Synopsis for the D.

Phil Degree in Economics

“ROLE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY(ICT) IN POST –HARVEST CROP
MANAGEMENT; A CASE STUDY OF KAUSHAMBI
DISTRICT”

UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
(Faculty of Commerce)

Submitted By
Gaurav Kumar Agrahari
Roll No. – 191290043
Mobile .no - 8840385909
E- mail Id - agraharigaurav77@gmail.com

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CONTENTS

S. No. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 3
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7
3 RESEARCH GAP 11
4 OBJECTIVES 11
5 HYPOTHESES 12
6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13
7 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY 14
8 REFERENCES 15

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INTRODUCTION
Agriculture is known as the primary sector of the Indian economy because
of over a 45 to 50 percent of the population adopts agriculture as main
occupation and its share to GDP is almost 17.6 per cent. Indeed a large of
Indian economy, agriculture is underdeveloped behind many facts and
characterized by low connectivity and dissolution of market, uncertain and
late information to the farmers, low land holdings, non-adoption or less
adoption of improved technology etc. It has become fundamental to explore
different ways to keep our farmers updated about modern technologies and
relevant information. Information technology revolution is upcoming and
speedily extra noticeable now.
With the introduction of information and communication technologies, the
traditional agriculture has been reconstructed, eventually contributing to the
significant development in agricultural productivity and sustainability. To
provide right information at the right time and place to empowering farmers
and it is essential for the improving the efficiency and viability of small and
marginal holdings. Huge data and information can be effectively generated,
stored, analyzed, published and used to upgrade agriculture by inclusion of
Information and Communication Technology. It may increment in
production many folds by providing prompt, reliable and locality based
information services to the farmers. Hence, ICT in agriculture has become a
growing field of research and application related to e-agriculture.
Information and communication are always mandatory in agriculture. So
people have start the cultivation of crop, rearing animals and catching the
fish, they have share information to from one another. ICT can be designed
broadly as “using electronic means for processing and disseminating
information and thereby facilitating communication quickly and easily”.
The Government has got a study done on “Assessment of Quantitative
Harvest and Post-Harvest Losses of Major Crops and Commodities in
India” by ICAR - Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and
Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana. The study was commissioned in 2012
and the final report submitted on 31.03.2015. The study has estimated that
annual value of harvest and post-harvest losses of major agricultural
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produces at national level was of the order of Rs. 92,651 crore calculated
using production data of 2012-13 at 2014 wholesale prices.
Government Initiatives for Post-Harvest Management:
1.e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi platform: It is a digital gateway of Warehousing
Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA).The initiative with its
simplified digital process can ease the procedure of farmers' storage at any
registered WDRA warehouse for a period of 6 months at 7% interest per
annum.This digital intervention is poised to mitigate distress sales by
providing farmers with viable post-harvest storage option.
2. e-NAM: Online Marketplace: The National Agriculture Market (e-
NAM ) is a pan india electronic trading portal which networks the existing
Agriculture Produce market committee(APMC) mandis to create a unified
national market place for agriculture commodities. Digital services are
provided to traders, farmers, Farmers Producer Organisation (FPOs),
Mandis through various module , warehouse-based trading module. Under
the scheme, three reforms are mandatory for states/ UTs in their respective
APMC Acts for integrating their mandis with e-NAM platform –provision
for e-trading, single point levy of market fee and unified single trading
license for the state. States without APMC Actneed to provide iegally
enforceable guidlelines and institutional mechanisms for implementing e-
Nam.So far, 1260 mandis of 22 states and 3 UTs have been integrated with
the eNAM platform for providing market access to farmers to sell their
agricultural products. More than 1.73 crore farmers and more than 2.26
lakhs traders have been registered in eNAM.
3.Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing schemes
(AGMARKNET): To promote creation of agricultural marketing
infrastructure by providing backend subsidy support to State, cooperative
and private sector investments Services are provided through
(AGMARKNET) portal which is a G2C e-governance portal that caters to
the needs of various stakeholders such as farmers, industry, policy makers
and academic institutions by providing agricultural marketing related
information from a single window. It facilitates web- based information
flow, of the daily arrivals and prices of commodities in the agricultural
produce markets spread across the country.
4.India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA): Government has
finalized the core concept of India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)
framework which would lay down the architecture for the federated farmers’

