Impact Evaluation of KSNDMC Help-Desk Services

Transcription

1

2 Impact Evaluation of KSNDMC Help-Desk Services Implemented by The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore Aditya Chavali V Ramaswamy G Shivakumar Nayka K A Ambarish S Subramanian Center for Economic Studies and Policies Institute for Social and Economic Change Nagarabhavi, Bangalore March 2013 Page i

3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are thankful to. Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell, Bangalore Dr. V S Prakash Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Bangalore Prof. R S Deshpande Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore For sponsoring the study. For giving us opportunity to undertake this study and for all the encouragements and help rendered to us. For providing constant support from initial stage of study to the finalization of report. For spearheading the work and without his prodding this study could not have been completed. Staffs of Institute for Social and Economic Change and Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell Bangalore For their excellent timely support Respondent in the selected districts of Karnataka... State level officials District level officials Taluk Level Officials Farmers Media For participating in the interviews and discussions and providing valuable information and suggestions. All those who have directly & indirectly involved in the study. Usual disclaimer applies. -Authors- Page ii

4 Table of Contents Acknowledgement... ii List of Maps... iv List of Figure... iv List of Tables... iv List of Appendix Tables... vi Foreword... vii CHAPTER I: Introduction... 1 CHAPTER II: Socio-Demographic Profile of Respondents CHAPTER III: The Farmers Responses CHAPTER IV: The Officials Response CHAPTER V: Summary and Recommendations Appendix Page iii

5 LIST OF MAPS Map 2.1: Distributions of respondents by household income Map 2.2: Distributions of respondents by type of land owned Map 3.1: Distribution of respondents source of information about KSNDMC.. 20 Map 3.2: Distribution of number of respondents contacted to KSNDMC Map 3.3: Distribution of time frame of information sought from KSNDMC by respondents Map 3.4: Distribution of respondents nature of information sought from KSNDMC Map 3.5: Distribution of usage of information sought from KSNDMC by respondents Map 3.6: Distribution of respondents level of satisfaction about KSNDMC LIST OF FIGURE Figure 2.1: Distribution of sample respondents by size of the household Figure 3.1: Distribution of respondents by number of time calls made to KSNDMC Figure 3.2: Distribution of sample respondents by duration of each call made to the Helpdesk LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Hazards for which KSNDMC provide technical services... 3 Table 1.2: List of stakeholders for the study... 6 Table 1.3: Officials responded for s and the telephone calls... 7 Table 1.4: Type of response got for the telephone numbers of farmers provided by KSNDMC... 8 Table 2.1: Age of respondents Table 2.2: Distribution of sample respondents by educational level Table 2.3: Distribution of sample respondents by type of lands owned Page iv

6 Table 2.4: Distribution of sample respondents by type of crops grown Table 2.5: Distribution of sample respondents by type of resourceful officials contacted Table 3.1: Distribution of sample respondents by nature of problems in getting Connected to Helpdesk Table 3.2: Distribution of sample respondents by sharing of information Table 3.3: Distribution of sample respondents by use of information by others Table 3.4: Distribution of respondents by type of usage of information by others Table 3.5: Distribution of farmers Sow seed irrigation and got rain next day Table 3.6: Distribution of farmers by status of crop sown Table 3.7: Distribution of farmers by type of problem Table 3.8: Distribution of farmers by extent of loss under gone Table 3.9: Distribution of respondents by number of times affected prior to the Helpdesk services Table 3.10: Respondents not affected/undergone loss after receiving the technical advice from KSNDMC Table 3.11: Correlations between the key variables and the level of satisfaction Table 3.12: Distribution of sample respondents by nature of suggestions Table 4.1: Distribution of sample respondents by receipt of SMS and other services from KSNDMC Table 4.2: Distribution of sample respondents by usefulness and continuation of the services from KSNDMC Page v

7 LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES App.1: Officials response App.2: Additional farmers data App.3: Distribution of respondents by household income App.4: Distribution of respondents by type of land owned App.5: Distribution of respondents source of information about KSNDMC App.6: Distribution of number of respondents contacted To KSNDMC App.7: Distribution of time frame of information sought from KSNDMC by respondents App.8: Distribution of respondents nature of information sought from KSNDMC App.9: Distribution of usage of information sought from KSNDMC by respondents App.10: Distribution of respondents level of satisfaction about the KSNDMC App.11: Questionnaire for various officials App.12: Questionnaire for farmers App.13: List of farmers contacted Page vi

8 FOREWORD One of the major historical drawbacks in meeting the challenge of drought was the availability of rainfall data without delay. Experience in the policy circles revealed that the response to drought was delayed because of the non-availability of the rainfall data and also lack of knowledge about the deficiency in rainfall. Dr. Prakash, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disasters Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), worked tirelessly in order to bring real time rainfall data-sharing with the help of telemetric rain gauge stations. This work began a few years back and the success is unimaginable with a good speed. Now, KSNDMC has established rain gauge stations in every hobli of Karnataka and the data are available for every point in the day for 24 hours on all the 365 days. The data are directly transmitted to the central server located in KSNDMC. These data are also used in generating weekly, fortnightly and monthly reports to monitor without any delay and respond to the call of drought or flood. The natural calamities thus, could be well responded within 24 hours using the network of officers, farmers and other implementing agencies. As an additional step in the direction of helping the farmers, the KSNDMC opened Help Desk facilities for providing weather related information to farmers, fishermen and common man and to advice the farmers on probability of rainfall as well as other questions which they ask. This facility has been now in operation for a few years and the response is very encouraging. The present study was undertaken to locate the effectiveness of the Help Desk in meeting the requirements of the callers to the Help Desk. This 24-hour telephone facility has been used by a large number of farmers across the state; however, the study is confined to a sample of 91 respondents who approached the KSNDMC Help-Desk for different services. The study is based on the telephonic conversation and discussion with the officers, stakeholders and the farmers who tried to contact the help-desk and sought to know their satisfaction level through these interviews. The study team also visited a few locations in the state to understand the ground situation. We were happy to note that the farmers and the stakeholders had expressed true satisfaction with the information received from the Help-Desk. which was also collaborated by the officers and implementers. The early warning system through Help- Page vii

