Super Krishak App and the Super Krishar Chatbot are facilities to disseminate relevant agricultural information that helps both rural and urban users. Chatting with our Super Krishak bot, users can get weather alerts, market information and smart tips. On the other hand, the app is a platform where farmers can join training sessions with our agri-experts on the topics that interest them, read articles to gain extra knowledge and take daily quizzes for fun.
Cutting down daily expenses and closing the geological gap
– Tara Ghimire
Running a hostel takes a lot of work and a lot of shopping. My day starts with buying 10-15 kgs of vegetables and arguing with vendors over prices. Without knowing the exact prices I would sometimes end up paying more and going over budget. This would cause problems in balancing my finances for other facilities required at the hostel. The students staying here faced a difficult time too because I had to increase the fees to make up for the extra expenses.
Now, I can just check the market price before going out. Doing that, I can haggle with the vendors if they try to ask for more because I know the actual cost set by the government. These past few months, because of the chatbot I have been able to reduce the monthly expenses allotted for vegetables and other agricultural items.
“It’s very easy to use, I just need to open the Super Krishak page on Facebook, chat using messenger and get the real-time price of that commodity.”
I am very appreciative of the chatbot, make sure to use it daily, and even recommend others to use it. In fact, not only do I use it here in Kathmandu to shop for groceries but also for my farm in Kanchanpur. I encourage the farmhands there to use the chatbot to check weather conditions of the area and frequently do so myself. By checking the weather conditions of Kanchanpur, I can remotely alert and help them plan for farm activities such as field preparation, crop planting, crop harvesting and more.
Connecting with distributors and Acquiring profit
– Jesus Nyachhhyon
A farm of 2.75 hectares is not easy to handle, especially while lacking expertise. As an IT personnel with little knowledge but lots of interest in agriculture, I was looking forward to running my own farm. Previously, while trying my hand out in running a banana plantation, I faced a pest infestation that ruined my crops. After that, I decided to shift towards commercial farming i.e vegetable and other lucrative crops farming. At around the same time, I started to attend the virtual agri-training sessions with Gham Power’s agri-experts to learn about how I could better my yield.
Some of the training I have internalized and implemented successfully are the lessons on “Tomato Grafting” and “Capsicum Production Technology”. From the lesson on tomato grafting, I learned how to manage pests and soil related diseases, so that they don’t destroy my crops. And from the lesson on capsicum production, I learned which variety of capsicums I could grow, bought a few different varieties to try and eventually managed to sell them on the market. Now, I mainly focus on the production of beans, tomatoes and capsicums. With the information I have acquired concerning modern cultivation practices and the different crops that can be produced in the hilly region, I have managed to turn over my farm to a profit of 30% more than before.
Through the 8 months I have engaged with Gham Power and their various services, I have learnt so many new things in agriculture and also got to know about their app ‘Super Krishak’ which has now become a part of my daily routine. The training sessions are now conducted through the app, so I use it mainly for that. I even make sure to relay the advice I get from the agri-experts to the farmhands who work with me so that we can work on its execution on the farm together. Additionally, I enjoy the app’s different features. I take the quizzes every day and spend my evenings browsing the articles and videos posted there to increase my knowledge.
Apart from the app and training, I have also received Gham Power’s aid in connecting me to various different stakeholders such as NARC (National Agricultural Research Council) and other agri-service companies. The network I have built has helped me immensely not only to simplify my agri-supply chain but also to find alternatives. Alternatives which allows me to keep costs down on raw materials and the profit high through relevant sellers.
Contributed by Ujesha Vaidya