Documentation of Agricultural Technologies through Video Clipping for Cloud Computing

Background

In the era of globalization, information technology has brought out sea change in the lives of rural masses .Earlier mass media like print, radio and Television ruled the roost by striving to the core to impart technical knowledge to lakhs of populace. Still three is a void in the technological reach as it seemed to be costly affair.
To impregnate the concept of seeing is believing and to enrich the skills in the advanced farm technology, Video plays a crucial role in the dissemination of innovation.
As the video clipping would we more revealing and picturesque, technology may easily be learnt without losing its sheen, thereby providing comprehensive knowledge amongst the rural people. To augment the productivity video clipping support with technical backup, when floated in mobile, computers, pad or else any other information tools would create a lasting impact. Handy tools like mob ile are at the disposal to get acquaintance with technology round the clock.
Vital information could be delivered through video clipping by using cloud computing method there by encouraging adoption rate at the higher order and to bring a trickledown effect.

Tamilnadu Agricultural University has done a stupendous task in delivering and dissemination of agricultural technology run over in decades.
The Educational Media Centre strives to document the technologies and sell it to farmers on cost basis in the form of video lessons for 2 decades
In the backdrop of information and communication technology, cloud computing is the recent methodology to disseminate the information through servers without depending on software’s and hardwares.
Those technologies which are really useful and feasible to the farmers for adoption will be documented as video clipping for cloud computing  
 
Project Rationale

• Agriculture in Tamil Nadu is the vital sector contributing for the 17.60 percent of the Net Domestic product supporting half of the total population for their livelihood.
• As agricultural operations are subjected to vagaries of monsoon, dwindling rainfall, saline, alkaline problems, rising temperature the yield of the crop is drastically reduced and put the farmers at stake.
• Timely dissemination of need based technology will help the farmers to have precise farm decisions to mitigate the losses.
• To extend the technology package of practices in crop, livestock, horticulture and allied sectors in a video tablet form would be a ready reckoner.
•  To subside the inaccessibility  problem to reach the scientists, creating a scientist-ryot link, many media tools like Mobile, Internet, Website, Portals, Video Conferencing,

E-extension comes in a big way to enlighten the farmers on innovations

• To make the extension machineries to play a proactive role in reaching out to farmers for getting first hand information, farmers’ perception, feed back on generated technology and develop new and more appropriate processes, methods and technologies for diverse farm environment.
• The concept of video clipping tablet would further enrich the skill and knowledge of the farm operations
• Video clips imbue the confidence level of the farmers to adopt the scientific technique, pushing them to the II green Revolution
•  As per the Honob’le chief Ministers Vision in Doubling the productivity and  tripling the income level

Project Strategy

    Broad Strategy

• With a missionary objectives and the visionary zeal to enhance productivity
• To improve the standard of living of the poor farmers, technological intervention is a mandate.
• Timely supply of the techniques ward off the Food Security Crisis by making the farmers sensitize the location specific, need based and user friendly ones.

Short term Strategy

• To use internet and control remote servers to maintain data & application.
• To support the farmers with the skill based techniques more lively and vividly, creating a comprehensive package of practices.
•  To make the technology feasible, suitable, profitable and viable
• Cloud computing services are broadly catalogued into a) Information as a services) platform as a service c) software as a service.

Infrastructure as a service like Amazon world, services provides virtual server instance to start, stop and access and configure their virtual services and usage.
Platform as a service in the cloud is defined as a set of software and product development tools listed as the providers’ infrastructure.
Software as a service cloud model, provides host of services, the end user is fire to use the service from anywhere.
More so, the nuance could be more clear through video medium than audio

Project Goals

    a .Goal

• To encapsulate the bogey of technologies available under various in the University, line departments and putting them in a cluster enabling the farmers to get a broader horizon on agriculture and allied technologies through  3GP Format/ Avi format under cloud computing Methodology.

   
    b.Objectives

• To document the cascade of technologies generated in TNAU for the dissemination in the identified Districts  

•  To Identify the ruling technologies of crops of the concerned district under selection for   video shooting.

•  To deliver the video clipping even to the uneducated to learn and acquire the practical skills of various technologies, mitigating the knowledge gap.

•  To take up the Technology driven initiative for the benefit of small, marginal  women farmers, agri entrepreneurs to  access the key technologies to solve the problems emanating in a complex cropping systems.

• To reap the Utilitarian benefit of emerging cloud computing and mobile technologies to   reach  out all the farmers

• Large scale technology adoption has benefited large enterprises and out of reach for small players till now. Hence, it is a growing concern by the government to reduce the inadequacies and inefficiencies in agri business as cloud computing would create huge opportunity.

Project Components

• Identification of ruling technologies of the  predominant crops, the ruling variety, promising technologies

• Preparing the Video Script, Story Board Script and Camera Script

• Identification of Video shooting spots,  experimented fields and successful technologies in Research Stations,KVKS,Colleges and the Directorates Concerned

• Documentation will be carried out, depending on the seasonality needs of the crop.