9 Desk is quite useful and could be used effectively in future. We are sure that this experiment will be extended to cover most of the districts of the state and the other natural calamities that confront the agricultural sector of the state. This report provides the required base for the Help-Desk services of KSNDMC which have been used by the stakeholders and must be expanded to cover other areas. It also points out a few policy pointers. I congratulate the authors of the report for their untiring work as well as the KSNDMC for providing such important services to the farmers of Karnataka. Date: March 27, 2013 R.S.Deshpande Director Institute for Social and Economic Change Nagarabhavi, Bangalore Page viii

10 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1: Background Heredity and environment are the two contributing factors for the development of human personality. Heredity is a biological factor inherited through genes from one's parents or ancestors. And environment refers to socio-physical surroundings of man, which nurture his abilities or equip him with a host of talents. The social surroundings include caste, class, status, neighborhood relations, peer group connections, occupation, participation in the community activities, and membership in different organizations etc. And the physical surroundings consist of land, water, hillocks, forests, etc. Thus, environment is a very complex entity that not only offers a range of natural resources for socio-economic and cultural growth of the human beings but also contributes immensely to the personality development. As a matter of fact, environmental development cannot be obtained with sheer economic growth while environmental degradation does contribute to economic backwardness. Floods, droughts and scarcity conditions resulting from the uneven and irregular monsoons have been hampering the agricultural development and also causing loss of lives and vegetation. It was reported that between 1960 and 1981, 96 such disastrous events killed as many as 60,000 people in India, among whom 25,000 were killed in cyclones and 15,000 in floods. The last 30 years statistics for India further reveal that on an average 1,400 people and over 1,00,000 cattle perish in floods every year. Scientists and technocrats offer several reasons for such disasters. They also help the administration to take proper rehabilitation measures to alleviate the distress. Of late, scientists and technologists have offered several methods to forecast the occurrence of such disasters in advance which should enable the concerned administration to take proper measures and mitigate the adverse implications of the natural disasters on human population. Further, with the advancement of science and technology, now (today) it is possible for a person (including the farmer) to use new technologies to enhance the productivity and accommodate climatic aberrations. In this direction, the Karnataka State Natural Page 1

11 Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) is providing several services to the people of Karnataka and the Government not only to take timely and proactive steps to be prepared for the onslaught of disaster caused by various natural calamities but also enable the farmer to improve the farm output and reduce the cost of cultivation by their services. 1.2: The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Karnataka has the distinction of being the first state in the country to establish Drought Monitoring Cell (DMC) in 1988 as an institutional mechanism with the main objective of assisting various stakeholders to take timely and proactive steps to prevent and get away from the sloth of disaster caused by various natural disasters. Later it was renamed as the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) in KSNDMC is an autonomous Body, affiliated to Department of Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka. It covers and provides a formal common platform to achieve synergy in the field of disaster management in all the 30 districts of Karnataka. The main objectives are: Hazard mapping and vulnerability studies; Strengthening of information technology for natural disaster management; Monitoring and impact assessment of natural hazards; Human resource development mainly by imparting training; Natural disaster early warning system. KSNDMC has an Executive Committee Chaired by Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T with Principal Secretary, Revenue as Vice Chairperson. The members are from line departments and scientific organizations. The Governing Body is an apex body headed by the Chief Secretary with the Development Commissioner as the Vice President. It has been serving as a common platform to the various response players in the field of natural disaster management by providing timely proactive science and technology inputs. The Master Control Facility will further strengthen the activities of the centre in further providing information, reports, and advisories to the community, research organizations and the Government. The Centre provides inputs to the farming community, agriculture and horticulture based sector, fisherman, transport sector, power and electricity sector, state and district level Disaster Management Authorities in Karnataka. 1.3: Components and Implementation of the Programme The Disaster Management Act 2005, Government of India reiterates a paradigm shift in disaster management from rescue, relief centric approach to preparedness and Page 2

12 early warning approach. It is said that a rupee spent on early warning and preparedness helps in reducing the cost on rescue, relief and rehabilitation. Disaster Management is multidisciplinary and has the complexity of information sharing and reporting. It comprises installation of field monitoring sensors - weather, geological, hydrological, collection of data on real time, transmission of the same to a central computational/analysis centre, data processing, analysis, alert recognition, simulation through appropriate mathematical models, customized report generation, dissemination of the alerts/reports/advisories to the users. Table 1.1: Hazards for which the KSNDMC provide technical services Climate Related Hazards Drought, Flood, Cloudburst, Hailstorm, Lightning, Coastal Erosion, Storm Surge, Cyclone Geological Hazards Earthquake, Landslide, Tsunami Hydrological Hazards Groundwater depletion and Aquifer Salinity Biological Hazards Plant : Pest and Insect attack Human: Plague, SARS, Bird Flu Currently the Center operates GPRS enabled and solar powered telemetric rain gauges, established and operational at all the 747 hobli centers, 650 Gram Panchayats. In addition, 64 satellites based weather Monitoring Stations have been installed and are operational in association with ISRO. GPRS enabled weather monitoring stations are being established at 137 taluk headquarters. VSAT enabled and solar powered Permanent Seismic Monitoring stations have been installed and operational in the State. About 20 lakh data is received on real/near time basis. All these activities are managed via a web enabled data base management, application development and customization. With all this data, KSNDMC disseminates the information to various stake holders like District Collectors, Chief Executive officers, Assistant Commissioners, Tahsildars, Joint Directors (Agri), Agricultural Officers, Raitha Samparka Kendras, Print and Electronic Media, etc. The information dissemination takes place in four formats namely through Reports, Forecast, Alerts and most importantly dissemination of information through the Helpdesk on demand. Page 3

