Information dissemination to farmers holds the key to revival of the Indian agriculture, which now lags awfully behind services and manufacturing but supports a huge 200 million populace.

When in June 2000, ITCIBD (ITC's International Business Division) introduced the concept of eChoupal, it probably became the first of its kind initiative taken by any corporate in India, aimed at improving and uplifting farmers' lives. Importantly, it became the firstever attempt to connect IT with agriculture. Six years down the line, as the talks of a second Green Revolution gather pace, amidst the grim agriculture scenario in the country, it is increasingly becoming clear that the country needs more eChoupallike initiatives. In other words, India needs to effectively harness the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in order to revive the agriculture sector and usher in the era of eagriculture.

A few such initiatives have been witnessed in recent times. One such example is the Gyandoot project. Gyandoot, an intranet in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, offers commodity or mandi marketing information system to the villagers. eSagu, which is another such project that was introduced in 200405 in Andhra Pradesh for cotton farmers, has successfully been providing agricultural expertise to nearly 1,051 cotton farms of three villages in Warangal district. Recently, the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) opened "Kisan Choupal"the farmer's information kioskon January 9, 2006, in Jagadhari district of Haryana, in collaboration with the Haryana State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Ltd. This Internetbased touch screen kiosk aims at empowering farmers with latest information technology. Farmers will be able to make informed decisions with regard to their produce as the kiosk will display the spot and futures prices of commodities traded on the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) on an electronic board.

And the movement is expected to get a further boost with the entry of the big boy of India Inc., the Reliance Industries. The Group has currently announced that, through the Group firm Reliance Retail, it would create hitech mandis in rural West Bengal. The hitech mandis will not only procure food grains from the farmers but will also help the farmers to increase productivity.

The Analyst Magazine, eAgriculture, ITCIBD, ITC International Business Division, Green Revolution, ICT, Information and Communication Technology, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited, IFFCO, National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange, NCDEX, Marketing Federation Ltd, Reliance Industries, Economic Advisory Council, Communication Technologies, United Nations Development Program, UNDP, Agriculture Insurance Company of India , AIC, Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, INCOIS.