Now a mobile app for marine products exporters

Farmers need only give a missed call to a registered number, after which they will get an SMS stating the market price of shrimps

In yet another step towards achieving ease of doing business, the ministry of commerce and industry today introduced a new mobile app for aquaculture operations and also an SMS platform through which farmers will be able to get real time price information of shrimps.

The government today launched a couple of more e-governance initiatives - portal and online MPEDA registration - to provide single-window clearance to the marine products exporters under the aegis of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

 

From now on, farmers need simply give a missed call to the registered number, 918590100800, after which they will receive an SMS stating the market price of shrimps. Initially, only two main varieties of shrimp will be covered, mainly, L Vannamei (LV) and Black Tiger (BT).

The SMS will also carry information on the prices of these varieties of shrimps prevalent in the markets of Japan, US and EU.

"This will help farmers in getting a better price realization," said minister of commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman while launching the services here today.

The price information to farmers will provide them the current market trends enabling them to make an informed decision on harvest of their produce. The service is provided free of cost to farmers. The information can be obtained by farmers all over India.

At present, farmers keep the records in manual form on a sheet of paper which may not provide them with on growth and trend of the aquaculture operations.

The app will also be enable them for book keeping, advisory services and weather information. It is an Android mobile application which has been developed by MPEDA and TCS Innovation Lab, Mumbai (as part of its CSR initiative).

In order to take advantage of this, farmers will require an android mobile handset (post 2013 models) with a data/GPRS connection (2G, 3G or WiFi). The farmer has to enter the basic information regarding his farming activities upon which he will obtain an expert guidance for all operations thereafter making his operations both economical and profitable. The reports can be seen in the graphical format. An option to view the trends or reports in the computer is also provided to give seamless data entry and visualization.

Earlier in the day, commerce secretary Rita Teaotia launched an online payment facility for application through credit and debit cards to pay application fees paid by the exporters.