ICT based Agribusiness services Government of Assam initiative assamsfac@yahoo.

com
Presented By : Aditya Tiwari

ASHA Hope for Farm Prosperity

ASHA objectives
To provide one umbrella platform for Farmers, Government Functionaries, Knowledge Institutions and all other Agribusiness partners for easy, reliable, efficient and cost effective communication and facilitate elimination of hunger and poverty. To provide knowledge access to Farmers and other partners of Agribusiness. To harness the investments on Knowledge Institutions Strengthen Farm Chain Entrepreneurship Development Capacity Building of all partners and stakeholders Complementing the traditional extension

ASHA Agribusiness Service Sectors

Farm Sector comprising Agriculture Horticulture Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Fishery Sericulture

ASHA- Target Group

Farmers / Producer Organizations Government Functionaries Scientists / Technologists Bankers Institutions Civil Society Corporate / Traders

ASHA: Service Delivery Mechanism

Community Information Centres (CICs) located in 219 Community Rural Development Blocks of the state. CICs are set up Government The services are nominal user fees based, while orientation is being offered on free of cost.

ASHA Partners
Farmers and Producer Organisations Government of Assam Departments - Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Fishery, Sericulture, Industry and Commerce, Information Technology, Soil Conservation, Irrigation, Panchayat and Rural Development, Welfare Plain Tribes and Backward Classes, Minorities Welfare and Development and several others. Government of India - MCIT (NIC), MoA (SFAC), NEC (NERIWALM) R & D and other Institutions: Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, ICAR Institutions, Universities, IIE Guwahati, AASC and several others ( in process). Financial Institutions: NABARD Assam and RRBs; SBI Assam Community Information Centres: located in 219 Community Development Blocks. Panchayat Raj Institutions and Civil Society - NGOs. Media

ASHA
In house activities

Assam SFAC
Assam Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (Assam SFAC) : is a Government of Assam registered Society under Registration of Societies Act, 1860 having a mission objective of Maximization of Farmers' farm income with sustainability in Farmer-Government- BankInstitution & Private (FGBIP) partnership in a business model and generation of more livelihood opportunities.

ASHA- in house activities (contd.)

ASHA Portal Administrator : Assam SFAC

Server / Host
Content Development Connectivity

: NIC, MICT Govt.of India

: Assam SFAC : 219 CICs with VSAT + Kiosks

Capacity building : Government Functionaries of Deptts. Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Fishery and Sericulture. Assam Agricultural University Scientists. Civil Society, Farmer and Trader representatives from each District. Local Self Governments (Panchayats)
Promotion / Marketing of initiative

ASHA Unique Features & Highlights

Only portal offering services on five sectors of farming under one umbrella. Perhaps the only web portal which brought most of GOI Ministries and State Departments related to Farm Sector on one platform. Only portal offering most of the schemes of GOI and State Government, along with their guidelines. Only portal offering modern cultivation / management practices of a number of crops / animals / enterprises from reliable sources. Only portal offering the comprehensive list of training institutions of Farm Sector in the Country, while offering market information, Weather service and statistics in the state of Assam. Only knowledge centre based initiative offering Buy And Sell And Employment Features. The only portal offering wealth of information of Assam State Farm Sector for the attention of corporate and to facilitate Agri-business. Initiative with a comprehensive framework for implementation. Involvement of Honble Chief Minister, Honble Minister, Honble MLAs, Panchayat Raj Functionaries and Bureaucracy.

ASHA As a Business
Date of Launch of the ASHA service Farmers enrolled as on 30/11/2005 (in 5 months) User Fees collected by Community Information Centres Number of hits as of December 2005 Target per CIC (2005-06) : 5000 Farmers Facilities to a Farmer member of Standard Blue Card Annual Holder (Rs.100) : 10 telephonic responses / month 12 hour free internet surfing 25% rebate on printing services. : 30th May 2005 : 4000 (approx.) : > 3 lakh Rs. : > 44,000

ASHA -Vision
To reach out to 3000- 5000 farmers per CIC. Localisation of content. To develop an alliance / networking of institutions of content and technology of common interest To provide value added services in partnership with Institutions and Corporate viz.,Buy and Sell, Agri-Business etc. To expand the services through Private Cybercafs / Computer Centres; proposed Common Service Centres and Knowledge centres of Ministry of CIT and Panchayat Raj GOI respectively to villages.

www.assamagribusiness.nic.in