Date:28/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/28/stories/2008112850290200.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Market tips for farmers

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The farmers tucked away in the hinterlands of the State will soon receive farming tips and market rates of their produce over the mobile phone.

And that too as voice message in their mother tongue. IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited, launched by the public sector fertilizer major, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-operative Limited (IFFCO), in association with Bharati Airtel, aims at bringing about a revolution in rural India through the usage of mobile phone technology.

“The aim is to penetrate the interiors, which the big players are reluctant to serve and to empower the rural masses,” K.G. Luke, State manager of IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), told The Hindu from Amaravathy in Idukki on Thursday while attending a meeting on the prospects of launching the service there.

The IKSL subscribers will receive daily five-minute-long voice messages on information relating to farming and related sectors on their mobile phone absolutely free, he said.

For more details contact – 0484-2380164