AgInfo on Indian mobile phones

The state agriculture department of Pune (India) is launching a message service to farmers. Advice on crops, rain, pests and precautions to be taken by farmers will come through an SMS to the farmers' on their mobile handsets.

The agriculture commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh said, "The AMS would serve the purpose of instant information to the farmers using mobile phones. The department has acquired a written consent from around 4,000 farmers in Maharashtra for sending them four messages every month. The messages will be about new pests, initial stages of pests, fertilisers, pesticides and weather forecasts. The messages will be available in Marathi and English scripts and will be sent as per the requirement of the farmer as well as the handset configuration of the user."

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