13 KSNDMC Reports The KSNDMC from the time of its establishment started collecting, collating and construing upon the data and passes the relevant information in the form of daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports. The reports are based on the data from Hobli and Gram Panchayat level telemetric rain gauge stations and telemetric weather stations in Karnataka. The transfer of information to various stakeholders is also undertaken through e- mail, print media and web portal at appropriate time. The reports prepared by KSNDMC provide highlights of weather in the State during the preceding 24 hours mainly on rainfall, temperature, relative humidity and other key disasters. Timely Forecasts Apart from the highlights of the previous 24 hours, KSNDMC has started providing weather forecast for following 24 hours, next 3 and 5 days. This facility develops and calibrates using Hobli level weather forecast with various mathematical models. This is being monitored by the Master Control Facility established by KSNDMC at Bangalore, operational 24 hours x 7 days x 365 days and provides early warnings and advisories related to rain fall, temperature, humidity and also information on natural disasters. Weather Alerts Another important step by which KSNDMC is disseminating the information to all the users on to a daily basis is through alerts sent via electronic medium and SMS over mobile phones. This information is short and contains only important aspects which would alert the officers and help them to take fast and necessary decisions and also take precautionary steps to resist the unforeseen situation. Helpdesk On 1st October 2010, KSNDMC introduced Helpdesk services to all the farmers, where in the Center has created two wireless telephone dedicated network operating 24 hours x 7days x 365days. Here two numbers are circulated among the farming community which allows them to contact the officials of KSNDMC directly over the phone and get to know the recent updates of the weather conditions pertaining to their Panchayats. It helps the farmers in scheduling of various agricultural activities in accordance with the changing conditions. The two numbers are for South Interior Karnataka and for North Interior Karnataka. Page 4

14 Due to the increased demand for the information from the public, the Center has recently increased the number of telephones to : The Context The KSNDMC is functioning since 2007 by providing various services to public and the bureaucrats. The Executive Committee of KSNDMC took a decision to evaluate the impact of these services on the community and government in their day to day administration. It is in this context that ISEC was approached to conduct an evaluation study on the impact and advantages of the various services with a particular focus on the Helpdesk which caters to the bottom most stakeholders. At the behest of KSNDMC, ISEC has conducted the third party appraisal of the various initiatives of KSNDMC and has brought out the status and current position of the programme. This would enable KSNDMC to take necessary steps to further improvise and penetrate the programme in a more holistic way to all parts of the state and cover maximum farmers and furbish the economic and social status of the state. The main objectives of the study and methodology are enunciated below. 1.5: Objectives To analyze the perception and utility of various services of KSNDMC from the beneficiaries and stakeholders. To suggest appropriate and suitable measures to improve the existing system. 1.6: Methodology An attempt was made to study the impact of the services of the KSNDMC on various beneficiaries and stakeholders starting from the top government officials to the farmers in the field. The study was mainly based on telephonic interviews and s with the stakeholders by using a structured questionnaire to collect the quantitative data. Telephonic survey was carried out using questionnaire canvassed to the identified farmers. The conversation with the farmers was also recorded. In addition, the research team made a brief visits to a few villages in Haveri, Bijapur and Yadgir districts and interacted with the farmers individually and in groups apart from the community leaders. During such meetings the team was able to collect qualitative information regarding the usefulness of the services of KSNDMC and the problems encountered along with their suggestions to make the services better. Page 5

15 Due to lack of time and resources, the research team could not spend sufficient time with the stakeholders, especially with the farmers to conduct case studies. However, the information gathered from the farmers, officials and others over telephone enabled the researcher to arrive at reasonable conclusions. KSNDMC has extended the fullest possible assistance to ISEC staff in providing all relevant information and contact details. The evaluation study is based on the contact details of various stakeholders provided by KSNDMC. The impact of the programme has been assessed from the point of view of the stakeholders presented in the section Universe. 1.7: Universe The sample selection was finalized during the meeting of officials of KSNDMC and the ISEC faculty. It was decided that the study has to cover all districts of Karnataka based on the calls made to the helpdesk and the alerts and mails sent to various persons referred in the list of Stakeholders (Table 1.2). Table 1.2: List of stakeholders for the study Stake holders NOs./Size I State Level Officials 1 CM Office 2 Ministry/Political (Optional) 3 Government Department: Department Secretaries of Revenue; Agriculture, etc. 4 Media: Print and Electronic 5 Other Agencies: Insurance Companies (Corp) II District Level 1 DC 30 2 DEO 30 3 CEO 30 4 Joint Directors of Agriculture 30 5 Deputy Directors of Agriculture 30 6 Joint Directors of Horticulture 7 Deputy Directors of Horticulture 8 Horticultural Clinics 30 III Taluk Level 1 Tahsildars Assistant Director Agriculture Agricultural Officer Agricultural Assistant (Tech. Asst.) 5 Assistant Agriculture Office (AAO) 176 X 2 6 Assistant Agricultural Officer Range (1210) 7 Agricultural Assistant at Gram Panchayat Level (5640) 8 Assistant Director Horticulture 176 IV Farmers Page 6

16 In order to elicit the opinion of the stakeholders listed in Table 1.2, a simple questionnaire was sent through to the entire officials at the state level, District level, Taluk level, and to the address of the researchers at ICRISAT with the generous help of KSNDMC. Most of the above stakeholders were receiving alerts and reports through SMS and s respectively from the KSNDMC, they did not feel necessary to respond to our s in spite of the questionnaire was sent from the KSNDMC. Despite reminders, except 4 persons from media and the equal number from the bureaucracy, there was a little response from others. As a last resort and after elaborate discussions with the Director, KSNDMC, we arrived at a consensus to call the officials through telephone. Accordingly we tried to contact 127 officials constituting 45 Assistant Directors, 44 Tahsildars, 30 District collectors (Deputy Commissioners), 3 Joint Director of Agriculture and one Associate Director of Research, University of Agriculture Sciences. Among them, we were able to get response from 105 officials, which was quite encouraging. Among others, 3 officials had switched off their mobiles, 13 did not to receive the calls followed by 3 officials whose mobiles were either not reachable or got a response as does not exist (Table 1.3). [ Table 1.3: Officials responded for s and the Telephone calls Officials Responded Switched off Nature of Response Not Responded Not reachable No response Does not Total Assistant Director 34 (75.56) 2 (4.44) 3 (6.67) 5 (11.11) 1 (2.22) 45 (100) Tahsildars 39 (88.64) 2(4.55) 3 (6.82) 44 (100) District Commissioner 24 (80.00) 1 (3.33) 5 (16.67) 30 (100) Joint director of agriculture 3 (100.00) 3 (100) Media 4 (100.00) 4 (100) Associate director of research 1 (100.00) 1 (100) Total (105) (3) (5) (13) (1) 127 (100) Note: Figures in parenthesis are percentages. exist Farmers It was decided to call farmers over phone and elicit their opinion. The KSNDMC has provided about 122 telephone numbers of farmers who had approached the Helpdesk to seek assistance. We tried Page 7

17 to contact all of them and tried calling the numbers provided by KSNDMC. Out of 122 numbers called, we were able to get responses from 91 farmers. Of the remaining, 11 numbers did not respond, 7 numbers were reported as doesn t exist, and 5 numbers were switched off. (see Table 1.4). Table 1.4: Type of response got for the Telephone numbers of farmers provided by KSNDMC Nature of Response Number of calls Percentage Responded No response Doesn t exist Switched off Wrong Number Temporally out service Total the scientific information from the The information gathered from the farmers, officials and others over telephone enabled the researcher to arrive at reasonable conclusions. The impact of the programme has been assessed from the point of view of the telephone interviews of the stakeholders. Apart from collecting the information based on the interview schedule, later on the research team decided to add a few more questions to the farmers so as to assess the impact of KSNDMC helpdesk. The research team also undertook a brief field visit during April 2012 to the districts of Haveri, Yadgir and Bijapur to have a personal discussions and visit the farms to assess the impact after getting helpdesk. The research team visited the villages of Rattahalli, Yethanahalli and Ganavi Siddhagiri in Haveri district, Basavanabagewadi and Kalgurki villages of Bijapr district and Kembhavi village in Yadagir district from where a large number of calls for information were received. During such visits, the research team met Deputy Commissioner, three Additional Deputy Commissioners, one Zilla Panchayat CEO, two Tahsildars, four agricultural officers and several other officials and collected information from them. 1.8: ANALYSIS The analysis of data has provided a holistic Page 8

18 understanding of the background of the people living in different geographic locations in Karnataka. While analyzing the data and the field level notes, utmost care was taken to describe the real situation at the ground level. For the purpose of comparing field level notes or data and to arrive at a comparable picture, the district was taken as the basic variable. The data or information pertaining to each district was tabulated separately and presented in the form of tables. Such an analysis helps the reader to understand the variations as well as similarities of perceptions of people belonging to different locations and also in different economic zones. Page 9

19 CHAPTER 2: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS 2.1: Introduction An attempt is made here to understand the socio economic profile of the farmers who had called the Helpdesk of KSNDMC to seek information. Since the commencement of the Helpdesk facility many calls were made to the Helpdesk by the farmers but only 122 numbers were recorded. The total numbers of responses were 91 as explained earlier chapter. The analysis of data on the demographic characteristics of the sample respondents has been presented in the following paragraphs based on these respondents. 2.2: Age The age-wise classification of data has shown that per cent of respondents belonged to the age group of 21 to 50 years of age. Another per cent respondents were in the age group of 51 to 65 years. Only 3.30 per cent respondents were less than 20 years of age followed by 2.20 per cent of respondents who were of the age of 66 years and above (Table 2.1). It is evident that majority (81 per cent) of respondents who take agricultural decisions are in the age group of 21 to 50 years. Table 2.1: Age Distribution of Respondents Age of the Respondents No of Respondents Per cent Up to 20 Years to 35 Years to 50 Years to 65 Years Years & above Total : Educational Level Table 2.2 has revealed that except 1.10 per cent, all the respondents were literate. Among them, majorities were either graduates (40.66 per cent) or had high school education (39.56 per cent). Only 7.69 per cent of the respondent had studied up to primary level. The level of education is an important factor for the people to approach the Helpdesk of KSNDMC. Page 10

20 Table 2.2: Distribution of sample respondents by Educational level Educational level of the Respondents No of Respondents Per cent Illiterate Primary High School Graduate Others Total : Family Size Table 2.3 has revealed that a majority (48.35 per cent) of respondents households had 4 to 5 persons per household or family followed by per cent of households with 6 to 10 persons Another per cent of respondent s households had a family size of less than 3 persons per household. Only 6.59 per cent of respondent s households had more than 11 persons per household. As a large majority of respondent s households (63.73 per cent) has less than 5 persons per household one can infer that the share of nuclear families seems to be considerable among the sample respondents households. Figure 2.1: Distribution of sample respondents by size of the household 2.5: Annual Income Income is an important indicator of the economic status of a family. The family income comprises income from main occupation, subsidiary occupations pursued by family members and also the non-occupational income like rent, pension, etc. Page 11

