KOCHI:
Bank of Baroda, India’s third largest lender, launched the Agri Digital Platform – “Baroda Kisan” for farmers across the nation, on September 21, 2019.
P S Jayakumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Baroda launched the app in the presence of the Executive Director of the Bank Vikramaditya Singh Khichi, B R Patel, Agriculture and Financial Inclusion, General Manager (Chief Co-ordination), senior officers of the Head/Regional Office of Bank of Baroda and others. Farmers, women members of self-help groups and other villagers also attended the function in huge number.
The national Agri Digital Platform – “Baroda Kisan” is a powerful platform to fulfill various needs of farmers. It is a web-based portal which is easily accessible on mobiles. The mobile platform will use the existing feature of M Connect Plus mobile application as a landing page. It is envisaged on an information technology based platform that will fully cater to all the major needs of farmers.
These include notification, weather forecast, crop conditions, soil moisture, information on crop worms, market prices, special crop-related consultation, inputs for purchase (e.g. seeds, fertilizers, pesticides), agricultural equipment on rent, consultancy services and innovative financing options for the sale of agricultural products etc. Some of these services also supported by advanced technology such as advance prediction, advance analysis, grading of crops based on image sensing, advance information about pests etc.
Gradually this platform will cover various services in a phased manner. This platform has been started from Gujrat. In addition to the launch of Agri Digital Platform- & Baroda Kisan, various other activities were also launched at the event. These included launch of the centralized processing of agriculture proposals, for farmers across the country, which have been set up the bank at two places – Gandhinagar and Hyderabad, launch of loan scheme for construction/renovation of toilets and domestic drinking water facilities under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, launch of loan scheme for construction of houses in rural areas.
Apart from this, loan acceptance letters and cheques were handed over to the farmers opting loans from the bank under various schemes of the bank such as Kisan Credit Card, Self Help Group, Dairy, Smartphones, Agricultural Equipments etc. Cheques were also handed over to the beneficiaries of various social schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. Certificates were awarded to the trainees who have undergone training at RST institutions established by the Bank for unemployed youths to empower them for self-employment. The programme concluded with vote of thanks by P. Vinod Kumar Reddy, General Manager and Head, Agricultural Advance.