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database. Further, the databases related to the schemes governed by the
Department have been integrated. The IDEA would serve as a foundation to
build innovative agri-focused solutions leveraging emerging technologies to
contribute effectively in creating a better Ecosystem for Agriculture in
India. This Ecosystem shall help the Government in effective planning
towards increasing the income of farmers in particular and improving the
efficiency of the Agriculture sector as a whole.
5.Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN): PM-KISAN is a
central sector scheme launched on 24th February 2019 to supplement
financial needs of land holding farmers, subject to exclusions. Under the
scheme, financial benefit of Rs. 6000/- per year is transferred in three equal
four-monthly installments into the bank accounts of farmers’ families across
the country, through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
6. e- Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGPA): by developing a digital
public infrastructure for agriculture that will be built as an open source,
open standard and interoperable public good to enable inclusive, farmer-
centric solutions through relevant information services for crop planning
and health, improved access to farm inputs, credit and insurance, help for
crop estimation, market intelligence, and support for the growth of Agri
Techs industry and start-ups.
AgriStack architecture has the following foundational layers: -
⦁ Core registries
⦁ Base databases
⦁ Farmers Database: Farmers ID linked with land records
⦁ Geo-referencing of plots
⦁ Crop Survey, Crop planning and Soil Mapping, Soil Fertility
Unified Farmers Service Interface for state, Pvt. Players Data Exchange.
7. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): PMFBY was launched
in 2016 in order to provide a simple and affordable crop insurance product
to ensure comprehensive risk cover for crops to farmers against all non-
preventable natural risks from pre-sowing to post-harvest and to provide
adequate claim amount. The scheme is demand driven and available for all
farmers.
8. Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) & Kisan Credit Card

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Saturation :Drive. The Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) provides
concessional short term agri-loans to the farmers practicing crop husbandry
and other allied activities like animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. ISS
is available to farmers availing short term crop loans upto Rs.3.00 lakh at an
interest rate of 7% per annum for one year. Additional 3% subvention is
also given to the farmers for prompt and timely repayment of loans thus
reducing the effective rate of interest to 4% per annum. The benefit of ISS is
also available for post-harvest loans against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts
(NWRs) on crop loans for a further period of six months postharvest to
small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs), on
occurrence of natural calamities and severe natural calamities. Under KCC
saturation drive announced in 2020. As on 20-10-2023, 482.73 lakh new
KCC applications have been sanctioned with a sanctioned credit limit of Rs.
5,47,819 crore as part of the drive.
9.Development of Kisan Suvidha mobile application to facilitate
dissemination of information to farmers on the critical parameters viz.,
Weather; Market Prices; Plant Protection; Input Dealers (Seed, Pesticide,
Fertilizer); Farm Machinery; Soil Health Card; Cold Storages & Godowns,
Veterinary Centres and Diagnostic Labs. With market information, farmers
are better informed about markets to sell produce, prevailing market prices
and quantity demanded in the market. Thus, they can make informed
decisions to sell produce at the right price and right time.
10. AGRICUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE FUND:In order to address the
existing infrastructure gaps and mobilize investment in agriculture
infrastructure, Rs 1 Fund (AIF) lakh crore Agri Infra Fund was launched
under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan in 2020. The Agriculture Infrastructure
Fund is a medium - long term debt financing facility for investment in
viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community
farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee support. As
on 17-11-2023, Rs.32,042 Crores have been sanctioned for 42,447 projects
under AIF, out of this total sanctioned amount, Rs 25,504 Crores is covered
under scheme benefits. These sanctioned projects have mobilized an
investment of Rs 54,487 Corers in agriculture sector.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Abhishek Beriya (2021), in his paper ICT in Agriculture Value Chain,

especially during post-harvest operations in India, issue of post harvest
inefficiencies and the potential of ICTs to help sort some of these issues.
Certain recent initiatives of the government in India towards using
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in post harvest
management like geotagging of agri warehouses, reefer vehicles and cold
storages are a step in the right direction.
Bhuvana et al. (2021) in the his study The Impact of COVID-19 on Rural
Citizens for Accessing E-Governance Services: A Conceptual Model
Using the Dimensions of Trust and Technology Acceptance Model
suggest that the majority of the population has been covered by rural people
in India. Hence any facility offered by the government should reach the
rural.

Nuthalapati et al, (2020) in a recent paper on electronic markets in the

agricultural space in karnataka, argue with empirical evidence that adequate
physical infrastructure is crucial for the functioning of an electronic market
along with other related policy measures to have a significant improvement
in agricultural marketing , even though price realisations are slightly higher
in electronic markets.

Chaudhary and Suri (2020) while examining the adoption of eNAM for
transforming agricultural marketing in India, via a primary study in the
Meerut APMC of Uttar Pradesh, find that in even in eNAM, the logistics are
left to traders to handle and there is a demand–supply gap in storage. They
suggest that for facilitating more intra and interstate trading, the physical
logistic support to farmers will be a progressive step for strengthening
NAM.