21 Page 12

22 Map no 2.1 has shown that of the total respondents, per cent of respondents have not reported their household annual income. Of the remaining, about 22 per cent have reported that their household income was about Rs. 50,000 per annum. Another per cent reported that their annual income varied between Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh followed by per cent whose annual income was between Rs 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. While 8.79 per cent of respondents were in the income group of more than Rs. 5 lakh, the rest (6.59 per cent) had an annual income of between Rs.50, 000 to Rs.1,00,000. Thus from the above analysis one could infer that the sample had spread across different income groups in the study area. 2.6: Total Land Owned Land is an important asset in rural areas not only in terms of livelihood but also in terms of status. Map no 2.2 has revealed that per cent of respondents were large farmers having more than 10 hectares of land followed by per cent of medium farmers owning between 4.01 to 10 hectares of land. Another per cent were semi-medium farmers owning land between 2.01 to 4 hectares followed by per cent of small farmers with 1.01 to 2 hectares and 6.59 per cent were marginal farmers owning less than one hectare. It is important to note that 1.10 per cent of respondents were landless. It is quite appreciable that nearly 20 per cent of the small and marginal farmers are seeking the services of the KSNDMC to enhance their agricultural productivity along with another 1 per cent landless farmers who engage themselves in leasing in land for cultivation. It is evident from the above analysis that small and marginal farmers also seek and get the assistance of the Helpdesk to enhance the productivity of crops and minimize the losses in crop production. Page 13

23 Page 14

24 2.7: Type of Land Owned Except one respondent, all others had land. Table 2.3 has revealed that per cent of the sample households owned only dry land and 4.40 per cent owned irrigated land followed by 2.20 per cent of the sample households who owned plantation land. Those who own both dry and wet land constituted per cent. The remaining per cent of respondents owned plantation along with dry and wet land (24.18 per cent) or dry land (3.30 per cent) or wet land (3.30 per cent). The above analysis clearly indicates the importance of scientific information from KSNDMC not only important to grow commercial crops in wet lands or for the plantations but also equally important to grow food crops in dry lands. Table 2.3: Distribution of sample respondents by type of lands owned Type of land owned No of Respondents Per cent Landless Dry land only Wet land only Plantation only Dry & Wet land Dry & Plantation Wet & Plantation Dry, Wet & Plantation Total : Cropping Pattern Cropping pattern varies from district to district. For the present analysis the crops are clubbed under four categories namely food crops, commercial crops, seed crops and plantation crops. The food crops include jowar, paddy, ragi, wheat, maize and other pulses. The commercial crops include grapes, banana, sapota, pomegranate, lemon, cotton along with food crops like maize, vegetables, etc. The oil seed crops include sunflower, groundnut, kusbi (safflower), etc. The seed crops grown in the area include tomato, brinjal, pumpkin, chilies, sunflower, cotton, etc, grown on contract with the private seed companies. The Page 15

25 plantation crops include coffee, tea, coconut, arecanut, rubber, teak, etc. Among those who own dry land, a majority of respondents (28.57 per cent) grow food crops only. Another per cent grow food crops along with commercial crops followed by 8.79 per cent each who grow oil seeds and commercial crops with oil seeds along food crops respectively in the dry land depending upon the rains. Another per cent of respondents grow commercial crops as against 1.10 per cent who grows oil seeds. However, 7.69 per cent of respondents grow both commercial and oil seed crops. Another interesting fact is that the remaining 2.2 per cent of respondents produce seeds in their dry land for the private companies during rainy season (Table 2.4). Though per cent of respondents had no irrigation facility, others depend on canal or tank or the tube wells to raise the crops. Among the farmers who had irrigation facility, a majority of them grow commercial crops either exclusively or with other crops. Table 2.4 shows that per cent of respondents have grown only commercial crops per cent grow both commercial and food crops followed by 4.40 per cent who grow commercial crops with oil seeds and 2.20 per cent grow commercial crops along with both food and oil seeds. Another 9.89 per cent grow only food crops and 1.10 per cent grows only oil seeds. However, 2.20 per cent grow both food and oil seed crops. About 6.59 per cent of respondents produce seeds for the private seed companies. The queries of farmers to KSNDMC for information directly relate to the cropping pattern as they venture to grow commercial crops apart from involving in seed production not only in irrigated land but also in the rainfed areas. Only one-third (32.97 per cent) of the total respondents had land under plantation. Coffee, tea, coconut, arecanut, rubber, teak, etc were some of the plantation crops grown (Table 2.4). These farmers called the Helpdesk to assess the time for spraying pesticides and use of the irrigation water for their fields so that they can take required precautions to avoid unseen calamities. Page 16