• Video clipping would be prepared after thorough editing with the well administrated fool-proof script.

• Convert the video clipping in 3GP format/Avi Format and floating in the Android System

• Dissemination of agricultural technologies through video clipping will be carried out in the identified  districts of Tamil Nadu on pilot basis

 

5.1. Target Area
Percentage of farming community of Tamil Nadu accounts to 6.93% compared to the population of India. Small and marginal farmers, whose land holdings are below 2 hectares in Tamil Nadu accounting to 74.3% and 14.4% respectively, constituting almost 80% of all Indian farmers, and more than 90% of them are dependent on rain for their crops. About 0.32% of farmers are big farmers. Tamil Nadu possesses approximately 80 lakh small and marginal categories of farm families. It is in this predicament Tamil Nadu Agricultural University plays a crucial role in the upliftment of farming community as well as the enhancement of productivity and sustaining food security. The targeted area will be the Tamilnadu farmers, more specifically Trichirappalli, Erode, Coimbatore, Thiruvarur, Virudunagar and Vellore

5.2. Technical programme

Video clipping in 3GP/Avi Format will be produced with the High end camera and advanced Editing console like Casablanca, pinnacle, Avid Mojo Softwares and adobe series.
Android operating system is the advanced and first of its kind in the technology transfer processes. Video clipping will be structured in such a way, that the farmers should have the privilege of being a technically competent expert in agricultural technologies, with utmost self-confidence

•    The package on the various technologies inculcated in the tablet would contain

• Crop Production
• Breeding
• Seed Technology
• Physiology

• Crop Protection
• Entomology & Nematology
• Pathology & Sericulture
• Environmental Sciences & Microbiology

• Horticulture
• Pomology, Olericulture, Floriculture, Spices and Plantation Crops
• Medicinal crops and Cold storage – techniques and availability

•   Engineering
• Solar Energy, Biofuels, Wind Energy, Farm Machineries

•    Home Science
• Food Processing, Value added products and Adulteration

•   Water Management and Irrigation systems
• Economics of agricultural produces and Marketing the produces
• Forestry
• Animal Husbandry and Dairy Management
• Entrepreneurship Development

5.3. Measurable out come

• To Create opportunities to take up Scientific farming
• To perform farming and allied activities with a scientific dent of mind
• To Update technical do how, know how and what how.
•  To disseminate the Upscale  technologies from ploughing to harvesting,   beyond         Post  harvest to value addition technologies
•  To promote Virtual learning
•  To get instant solutions on the  problems emanated in cropping system based    knowledge and experience for better management and economic return
•  To demonstrate and render hands on Trainings related to agricultural technologies.
•  To reinforce the technology for retention and adoption.

6. Project Cost and Financing ( Budget Requirement for 2012-2013 & 2013-2014)

• The project involves intensive touring to various places like farmers’ field, research stations, KVKs and other hot spot areas in the identified Districts of Tamil Nadu for shooting the technologies predominately adopted by the farmers in the concerned Districts. 

• The video crew containing atleast 8 persons are involved in the video production are to be given with the travelling, Boarding and lodging allowances to speed up the task within the time frame fixed by the government.

• As the video production is too technical and has to depend solely on the electronic gadgets, the repairs, maintenance, additional purchases in digitised systems are to be made to fulfil the assignment and release the product with good Quality

• Moreover, the vehicle available is not up to the efficiency, a new vehicle at a minimum cost might be purchased or else hiring may be done. (Hiring involves heavy cost, untimely availability, tourists havoc, not flexible and amenable for travelling interior areas of crop fields).

• After thorough contemplation, the budget is worked out the following is the details of budget.

7. Implementation Chart of the Project

• The project will be implemented in the identified districts of Tamil Nadu after assessment of the needs and expectations of the farming community.
• The project will be implemented for 2 years since it might take time to video document the technologies based on the season, time ,availability of the crops to document as many technologies as possible.
• The project will be implemented on  pilot basis in the identified 6 districts of Tamil Nadu  and technologies will be documented in 3GP in a phased manner.
• Based on the feedback, new packages may be updated and floated in the Android Operating System enabling cloud computing methodology 

8. Reporting

• The Completed  video clippings in 3GP format will be presented to the Agricultural Production Commissioner for viewing once in 2 months
• Weekly Progress report will be sent to  the  APC about the progress of

A. Video Shooting,
B. Identification of Technologies
C., Video Editing,
D .Titling ,
E. Audio Commentary,
F. Conversion from MPEG tp 3GP format
G. Entourage Details
H. Hiring of technical personnel
I. Purchases
J. Correspondences   

The 1000 Video Clippings in 3GP Format will be prepared at the fag end of April 2014(On the completion of Project period)

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Contact:

Director of Extension Education
TNAU, 
Coimbatore-3
Phone: 0422-6611352 /6611552
Fax: 0422-6611521
Email : dee@tnau.ac.in