By IANS
Chandigarh : Farmers in Haryana are using the SMS (short messaging service) facility on their mobile phones to get answers to their agriculture-related queries.
A free SMS service started by the state’s agriculture department in Feb this year has become quite a hit with farmers of the state. They can get answers to all their queries by sending an SMS to a number assigned by the state government.
A spokesman of the department said Monday that they had received 1,134 SMSs till July-end and all had been answered. The department is receiving the queries on the number – 9915862026. No calls can be made on this number, however.
The department was the first one in the country to start this facility for farmers.
Out of the total SMSs received, 829 were related to problems of agriculture, 273 for horticulture, 6 for fisheries, 17 for animal husbandry and 9 for forests.
The spokesman said after receiving the message, concerned scientists and officials contacted the farmers through telephone within 24 to 48 hours to answer their queries.
Senior officials of the agriculture department were actively monitoring the service, he added.
The department has also introduced toll free numbers for farmers to call and get replies to their queries.