26 Table 2.4: Distribution of sample respondents by type of crops grown Type of Crops Grown Dry Land Irrigated Land Plantation Respondents Percent Respondents Percent Respondents Percent Not Applicable Food Crops Oil Seeds Commercial Crops Seed Crops Food and Commercial crops Commercial and Oilseeds Food, Oilseed & Commercial crops Food and oilseeds crops Vegetable Crops Food crop, Vegetable and - - oilseeds Total Note: Multiple Responses 2.9: Administrators and Other Stakeholders The present day agriculture needs inputs from various sources. Though the agricultural department officials provide the necessary information for all agricultural needs, farmers still depend on others for help. While selecting seeds for sowing the farmers contact the agricultural scientists, neighboring farmers and pesticide and fertilizer dealers. Similarly, for information about the probability of rains, a few farmers depend on the KSNDMC before providing irrigation or applying pesticides or fertilizers for their crops, especially to the commercial crops and seed crops. For the marketing information, seeds, fertilizer application, etc, the farmers consult the concerned agriculture officials. This channel of information is becoming quite popular but needs further extension to new areas. In the present context, per cent of respondents had never approached anybody for information or advice for their agricultural activities. Of those who seek information for their agricultural needs majority (39.56 per cent) consulted with the officials of the KSNDMC. Similarly, 7.69 per cent depend on agricultural department officials followed by 6.59 per cent sought help from the Page 17

27 Gramsevaks. The other sources of information were the Joint Director, Horticulture, Krishi Vijnana Kendra, Raitha Samparka Kendra, etc for a few farmers (Table 2.5). The practice of farmers depending on others especially the neighborhoods, astrology, almanac, other ritiuals, etc for rains was in practice since generations and it is still continuing. In addition, farmers slowly moved towards scientific information with weather reports and general information from agriculture department etc. but not particular to their own region. Now with the improvement in science and technology, farmers depend on KSNDMC which provides information on rain and weather more accurately, which is applicable to their own Hobli or Panchayats. This has led many farmers to call the Helpdesk very often for information before taking decisions on agriculture. Table 2.5: Distribution of sample respondents by type of stakeholders contacted Resourceful officials contacted Respondent Per cent Not Consulted Officials from Agriculture Department and KSNMDC Agriculture Department KSNDMC J D, Horticulture Krishi Vijnana Kendra Agriculture University Krishi Samparka Kendra Gram Sevak Total Page 18

28 CHAPTER 3: THE FARMERS RESPONSES 3.1: Introduction During the initial discussions with the farmers, only their personal background was collected. The initial discussions though brief, have familiarized the researchers and helped in collection of information regarding the utility of services offered by the KSNDMC. A detailed analysis of the information collected about the services of KSNDMC is presented in the subsequent sections. 3.2: Source of Information Though the KSNDMC is providing several services to the farmers in the state, the main source of information about the services of KSNDMC organization was through Media (56 percent) which includes News Papers (41.76 percent), Television (8.79 percent) and the Radio (5.49 percent). The information about the availability of different services and their importance was spread across the farmer community through their friendship network and relatives (37.36 per cent), by the officials of the Agricultural department (6.59 per cent) during village meetings, through neighborhood gossips, relatives, etc, (Map: 3.1). 3.3: Number of Calls Made The number of calls made to contact the helpdesk by the farmers to seek the needed information is a strong indicator of the significance of the KSNDMC. Page 19

29 Page 20

30 Page 21

31 Map 3.2 shows that nearly 90 per cent of the farmers who contacted the Helpdesk for information, have made calls more than 5 times. About per cent of respondents each had contacted more than 100 times. Those who called KSNDMC Helpdesk 5 to 10 times also constitute per cent. Similarly per cent had approached the organization 11 to 25 times and per cent had made calls to the organization 26 to 50 times to get information about rain and other issues. Only those who knew about the organization recently had called once (4.40 per cent) or 2 to 4 times (7.69 per cent). It is evident from the above that almost all farmers keep calling the helpdesk as and when they need information. It only endorses the significance of the information provided by KSNDMC helpdesk to the farmers. Figure 3.1: Distribution of respondents by number of time calls made to KSNDMC 3.4: Duration of Call The length of discussion over phone directly relates to the familiarity of the persons (officials) and/or significance of the services. This seems to be true, as one analyses the Figure 3.2. A large majority (89 per cent) of respondents discussed with KSNDMC helpdesk for about 2 minutes to 10 minutes. Among them per cent of respondents had reported that they had a conversation for about 4 to 5 minutes followed by per cent who spent about 2 to 3 minutes and per cent held discussions for about 6 to 10 minutes with KSNDMC Helpdesk officials collecting information Page 22

32 they needed. Another 3.3 per cent of respondents had reported that they had discussions with KSNDMC helpdesk officials for about 11 to 15 minutes and the rest (4.4 per cent) had long discussions of more than 15 minutes with KSNDMC helpdesk officials. Everyone who had contacted with the officials of KSNDMC helpdesk felt that they had fruitful discussions and had sufficient time to get their doubts cleared. Figure 3.2: Distribution of sample respondents by duration of each call made to the Helpdesk 3.5: Nature of Problems in Getting the Telephone Line/Connection Majority of respondents (63.74 per cent) reported that they never faced any problem to get their mobile or land line connected with the KSNDMC Helpdesk. The remaining respondents had encountered one or the other problem to get the helpline connected. Among them, per cent of respondents had reported that they made several attempts to get Helpdesk line connected as it was busy and one had to wait for their turn. Similarly, another 4.40 per cent reported that they were unable to contact the Helpdesk as there was no response followed by 2.20 per cent who reported that they got a response as not reachable (Table 3.1). Since there were only two telephone lines during the course of the study, the above problems seem to be realistic. However the KSNDMC has recently added another 8 lines to the existing 2 lines to overcome the above problems. Page 23

33 Table 3.1: Distribution of sample respondents by nature of problems in getting connected to helpdesk Nature of Problems Frequency Per cent No Problem At times busy At times not responding At times not reachable Total : Since when Information was Sought from Help Desk Based on the knowledge of information about the services of KSNDMC Helpdesk, several farmers started approaching the organization. Among them, about 32 per cent have started to contact the organization since 10 to 12 months followed by per cent who were calling the KSNDMC Helpdesk since more than a year. Another per cent of respondents were approaching the organization since 4 to 6 months followed by 9.89 cent of respondents seeking information from the KSNDMC Helpdesk since 3 months and 7.69 per cent of respondents were approaching the organization since 7 to 9 months (Map 3.3 ). Page 24

