Tripura CM Manik Sarkar launches North-East's first 'Kisan Call Centre'

First Kisan Call Centre of North-East was launched in Agartala on March 9, 2015 by the Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarakar. Farmers in the adjoining area and neighbouring states will be able to take advantage from the call centre.

Tripura government funded the call centre which will be run by a private enterprise. The centre will have experts from the departments of horticulture, husbandry, agriculture and fisheries from 6 AM to 10 PM on a regular basis.

The Kisan Call Centre is the initiative taken by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. Its main focus is to help the farmers and assist without any cost charged. With this, the farmers can get immediate solution and advises.

Furthermore, expert consultation regarding agro-metric, seed procurement, soil health, fertilizer, pesticides usage and marketing of the produces will also be available.

Besides the assistance, the farmers will be having access to a portal that will issue advisory for farm production under direct supervision of the experts.

How 'Kisan Call Centre' evolved?

• The initiative was taken by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. It was operational based on the tender filed by TCIL, a government of India company
• Monitoring and evaluation is inbuilt in the scheme for improvements and modifications
• Proposals have been given for more improvisation in the sector
• The scheme went operational on January 21, 2001. Farmers have the accessibility to the call centres all over the country through common Toll Free Number 1551
• There are 13 call centres all over India excluding North east.