Boss and Pradhan(2020): in an evaluation study across the Indian states of

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha, find that post-harvest management of
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crops plays a crucial role in both value generation as well as value
distribution along crop value chains, by mitigating post-harvest losses. This
study defines post harvest management as ‘after production, agricultural
produce undergoes a series of post-harvest operations, handling stages and
storage before they reach the consumers. Each post-harvest stage results in
some losses and has an effect on the value distribution. These are the factors
that determine the gap between consumer and farmer prices of a product‘.
This study finds that storage loss has a material consequence for the
farmers.This is because farmers incur higher losses compared to other
stakeholders down the value chain like wholesalers, processors etc. owing
to value chains being poorly developed, in terms of storage facilities at the
farm level, transportation, and food processing units, especially in case of
the perishables.

Bachaspati and Pathak (2018): find that the price and arrivals of the major
commodities moved in the following manner post unification with eNAM.
Paddy arrivals decreased 8.01 percent; while mustard crop registered a high
increase in arrival of 232.41 percent, followed by red gram (124.70 percent),
lentil (67.69 percent), gram (14.60 percent) and wheat (7.76percent). Paddy
prices appreciated 14.65 percent while wheat, red gram, gram and lentil had
shown decrease in price in proportion of 1.16 percent, 16.46 percent, 33.28
percent and 24.53 percent respectively. There was no provision of storage as
well as cold storage facilities in Bachaspati and Pathak (2018) find that the
price and arrivals of the major commodities CSD Working Paper Series:
Towards a New Indian Model of Information and Communications
Technology-Led Growth and Development Bhatapara APMC as per this
study. The study pins the fluctuation in prices after unification with eNAM
primarily on demand and supply and the provision of physical sampling
without elaborating (in the paper) with more details.

Pavithra S et al(2018): conducted a case study of e-tendering system in

Karnataka and published the results in a 2018 paper. They too find that
‘effective implementation of e-NAM also requires infrastructure in the form
of storage, warehousing, banks, grading and assaying facilities, etc. within
the market yard, the absence of which may discourage traders from far off
places to participate in e-tendering.’ Further, farmers benefit from e-trading,
according to the study, but farmers also feel that farm-level grading of
produce is expensive while market officials feel that the practice of grading
in the market yard would be time consuming. Thus, there is a need for
awareness creation among different stakeholders like farmers of the benefits
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of etrading and to train them in relevant practices like online banking and
grading of produce at farm level. For these reasons, there is a need to
organize farmers into collectives like Farmer Producer Organizations
(FPOs) to achieve economies of scale. The study ends with the need for
adequate assaying facilities for grading and quality because traders have a
strong preference for physical examination of produce due to quality
concerns.

Jangra, and Mukesh (2018), studied the “Role of Information

Technology in Agriculture”. Agriculturists and government officials
working for agricultural improvement should be capable of making efficient
use of ICT to handle new situations which may arise by the whole or
incomplete deregulation of the agricultural market, decline of protective
events of govt, opening of agriproduct market, up and down in the
agricultural environment and use export opportunities.

Gulati et al. (2018) have undertaken a comprehensive review of the

agricultural extension systems in India. They have reviewed the Indian
agriculture extension system at the national level and in six selected states
to see how agricultural research, education, and extension contribute to the
growth of agriculture GDP. They state that ICT has a significant potential to
reach a large number of farmers cost-effectively and it can also facilitate
2way information between farmers and different extension agencies. They
also list some examples of ICT initiatives in extension like Kisan, Kisan
Call Centre, Kisan TV, community radio, and private sector initiatives like
e-choupal.

Singh et al. (2017) have reviewed the role of ICT in agriculture in India.
They consider the role of ICT in a Decision Support System for agriculture
to widen market access and strengthen and empower the farming
community. They find that the ICT initiatives in India are primarily focused
on the dissemination of information. They suggest data mining, simulation,
and modeling, applying cognitive technologies, imaging, and image
processing in agriculture to add depth and width to the efforts and get closer
to the needs of the farmers. They conclude that ICT has revolutionized
potential in the field of agriculture.

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USAID, (2010). The application of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) can play a pivotal role inefficient dissemination of
information. ICT can deliver fast, reliable, and accurate information in a
user-friendly manner for practical utilization by the end user. The
information disseminated facilitates the farmers to decide what and when to
plan, how to cultivate, when and how to harvest, what post-harvest
management practices to follow, when and where to market the produce,
etc.

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RESEARCH GAP

There has been several studies done on the Role of ICT in agriculture
and rural development but almost all the studies uses same Parameters
for every region but the agro climatic condition are different across
states of India which must be addressed. Less studies are on use of ICT
post harvest.
⦁ Limited Focus of existing studies to explore and evaluate the
impact of ICTs on farmer's income, production, and sustainability
of agriculture.
⦁ Existing studies have not/less considered the possibilities,
challenges, and issues regarding the adaptability of ICTs among
marginal and small farmers.
⦁ Role of ICT in empowering Gender and Social inclusion.

