In order to harness the potential of ICT in Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture launched the scheme "Kisan Call Centres (KCCs)" on January 21, 2004. Main aim of the project is to answer farmers' queries on a telephone call in their own dialect. These call Centres are working in 14 different locations covering all the States and UTs. A countrywide common eleven digit Toll Free number 1800-180-1551 has been allotted for Kisan Call Centre. This number is accessible through mobile phones and landlines of all telecom networks including private service providers. Replies to the farmers' queries are given in 22 local languages.
Call center services are available from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all seven days of the week at each KCC location. Kisan Call Centre agents known as Farm Tele Advisor(FTAs), are graduates or above (i.e. PG or Doctorate) in Agriculture or allied (Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Poultry, Bee-keeping, Sericulture, Aquaculture, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Marketing, Bio-technology, Home Science etc. and possess excellent communication skills in respective local language.
Queries which cannot be answered by Farm Tele Advisor(FTAs) are transferred to higher level experts in a call conferencing mode. These experts are subject matter specialists of State Agriculture Departments, ICAR and State Agricultural Universities.
A Kisan Knowledge Management System (KKMS) to facilitate correct, consistent and quick replies to the queries of farmers and capture all the details of their calls, has been developed . Kisan Knowledge Management System (KKMS) has its independent web site http://dackkms.gov.in . The Kisan Call Centre (KCC) Agents working at various KCC locations throughout the country have access to this web site through their specific ID's & Pass-Word provided to them.
| Kisan Call Centre Locations and Languages | |||
| Sl No | Location | States | UTs Covered | Language |
| 1. | Hyderabad | Andhra Pradesh | Telugu |
| 2. | Patna | Bihar | Jharkhand | Hindi |
| 3. | Jaipur | Delhi | Rajasthan | Hindi |
| 4. | Ahmadabad/Anand | Gujarat | Dadra & Nagar Haveli | Daman & Diu | Gujarati | Goan |
| 5. | Chandigarh | Haryana | Punjab | Chandigarh | Himachal Pradesh | Hindi/Haryanvi | Punjabi | Hindi |
| 6. | Jammu | Jammu & Kashmir | Dogri, Kashmiri, Ladakhi |
| 7. | Bangalore | Karnataka | Kerala | Lakshadweep | Kannada | Malayalam |
| 8. | Jabalpur | Madhya Pradesh | Chhattisgarh | Hindi |
| 9. | Nagpur/Pune | Maharashtra | Goa | Marathi | Goan |
| 10. | Coimbatore | Tamil Nadu | Puducherry | Andaman & Nicobar | Tamil |
| 11. | Kanpur | Uttar Pradesh | Uttarakhand | Hindi |
| 12. | Kolkata | West Bengal | Sikkim | Bengali | Sikkimese |
| 13. | Bhubaneswar | Orissa | Oriya |
| 14. | Guwahati | Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Manipur | Meghalaya | Mizoram | Nagaland | Tripura | Adi | Assamese | Manipuri | Khasi | Mizo | Nagamese | Bengali |
To harness the potential of ICT in Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture took a new initiative by launching the scheme “Kisan Call Centres (KCCs)” on January 21, 2004 aimed at answering farmers queries on a telephone call in farmers own dialect. These call Centres are working in 14 different locations covering all the States and UTs. This Scheme provides agriculture related information to the farming community through toll free telephone lines. A countrywide common eleven digit number 1800-180-1551 has been allotted for Kisan Call Centre. The number is accessible through all mobile phones and landlines of all telecom networks including private service providers. Replies to the farmers’ queries are given in 22 local languages. Calls are attended from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all seven days of the week at each KCC location. Kisan Call Centre agents known as Farm Tele Advisor(FTAs). who are graduates or above (i.e PG or Doctorate) in Agriculture or allied (Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Poultry, Bee-keeping, Sericulture, Aquaculture, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Marketing, Bio-technology, Home Science etc. offered by Agricultural/Horticultural/Veterinary Universities) disciplines and excellent communication skills in respective local language respond to the farmers queries instantly. Queries which cannot be answered by Farm Tele Advisor(FTAs) are transferred to higher level experts (Call Conferencing Experts) in a call conferencing mode. These experts are subject matter specialists of State Development Departments, ICAR and State Agricultural Universities.
Restructured KCCs are now provide very reliable and efficient services due to following technological innovations and state of the art hardware/software tools:
