points or situatuation to avaiod losses.Today,many dairy farmers are not keeping
records as like businessman,so they do know what is the status of the dairy /poultry
/goatary they are running now.
On the above points,you may decide number of animals to be kept for dairy farming
which can run sucessfully.Alos visit to nearest dairy farmsrs which are running their
farms very well & then share the ideas with them for runing successful
dairy/poultry/goat farm.
[Above information is based on recommendations from National Agriculture Research System. The
Effectiveness of the recommendations varies from place to place with changes in natural resource and
climate. Farmers are advised to use the information on their own responsibility. KVK Baramati shall not be
responsible for any consequences.]
----------------------------------------
[Edit 1 times, last edit by baramati at Nov 13, 2009 12:32:31 PM]
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35. Welcome: FARMER
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kiranmodi
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satellite
Gujarat
India
Joined: Jun 11, 2006
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Edit this Post i m intrested about training for farming reply
sir,
gujarat main kvk kaha hai.
agar hum cattle,buffelo,horse farming ka course karna cahte hai to kaha kare.
kya hum aapke vaha aake yeh sub course kar sakte hai.
modi kiran
ahmedabad
gujarat
[Jun 24, 2006 4:03:04 PM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: D.B.Shirsath
Phone Number: 2112255207
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Edit this Post Re: i m intrested about training for farming reply
- Total No of KVKs in Gujrath State- 17
- Under SAU (State Agriculture University) - 11 kvk
- State Govt./ Undertaking/ Educational Institution - 2 kvk
- Under NGOs - 4 kvk
- आप अपने एर यामे आनेवाले के . ह .के मे जाकर जानकार ले सकते है. नीचे अहमदाबाद मे आनेवाले के . ह .के .
का पता दया है.
Krishi Vigyan Kendra
Ahmedabad C/o Junagadh
Agricultural University,
Junagadh (Gujrath)
- कृ ष व ान कि बारामती यहा कँ टल फाम ग, गोट फाम ग, पो श कोस, इस तरह के शेनींग दए जाते है. उसमे
रहने क यवःथा भी क जाती है. इसलीए अगर आप कोई कोस करना चाहते है तो िनचे दए हुए पते पर पऽ- यवहार
करके अपना नाम उसमे दज कराईए अथवा फोन करके भी नाम दे सकते हो.
हमारा पता -
कृ ष व ान कि शारदानगर
बारामती ज हा – पुणे
फोन नं- 02112-255207
डॉ, आर.एस.जाधव
मो. 9850980103
- या फ र आप िनचे दए हुए पते पर भी शेिनंग ले सकते हो.
मुंबई- पशुवै क य महा व ालय, परळ, मुंबई 12
दुर वनी – 022-24130162, 24137030
[Jul 14, 2006 10:48:14 AM] Weather Info
kiranmodi
Member
satellite
Gujarat
India
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Edit this Post Re: i m intrested about training for farming reply
sir,
thank you vary much!
main aap ke waha catle farming,buffelo farming,goat farming ka course cahta hoo.
duration,fees ki detail main phone se jan lunga.

36. Joined: Jun 11, 2006
Posts: 47
Status: Offline
thank sir.
[Jul 14, 2006 5:29:31 PM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Mr.Prasad
Kaledhonkar
Phone Number: 2112255207
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you are welcome.
[Jul 15, 2006 10:25:45 AM] Weather Info
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37. Welcome: FARMER
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sampatrao
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Tasgaon(Gavhan)
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Edit this Post Grape Rootstock reply
Which root stock are recommended for calcirus soil (Soil with high calcium i.e local name
"CHUNKHADI") for Grape growing
Awating for your reply
Regards
Sampatrao
[Jan 24, 2007 3:28:06 PM]
baramati
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India
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Expert Name: Miss
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Edit this Post Re: Grape Rootstock reply
sampatrao,
National Research Centre for Garapes has recommended dogridge-B rootstock for indian
conditions, it has good results in various types of soils. NRC has developed some norms
regarding soil conditions for use of this rootstock.
All details about use of rootstock accoring to soil condition is available on NRC's website.
Please click on link given below.
http://nrcgrapes.nic.in/
[Jan 25, 2007 3:34:16 PM] Weather Info
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bunty
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Edit this Post Lady fingure reply
Dear Sir,
I am residing at Akola district of vidarbha region, i would like to know the package of
practices of Bhendi Lady finger, perticulary pest and disease and use of PGR in Bhendi.
[Nov 26, 2009 10:12:25 AM] Weather Info
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
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Expert Name:
Mr.S.V.Potekar
Phone Number:
02112-255207
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Bhendi can be grown in a wide range of soils. However, it grows best in
loose, friable, well-drained sandy loam soils rich in organic matter. It also
gives good yield in heavy soils with good drainage. A pH range of 6.0-6.8
is considered as optimum. Alkaline, saline soils and soils with poor
drainage are not good for this crop.
Bhendi requires long warm growing season during its growing period. It
gives good yield in warm humid condition. It grows best within a
temperature range of 24-27°C. It can be successfully grown in rainy
season even in heavy rainfall area. Bhendi is highly susceptible to frost
injury. Seeds fail to germinate when temperature is below 20 °C.
Land preparation :
The land should be well prepared with 2-3 ploughing. Well decomposed
FYM (25 t/ha) is incorporated at the time of land preparation. Bhendi is
sown on ridges or on flat soil. If soil is heavy, sowing should be done on
ridges. Application of organic manure like neem cake and poultry manures
improves the plant growth and the yield in this crop. It is possible to
reduce the use fertilizer by using neem cake and poultry manures.
Season of Planting :
The optimum time of seed sowing varies greatly depending upon climate,
varieties and their temperature requirement for growth. Normally the crop
is sown between January-March and June-
August. The exact month of sowing depends on the region.
Spacing :
The hybrid varieties are planted at a spacing of 75 x 30 cm or 60 x 45 cm.
A pre-soaking irrigation 3-4 days before sowing is beneficial. The seeds
germinate in about 4-5 days.
37

