Govt's mobile apps for farmers hit an infrastructure firewall

Low digital literacy and smartphone penetration limits downloads among farmers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have launched several mobile applications to assist farmers in agricultural activities by providing information regarding sowing, harvesting, weather and crop price but the initiative has received a lukewarm response from the farming community so far.

Even after launching more than 11 mobile apps for farmers, the cumulative downloads in last one year stands at 3,98,593, according to the department of electronics and information technology.

According to experts, the limited response from the country’s farming community is due to poor digital literacy and limited smartphone and internet penetration among them. Farmers also