34 Page 25

35 Though the KSNDMC established its Helpdesk during 2007, it required a lot of time to be known to the farmers at large. It is not out of place to mention the untiring efforts of Dr. V.S. Prakash, Director, KSNDMC and his staff in bringing the Helpdesk close to the people by organizing the farmer s meetings. They also made use of the radio, television, news papers with special interviews and programme to create awareness among the public regarding the services of KSNDMC. In addition, they used the services of organizations like Krishi Vijnana Kendras, Raitha Samparka Kendras and other training centres to demonstrate the usefulness of the services of KSNDMC to the different sections of population. 3.7: Nature of Information (Help) Sought From the Help Desk Though the KSNDMC Helpdesk provides several services to the people, different sections of population sought information pertaining to their needs. In the present context the respondents being farmers who are naturally interested in knowing information which help agriculture particularly the forecasts regarding rain, cyclone, floods, temperature, etc. With such information in advance, will enable the farmers to take suitable steps at different stages of agricultural operations. Map no 3.4 reveals that a large proportion (90.11 per cent) of respondents approached the KSNDMC helpdesk to know the possibility of rain during the next few days (within two to three days). Only a few (6.59 per cent) had enquiries with the Helpdesk about the rain and temperature. The remaining 1.10 per cent each had made enquiries regarding cyclone and floods. The significant information of rain in advance for farming especially with farmers venturing into commercial agriculture and also horticulture is very crucial as the information will help farmers to schedule the activities and mitigate the impact and loss. 3.8: Use of Information The farmers who called the Helpdesk have used the information to enhance the agricultural production or to make a business. In the present context a large majority enquired about the possibility of rain, the main purpose was either to start sowing the seed or to harvest the crop. Depending on the geographic characteristics of the soil, farmers need to sow the seed either prior to or after the rains. Page 26

36 Page 27

37 It is evident from Map 3.5, that per cent respondents have reported, they had used the information for taking a decision prior to sowing the seeds based on the information availed from the Helpdesk. A few farmers had reported that they could postpone the sowing operations due to rain and few others had taken a decision to make preparations for sowing. This had helped in avoiding significant losses. Similarly per cent of respondents used the information prior to providing additional irrigation. Another per cent of respondents used the information to make preparations for harvesting the crop and also for threshing. A few farmers used the information prior to applying pesticides and fertilizers (13.19 per cent) followed by 3.30 per cent of respondents who wanted to know whether it rains during flowering season or not so as to assess the yield based on the quantum of rain during the flowering season. The remaining 1.10 per cent of respondents are those who need to take a decision to organize a drama (Street Play) in the village and to make bricks in their fields (Map 3.5). 3.9: Sharing of Information It is customary among the farming community to exchange their experience, problems, etc not only pertaining to agriculture but also of personal life. Whenever a farmer introduces a new crop or buys a new device, the information spreads among the other farmers quickly. In the same way, when a farmer calls the Helpdesk and gets the information, he immediately discusses the outcome with his peers. Table 3.2 revealed that except 3.30 per cent of respondents, all others have shared the information either with other farmers (49.45 per cent) or with their friends (34.07 per cent) and other village members (8.79 per cent). Page 28

38 Page 29

39 Table 3.2: Distribution of sample respondents about sharing the information Sharing the Information Respondents Per cent Not Sharing / Nobody Friends Village Members Neighbors, Friends, Relatives Farmers Total : Use of Information by Others Since the information given by the respondents to the villagers, friends and relatives seems to be of vital importance for their agriculture, it seems almost all of them used the information. It is evident from Table 3.3 that about per cent of respondents reported that the information they had passed on to others used by them. That indicates the spillover of the information to a large number of farmers. On the contrary, 7.69 per cent of respondents reported that the information given by them was not used by other farmers or friends. Only 2.20 per cent of respondents have reported that they no idea whether information given by them was used or not by other farmers or friends. Table 3.3: Distribution of sample respondents by use of information by others Use of information by others Frequency Per cent Not applicable Yes No Do not know Total : Type of Usage of Information by Others Several farmers who got the information from the farmers who approached Helpdesk have also benefitted by using that information. Majority of respondents (46.16 per cent) reported that with the information they pass on to their friends and other farmers, several of them had Page 30

40 either postponed the sowing operations (25.28 per cent) and harvesting (16.48 per cent) or both (4.40 per cent) due to rain or make preparations for sowing or harvesting accordingly. Another per cent of respondents reported that a few farmers had used the information to provide irrigation. Similarly, per cent of respondents reported that their friends used the information for spraying pesticides and applying fertilizers, etc (Table 3.10) per cent of respondents reported that they were unable to know the reasons for not using the information even though it was provided to them to use for their betterment (Table 3.4). Table 3.4: Distribution of respondents by type of usage of information by others Purpose of Usage Respondents Per cent Not Aware Not applicable Crop sowing Providing Irrigation Harvesting Sowing and Harvesting Chemicals spray and applying fertilizers Crop sowing and Fertilizers application Flowering season Changed the crop Total : Additional Information Additional data from 28 farmers was collected to validate the responses and impressions we got earlier. The information pertains to, how far the services of KSNDMC were helpful to the farmers. In order to arrive at a definite conclusion we analyzed the farm practices, especially sowing, harvesting of fertilizers and pesticides prior and application to and after availing the services of KSNDMC by the farmers Prior to the availability of information or the services from the KSNDMC about the rain forecasts, the farmers were dependent on conventional beliefs regarding the possibility of rains during the period of sowing. Table No 3.5 reveals that except one respondent (3.57 per cent) all others have provided irrigation during sowing prior to availing KSNDMC services. Against their Page 31

