Backgrounder

What are the main features of the device?

This is a portable, hand held device, a type of protected Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), for capturing data on pests and beneficial insects and sending it to institutes where it is made part of databases.

The device can withstand rough field conditions (dust and water, high temperature, poor visibility, etc) and has high battery life for long field use. This enables application of ICT for farmers’ benefit.

Why this device?
Pests cause heavy damage to various crops and are known to affect some crops, such as cotton, rice, fruits and vegetables very badly if not properly controlled. At present, there is no effective surveillance and database on pest build up. Such survey and database is a prerequisite for reliable pest forecasting. The surveillance apparatus in the field is poor, and part of this poor surveillance is lack of an easy system for capturing field observations in a standard format and immediately transmitting the data upwards. This device will fill this gap.

The introduction of this device is a very important step towards achieving high level of pest surveillance and issue of farm advisories for effective pest management Data would also be maintained beneficial insects. In the long run, the database would be used for understanding long-term implications of climate change and such other phenomenon on crop-pest relationships.

How does it work?
The field observation official fills up forms provided by a very simple and user-friendly software in the device. The software makes a summary of the observations, and the official sends the summary to the National Centre for IPM through internet. The data forms part of the database maintained by the Centre. The database is geo-referenced using a GPS (geo-positioning system) so as to pin-point pest data to different geographical areas.

How many such devices would be put into use?
How will the scheme be operationalised? The device has been field-tested in four districts of Andhra Pradesh and the results show that it is user-friendly. To start with, 100 devices are being put into operation, though about 5000 would be required to cover a reasonable area. State Agri departments would procure these devices [costing around Rs 20000 per piece]. National Plant Protection Training Institute, Hyderabad will provide training on use of this device. States may use funds available under schemes such as Macro Management, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Horticulture Mission and so on. Agriculture Ministry is issuing detailed guidance to states on different related aspects.

Who is behind development of this device?
This device has been developed by Plant Protection Division of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation with the help of FAO and the National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, ICAR.

*[launched by Agriculture Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar, on 26th February, 2008] MP:CP:e-surveillance(backgrounder)26.2.08