PB working on tie-ups with IMD, NCDEX for DD Kisan channel

Aiming to provide content that is of practical use to farmers across the country on its soon-to- be-launched 'DD Kisan' channel, public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is working out strategic partnerships with elite scientific and other institutions.
Preparations for the launch of this "niche edu-tainment" channel, which could go on air in April, are on full-swing and tie-ups with several experts' bodies are being explored and finalised, officials said.
Interactions are on with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and other such bodies to ensure that the channel can provide accurate information and expert advice on everything from district-specific weather updates and commodity prices to the latest technologies.

The upcoming channel could have a ticker with up-to-date information from various 'mandis' across the country. The information in this respect will be obtained from NCDEX, sources said.
"It will help farmers compare the prices of their products in different markets," an official said.
Prasar Bharati chairperson Dr A Surya Prakash and other senior functionaries are learnt to be in touch with officials in the Ministry of Earth Sciences and IMD for weather-related inputs.
"IMD has a very accurate district-wise system through which it can make crop-specific weather forecasts and they also have a mobile-app through which they are in touch with lakhs of farmers. But through the Kisan channel, this essential information would reach farmers in the remotest parts of the country," a source said, adding that a studio of the channel will come up in the Agricultural Meteorology Division of IMD at Pune.

With district-based weather forecasts aired for specific crops twice a week, the channel will bring an essential scientific input to farmers, officials said. They added that they expect equally vital information to flow from the scientists of IARI in New Delhi, where another of its studios for the Kisan channel is proposed to come up.