OBJECTIVES :
⦁ To analyze the constraints and barriers in access and adaptation of
ICT by farmers.

⦁ To analyze dissemination of ICT in Agriculture

⦁ To examine the impact of ICT on farmers income.

⦁ To suggest future policy recommendations.

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HYPOTHESES

⦁ H0 – There is no significant impact of the use of ICT on farmers

income.
H1 – There is significant impact of the use of ICT on farmers
income.

⦁ H0 – There is no significant impact in access and adaptation of ICT

by farmers.
H1 – There is significant impact in access and adaptation of ICT by
farmers.
⦁ H0- There is no significant impact of the use of AI and ML on
supply chain and cold storage management.
⦁ H1- There is significant impact of the use of AI and ML on supply
chain and cold storage management.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The Research Design of the study will be Analytical, Comparative and
descriptive in nature. Both primary as well as secondary data will be used.
The research methodology for the topic will be formulated on the basis of
primary and secondary data.

⦁ Qualitative research uses several techniques including interviews,

focus groups, and observation.Interviews may be unstructured, with
open-ended questions on a topic and the interviewer adapts to the
responses. Structured interviews have a predetermined number of
questions that every participant is asked.

⦁ Use of ANOVA model is an analysis tool used in statistics that splits

an observed aggregate variablity found inside a data set into two
parts: systematic factors and random factors .The systematic factors
have a statistical influence on the given data set, while the random
factor do not.

⦁ The secondary data will be collected from the various GOI

publication from the of Ministry of rural development of India and
Uttar Pradesh, Ministry of information and technology of India
(MiETY), Ministry of Agriculture and farmer welfare, related books,
magazine, newspaper etc.

⦁ The primary data will be collected through field investigation carried

out on the basis of various methods such as survey, questionnaires,
interview, scheduled questionnaires.

⦁ Research area will be Kaushambi District.

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RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY

The low level of farmers income is the prime concern of all the stake
holders. Even GOI has a vision doubling the farmers income. Though it
seem that this vision is far to achieve. To address problem like farmers
income, agricultural productivity, modern technologies to be used,
forecasting, etc. The study will attempt to identify the effect of ICT on
Farmers knowledge and adoption and agricultural production. The study
would be helpful for the development of social economic status of the
farmers. The Government of India has developed several initiatives in the
form of ICT tools to assist in E-agriculture. ICT has the potential to address
many the challenges, however, the use of these technologies in rural areas is
quite slow.

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REFERENCES
⦁ USAID (2010), ICT to Enhance farm Extension Service in Africa,
Briefing paper, November.
⦁ Savedoff William D , Ferranti David de, Smith Amy L, Fan
Victoria(2012) , Political and Economic aspects of the transition to
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⦁ Prinja Shankar, ChauhanAkashdeep Singh, RajsekharKavitha , Downey
Laura , BahugunaPankaj , OshimaSachin , Guinness Lorna(2020) ,
Addressing the Cost Data Gap for Universal Healthcare Coverage in
India: A Call to Action, Value Health Reg Issues2020 May;21:226-229
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Based Health Insurance Reimbursement and Health Technology
Assessment for Achieving Universal Health Coverage and Improved
Access to Health in India, Value Health Reg Issues. 2021 May;24:24-30
⦁ SanadgolArman ,Doshmangir Leila , Majdzadeh Reza , Gordeev
Vladimir Sergeevich(2021) , Engagement of non-governmental
organisations in moving towards universal health coverage: a scoping
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(2021),Evolution of Government-funded health insurance for universal
health coverage in India, Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia 2023 Apr
5;13:100180.
⦁ Bhuvana, M., Vasantha, (2021). Role of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) for rural development through e-
governance initiatives. Int. J. Psychosoc. Rehabil. 24(08), 2705–2713
(2020)

⦁ Government of India: India in Figures 2015, Ministry of Statistics and

Program Implementation. Central Statistics Office, Central Statistics
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 Available: http://www.mospi.gov.in/
⦁ Handbook of Statistics on Indian
Economy(https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/AnnualPublications.aspx?
head=Handbook%20of%20Statistics%20on%20Indian%20Economy)
⦁ https://www.downtoearth.org.in/
⦁ https://agmarknet.nic.in
⦁ https://www.e-krishi.org
⦁ https://csd.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/docs/ICT%
20India/Papers/ICT_India_Working_Paper_52.pdf
⦁ https://www.pib.gov.in

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