Kisan SARATHI 2.0 Sensitization and Awareness Workshop Organized at ICAR-ATARI, Kanpur

24 March 2026, Kanpur

A one-day “Sensitization and Awareness Workshop” on Kisan SARATHI 2.0 for scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendras was successfully organized at ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone-III, Kanpur today, in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistical Research Institute, New Delhi, aimed at strengthening the capacity of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) scientists in delivering digital, need-based agricultural advisory services to farmers. Kisan SARATHI, an initiative of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, serves as a unified digital interface integrating various agricultural advisory services. It enables real-time interaction between farmers and scientists through call centers, mobile applications, and web-based systems, ensuring quick resolution of farmer queries. Kisan SARATHI 2.0 is introduced with extended features such as where apart from registered farmers, other farmers can contact to KVKs and Kisan Call Centres and introduction of  Kisan SARATHI Farmers call mobile application.

The Chief Guests, Dr Sanjay Singh, Director General, UPCAR, Lucknow highlighted the role of digital agriculture in improving productivity and farmer income.

Shri Ramesh Kumar Singh, Founder Chairperson, KVK Unnao; Dr Anil Kumar Rai Assistant Director General (ICT), ICAR; Dr R.R. Burman, Assistant Director General (Agricultural Extension) ICAR; Dr G.P. Dixit, graced as the Guests of Honour.

Shri Ramesh Kumar Singh, shared field-level experiences and stressed the importance of timely expert guidance.

Dr Anil Kumar Rai joined the programme through virtual mode and elaborated on the importance of Kisan SARATHI in strengthening digital advisory services. He highlighted its role in providing timely, need-based guidance to farmers using modern ICT tools.

Dr R.R. Burman, also attended the workshop virtually and encouraged KVK scientists to develop short video modules on agricultural technologies for wider dissemination. He further emphasized the importance of the text-to-speech calling system in enhancing outreach, especially for farmers with limited access to digital literacy.

Dr G.P. Dixit, emphasized the importance of ICT-enabled advisory services in enhancing pulse production. He stressed that timely, location-specific digital advisories can significantly improve productivity, profitability, and decision-making among pulse growers.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr Raghwendra Singh, Director, ICAR-ATARI, Zone-III, Kanpur, welcomed all the dignitaries. He said that this platform connects farmers directly with agricultural experts, providing need-based advisory through mobile and digital technologies. He also mentioned that over 60 lakhs farmers in Uttar Pradesh through 89 Krishi Vigyan Kendras are connected to this platform.

The Kisan SARATHI platform aims to connect farmers directly with agricultural experts, enabling delivery of customized, need-based advisories through the latest mobile and digital technologies.It was highlighted that over 2.88 crore farmers have been registered on the platform across India, with approximately 21% from Uttar Pradesh.

The major objective of the workshop was to conduct hands-on technical sessions for KVK scientists on the effective use of the Kisan SARATHI platform and its newly added features. These included the three-tier calling system designed to enable direct interaction with farmers, as well as the Event Management System for better programme coordination.

During the technical sessions, practical training was provided on Kisan SARATHI login, user management, help desk operations, and advisory dissemination mechanisms. The hands-on sessions were conducted by the Kisan SARATHI team. The second session focused on enabling KVK scientists to undertake content creation, follow approval mechanisms, and develop location-specific and crop-specific advisories, particularly for pulses. The workshop concluded with an interactive feedback session from participants.

More than 100 participants attended the workshop.

(Source: ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone III, Kanpur)