Kisan Sampark Abhiyan Reaches New Heights: 80,000 Farmers Engage Across J-K, 800 Panchayats Covered in Just 3 Weeks

The Kisan Sampark Abhiyan is a part of the recently launched Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP). The Agriculture Production Department has undertaken this first-of-its-kind massive farmer's orientation exercise in the Union Territory, covering nearly 800 panchayats to date.

The main objective of the Kisan Sampark Abhiyan is to reach out to farmers in each and every Panchayat of the Union Territory within the next four months. The exercise commenced on April 24, 2023, and is scheduled to conclude on August 31, 2023. This outreach program is being organised simultaneously across all districts of the Union Territory, with an exhaustive district-specific calendar issued by the government.

The resource persons for these orientation programs are officers and officials drawn from Agriculture, Animal/Sheep Husbandry, Horticulture, Sericulture, and Fisheries Departments. These officers and officials underwent training during the 641 training sessions held across all districts during the months of January to April. To describe different schemes and programs, an innovative tool for short films has been put in place. The farmers are shown a total of 49 videos of schemes under HADP and other Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

The audio-visual aids used for describing the schemes have a lasting and engaging effect on the farmers. Additionally, question-answer sessions after each screening session of videos are being held to clear the doubts of farmers. Farmers are also being provided with pamphlets of all the schemes in the three languages (Hindi, Urdu, and English) in the shape of a booklet, which also contains information about the contact details of all the departments under the agriculture production department of the Union Territory.

The KISAN SATHI- the IT Dashboard of the schemes developed by APD is being used to apprise the farmers of the mode of application under these schemes. The farmers can register easily under any of the schemes without visiting any office by scanning the QR codes on the pamphlets. Besides, PRI representatives were particularly enthusiastic about the hassle-free online application procedure devised by the Agriculture Production Department for undertaking any of the interventions under the 29 projects of HADP.

Simultaneously during the Kisan Sampark Abhiyan, a baseline survey/skill gap study of farmers has been carried out. The farmers' data is being captured using IT Tools for a holistic assessment of the status of agriculture and farmers in the Union Territory. The Agriculture Production Department has developed Daksh Kisan, a Learning Management System (LMS) for skill development of farmers. This system offers 118 skilling courses as per the agro-climatic zones of the J&K UT, available for free to the farmers.

The video lectures under the LMS are available in Kashmiri, Urdu, Dogri, and Hindi, while textual material is available in Hindi, Urdu, and English. Specialised modules on business development and financial management have also been included to ensure that the farmers become skilful entrepreneurs. The successful farmers who clear the course shall be provided Certificates from SKUAST-J/K.