39. Method of Planting :
B hendi requires about 3.5-5.5 kg seeds/ha during summer seasons and
8-10 kg seeds/ha for rainy season crop. The seed rate generally varies
with germination percentage, spacing and season. Before sowing the seeds
are soaked in a solution of Bavistin (0.2%) for 6 hours. The seeds are then
dried in shade. The seeds are dibbled on the either side of the furrows at a
spacing of 60 x 30 cm in kharif season and 30 x 30 cm in summer season.
For information regarding pest and diseases of bhendi check the attached
files.
[Above information is based on recommendations from National Agriculture Research System. The
Effectiveness of the recommendations varies from place to place with changes in natural resource and
climate. Farmers are advised to use the information on their own responsibility. KVK Baramati shall not be
responsible for any consequences.]
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bhendi pests.pdf (84091 bytes) (Download Count: 29)
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bhendi diseases.pdf (36442 bytes) (Download Count: 26)
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[Edit 2 times, last edit by baramati at Nov 26, 2009 2:35:55 PM]
[Nov 26, 2009 2:30:27 PM] Weather Info
DHAIRYASHEEL.V.BAWASAKAR
Super Member
PUNE
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 251
Status: Offline
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Edit this Post Re: Lady fingure reply
let me know ur contact no:
----------------------------------------
DHAIRYASHEEL.V.BAWASAKAR
9325006298
drbawasakartechnologies.com
dbawasakar@rediffmail.com
[Nov 27, 2009 9:29:37 PM] Weather Info
dharwad
Certified Expert
Raichur
Karnataka
India
Joined: May 22, 2008
Posts: 1098
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Expert Name: Dr. V. I.
Benagi
Phone Number:
08362774321
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Dear sir,Yellow vein Mosaic Of Okra is most important viral problem
of Bhendi.To manage this,follow these----
1.Select resistat varieties like a.Arka Anamika b.Arka Abhay and
moderate resistant variety like Pusa Savani.
2.After socking seeds in water for 15 hours, treat seeds with Imidacloprid 70 WS @ 5
gram per kg of seeds.
3.Keep yellow sticky traps in field to attract whiteflies
4.Spray at 3-4 weeks- with Oxy-dematon -methyl 25 EC @ 1.3 ml/litre of water.OR use
Imidacloprid 200 SL @0.3ml OR acetamaprid 0.25 gm per litre of water.
5.Keep field free from weeds.
6. use 5% NEEM SEED KERNAL EXTRACT OR 1500ppm Azadirhactin neem based
pesticide @2.5 ml per litre of water.
7.Uproot and burn at early stage of infection.
[Nov 29, 2009 6:38:07 PM]

40. Welcome: FARMER
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Author 26 Replies 4908 Views
venkat
Member
azadpur
Delhi
India
Joined: Nov 27, 2005
Posts: 32
Status: Offline
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Actually I am Marketing manager of North india of Known you seed Taiwan,which is
famous for RED LADY PAPAYA (786), so if farmers have any query please forward to my
company head office
KNOWN YOU SEED (I) PVT LTD
105, NYATI MILLENNIUM,
NEXT TO NECO gARDEN
VIMAN NAgAR
PUNE-NAgAR ROAD PUNE
020-56092471/72
we ave some leading varieties of watermelon and Muskmelon so please help us to
popularise our varieties.I am attaching the photo graphs of the same.
hope for your kind co-operation.
Thanks and Regards
For Known You seed (I) Pvt Ltd
Venkat Pawar
09810554905
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New Microsoft Word Document.doc (501248 bytes) (Download Count: 468)
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papaya and melons.mht (759454 bytes) (Download Count: 573) (seeds available)
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[Edit 1 times, last edit by baramati at Jan 17, 2006 5:20:01 PM]
[Jan 16, 2006 11:10:25 PM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Mr. D N
Bhavsar
Phone Number:
02112-255207
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
Thank you for your information.
[Jan 17, 2006 5:22:24 PM] Weather Info
burugu
Member
Yemmiganur
Maharashtra
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
Sir,
39

