 "TERI's DG Dr Ajay Mathur (left) and IKSL's CEO Sandeep Malhotra")
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) and IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) have forged an alliance to educate and train farmers about latest farming and energy-efficient technologies aimed at improving their livelihood. As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed by two sides on June 2, 2016, the objective of the partnership is to empower farmers and people living in rural India with pertinent and high quality information and services through affordable communication network in a sustainable manner.
Dr Ajay Mathur, director general, TERI, commented, “The TERI-IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Ltd partnership will provide bio-based products such as pesticides and fertilisers, and awareness about efficient use of natural resources to farmers in order to support increased productivity with increased sustainability. This will enhance the livelihoods and the quality of life of over one billion Indians who depend on agriculture.”
The partnership is based on TERI’s expertise in developing knowledge based sustainable solutions in the field of agriculture and rural electrification, with the aim of mitigating impact of climate change and promoting efficient use of natural resources. While IKSL has extensive experience in broadcasting informal messages to rural communities, this is the first time that the organisation will venture into enlightening rural households as part of its mandate. In this, IKSL finds an appropriate partner in TERI, which works with the underlying philosophy of implementing solutions at the grass root level to provide proof of concept and scale up solutions that work.
Sandeep Malhotra, CEO, IKSL, said, “We are relying on the technology developed by TERI to provide the kind of support that will empower the farmer, and disseminate that research knowledge through our platforms. We hope to synergise on each other’s strengths. This is a great opportunity, and we hope to deepen this partnership further by exploring more areas for collaboration.”
IKSL, a subsidiary of IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited), works with the mandate to empower rural India by providing voice and text based alert, advisories and information for farmers to make informed decisions. Every day, it provides customised voice and text advisories to farmers in local languages free of cost.
