PERAMBALUR: Dismissing the 'Uzhavan App’ managed by the state agriculture department as one merely providing details on government subsidies, farmers in the district demand steps to include information on the market price for crops, seed availability and pricing, reservoir levels, among others, in the mobile application.
With Perambalur being identified as a backward district, a majority of the residents depend on agriculture for livelihood. While maize, cotton, onion, paddy and sugarcane comprise a major part of the cultivation, farmers blame a lack of information on the market procurement rate for the crops in 'Uzhavan App’, which was launched in 2018 as means to pass on beneficial information to farmers.
"As a result, the produce is being sold off to traders for a poor price, farmers rue. The application also lacks information on seed availability and pricing, even though a section is made available in it, they add. K Maruthapillai, a farmer of Perali, said, "The app has been developed to provide farmers with all information pertaining to agriculture.
Half of the information sought is not available. The application is used for subsidy-related purposes only. The section on availability and pricing of seeds and crops turns up blank. With seed farms, themselves reporting non-availability of seeds, their availability and prices have to be listed in the app.” He also pointed to a lack of information on fertilisers and pesticides."
Another farmer, D Durai of Kurumbapalayam, said, "Often farmers do not know the market price of crops so as to decide on what to cultivate here. Officials also do not raise awareness on it. Due to this, private traders fix the price and buy at a low price from farmers before reselling at a higher price. Farmers continue to suffer due to this.
Despite complaining about it in farmers' grievance redressal meetings, no action has been taken." He also demanded information related to dam levels to be uploaded in the application. When contacted, Joint Director of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department (Perambalur) Sankar S Narayanan told TNIE, “Information related to seeds is available in the application. I will, however, take steps to upload all required information on seeds, machinery and dams in the district."