Agri information call centre

Statistics relating to the country's national income accounting, particularly its gross domestic product (GDP), show a continuously declining trend in the contribution of the agricultural sector. Until the early seventies, the sector used to contribute more than half of the GDP. Thereafter the services and the manufacturing together gradually emerged as key players in the economy with the farming sector's contribution to the GDP shrinking to around 20 per cent. Despite its reduced contribution to the GDP, the agricultural sector, however, is still viewed as the life blood of the economy and an inseparable tradition of life, living and culture of millions of people.
There is no denying that the agricultural sector in the Bangladesh economy has also gone through changes, in terms of use of improved technology in farm practices, even if it is not up to the level witnessed in many other developing countries. And the embracing of new farm practices has enabled the country to triple its food production and achieve near self-sufficiency in food, notwithstanding the fact the dependence on import in the cases with many other agricultural items has increased substantially. Experts claim that Bangladesh is yet to tap its full potential in the agri-sector. But the successes achieved so far are in no way insignificant and all, including policy-makers, agricultural scientists, extension workers and the main actors -- farmers, have played their part in bringing about those favourable developments in the sector.
For lack of adequate resources and manpower, the agriculture extension service, which is considered an important operational aspect of the tasks to help the farmers, is not able to deliver the required level of assistance to the farmers, most of whom are illiterate or half-educated. Farmers could do even better, had they received information they need on farming practices, crop protection and marketing. Though belated, the government, according to a report published in this paper last Saturday, has decided to introduce a toll-free 'agriculture call centre' under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.  The agricultural information service under the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) will operate the centre with support from the telecom regulator, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and six cell phone operators. Initially, ten trained agricultural graduates would answer calls from farmers across the country.
The DAE deserves appreciation for taking initiatives for launching the call centre. But, the department should, at the same time, ensure that the farmers can really get proper and optimal benefits out of the call centre. In this context, the DoE should have discussions with the two cell phone operators, which have been operating agricultural help lines for quite sometime, to know about the types of information that the farmers usually seek to get. Besides having arrangements for providing answers to queries on farm practices and crop protection, the call centre should extend substantive support to the farmers by offering information on agricultural commodity prices and marketing opportunities. These are the areas where the farmers are cheated most and all possible support should be extended to them.