41. India
Joined: May 22, 2006
Posts: 1
Status: Offline
We are the technical and marketing consultents and cultiveters in agriculture bussiness.
We would like knows to about the supplay of papaya seed for kurnool zone and give the
particulers of technical and marketing for papaya.
We are the more intrest to cultivate this type of commercial crops.
So, Please give the seed available dealer, technical and marketing particulers to email.
Yours faith fully,
U. Suresh Babu
From,
U. suresh Babu,
H.No 5/1961, Laxmipet,
Yemmiganur, Kurnool,
Andra Pradesh. Pin-518360.
Ph : +919985099651,
Email: sagara_suresh@yahoo.co.in
[May 22, 2006 1:10:30 PM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Mr. R L
Parab
Phone Number: 2112255207
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
Dear sir,
- You can approach to the agricultuaral service centre of your tahsil or district to get the
information on availability of papaya seeds.
- Seeds of different companies would be available with them. You can take address of
those companies and can equire to them about the seed.
Mr.Prasad Kaledhonkar
kvk baramati
[May 25, 2006 9:01:11 AM] Weather Info
trulyselling
Member
226/340,k.s.g.street, near
sanganoor ayyappan
temple, sanganoor
Tamil Nadu
India
Joined: Jun 16, 2006
Posts: 1
Status: Offline
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
Sir we are manufacturing papaya milk in bulk kindly give me the buyers of papaya milk.
our tree is now ready to yield the milk from this week . kindly give me the feed back
urgent
[Jun 16, 2006 5:46:19 PM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
Dear sir,
- Visit following website to get the details.
http://www.indiamart.com/anilagroproducts
- Refer following address to get some details.
Contact Person : Mr. T Raghavan
Address : 33-40 Ponniahrajapuram , Coimbatore - 641001 , Tamilnadu , India
Tel : 91-422-2470072 / 247 Fax : 91-422-2470071
Brief Profile : Manufacturer and Exporters of Papain and Bromelain enzymes

42. Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Mr.Prasad
Kaledhonkar
Phone Number: 2112255207
- Visit following website
www.apeda.com
[Jun 17, 2006 3:34:56 PM] Weather Info
pooja
Member
dehradun
Uttaranchal
India
Joined: Aug 11, 2006
Posts: 4
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
r/sir i am form dehradun uttrakhand and want to know about availability of seed of red
lady taiwan 786. sir i also want to know the plantation time, cost, and vaibility proper
guidline about same.
with hope co-operation
regard, thanks
[Aug 29, 2006 11:11:14 AM]
baramati
Certifed Expert
Baramati, Pune Dist
Maharashtra
India
Joined: Dec 1, 2003
Posts: 9901
Status: Offline
Expert Name: Mr.Prasad
Kaledhonkar
Phone Number: 2112255207
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
- Papaya (Carica papaya) produces fruits throughout the year. It requires less area for
tree, comes to fruiting in a year, is easy to cultivate and provides more income/ha next
to banana.
- About 250-300g seeds are sufficient for a hectare. The seedlings can be raised in
nursery-beds 3m long, 1m wide and 10cm high as well as in pots or polythene bags. The
seeds should be sown 1cm deep in rows 10cm apart and covered with fine compost or
leaf-mould. Light watering should be done with watercan in the morning.
- Tender seedlings should also be protected from heavy rainfall. Dusting of insecticides
to protect the seedlings against insect pests is also advised. Damping off is most serious
disease. Treating seeds with 0.1% Monosan (phenyle mercury acetate), Ceresan,
Agrosan or Thiram dust before sowing is the best preventive measure to check it. The
nursery-beds should also be treated with 5% formaldehyde solution before sowing. If
disease appears in the nursery, Bordeaux mixture (1%) or copper oxychloride (0.2%)
should be sprayed.
- Papaya is planted during spring (February- March), monsoon (June- July) and autumn
(October- November). Spring planting is done in areas where the climatic condition is
mild throughout the year. Monsoon planting is preferred in the frost-prone areas, and
autumn planting generally done in the regions where the rainfall is high and virus
problem is acute in rainy season
- Since papaya does not withstand waterlogging, a well-drained upland should be
selected for its cultivation. Its plants are also sensitive to strong winds
- The seedlings are planted in pits of 60cm x ‫נ‬60 cm x ‫נ‬60 cm size. The pits are dug about
15 days before in summer and filled with top soil along with 20kg farmyard manure, 1kg
neem or karanj cake and 1kg bone-meal or fish-meal. Tall and vigorous varieties are
planted at greater spacing, while medium and dwarf ones at closer spacing.
- Planting distance is determined by the integration of light interception, cultivar and
economic consideration. A spacing of 1.8m x ‫נ‬1.8 m is normally followed for most of the
cultivars
[Aug 29, 2006 4:16:43 PM] Weather Info
kapildev
Member
milak
Uttar Pradesh
India
Joined: Sep 5, 2006
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Edit this Post Re: about papaya reply
dear sir
i want to buy the red papaya seed . can u plz mail me at dev_ubika@yahoo.co.in
regards
kapil dev
41