41 expectation, they got rain soon after sowing. Due to water logging, everybody had reported to have undergone one or the other problems. Table 3.5: Distribution of respondents Sown seeds with irrigation and got rain subsequently Sowing with Irrigation and got rain subsequently Frequency Per cent Yes No Total Among the farmers who have sown crops seeds with irrigation and subsequently got the rain 17 farmers (60.71 per cent) have reported that they continued with the crop they sown without bothering the outcome. However, of the remaining 10 farmers (35.72 percent) had sown the seed again after the failure of germination of seeds. Among them, 5 farmers sown different types of seeds and another 5 farmers (17.86 per cent) decided to sow the same crop again after the rains (Table No 3.6). Table 3.6: Distribution of farmers by status of crop sown Status of crop sown Frequency Per cent Continued the crop Changed the crop by sowing different type of seeds Sown the same type of seeds again Not applicable Total the seeds decayed due to water logging from rain for more than 4 to 5 days. Following are the some of the problems Draining out the excess water was a reported by the farmers who had rains problem, the seeds start decaying after sowing the seed using the irrigation resulting in total loss. Another 14 facility. Table 3.7 reveals that 15 farmers (20.58 per cent) reported that farmers (22.05 per cent) reported that due to water logging, the percentage of after sowing the seed with irrigation, sprouting was low which resulted in Page 32

42 low yields. In addition, many reported that they had undergone losses due to pesticides and also application of fertilizers (39.70 per cent). rains immediately after spraying, Table 3.7: Distribution of respondents by type of problem Type of problem Frequency Per cent Seed decay Problems in sprouting Mud covering the seed Flowers decay Loss of pesticide and Fertilizers Not applicable Total Note: Multiple responses. Through a few had changed the crops or sown the same crop sown again after rains, it was reported that 3 farmers (10.71 per cent) had got less yield and undergone a loss to the extent of 30 per cent. Similarly, 14 farmers (50 per cent) had reported that their loss was between 30 to 50 per cent as the yield was below normal. Such a loss was between 51 to 80 per cent in case of 7 farmers (25 per cent) and it was reported by 3 farmers (10.71 per cent) that they did not get anything and suffered 100 per cent loss (Table3.8) Table 3.8: Distribution of respondents by extent of loss undergone Extent of loss undergone Respondent Per cent Not applicable Up to 30 per cent to 50 per cent to 80 per cent per cent Total The loss of crop after sowing with irrigation and application of fertilizer and pesticide was common in the past. Table 3.9 reveals that about 10 farmers (34.48 per cent) had undergone loss for about 2 to 3 times in the past. Similarly, Page 33

43 9 farmers (31.03 per cent) had reported that they underwent loss between 4 to 5 times and 7 farmers (24.14 per cent) had reported that they faced such a situation for more than 6 times in the past. Table 3.9: Distribution of respondents by number of times affected prior to Helpdesk services Number times affected Frequency Per cent Not applicable Only once to 3 times to 5 times More than 6 times From the analysis above it seems, everybody is happy as they are receiving help from the KSNDMC Helpdesk which has enabled them to take appropriate decisions. Table 3.10 reveals that Total per cent of farmers reported that they were not losing their crop or wasting the pesticide or fertilizers after receiving the services from KSNDMC. Table 3.10: Respondents not affected/undergone loss after receiving the technical advice from KSNDMC Undergone loss Respondent Per cent No Not applicable Total The above analyses not only endorse the general impressions of the people who are receiving the technical advice from KSNDMC Helpdesk but it also confirms that farmers can make profits and reduce losses by seeking information from KSNDMC Helpdesk and by taking decisions appropriately. 3.13: Level of Satisfaction At the outset all respondents were satisfied with the services rendered by the KSNDMC, which enabled them to adopt scientific methods while taking agricultural decisions and thereby increasing production with the reduced costs. Page 34

44 Page 35

45 A large majority (68.13 per cent) of respondents rated the services of the organization as excellent followed by per cent rated as very good. The remaining 7.69 per cent of respondents rated the services of the KSNDMC organization as good (Map 3.6) Table 3.11: Correlations between the key variables and the level of satisfaction Variables Level of satisfaction Age of respondent (0.355) Educational level of respondent (0.490) Annual household income 0.222* (0.034) Total land owned (0.887) Type of crops grown in dry land (0.534) Type of crops grown in irrigated land (0.589) Number of calls made 0.388** (0.000) Duration of call (0.268) Note: The number of observations is 91. * indicates correlation is significant at the 5per cent level. ** indicates correlation is significant at the 1per cent level. Probability levels of significance for a two tailed test are given in parenthesis. 3.14: Correlations Table 3.11 includes the correlations between the variables pertaining to the information gathered from the farmers through telephonic questionnaires. Level of satisfaction is considered to be the key variable which is expected to be influenced by a host of factors such as income level of respondent, educational level of respondent, type of crops grown etc. Among all the variables considered in our study, three factors stand out, viz; number of calls made shows a very high correlation with the level of satisfaction (0.388) at the 1per cent level of significance and a probability level of significance higher than 0.05, which indicates that the correlation is significant. This indicates that the level of satisfaction among the farmers seeking the services of the Helpdesk is positively and directly influenced by the number of calls made. Secondly, the annual household income variable is highly correlated with the level of satisfaction with a coefficient of at the 5 per cent significance level which is statistically significant. Page 36

46 Table 3.12: Distribution of sample respondents by their suggestions Nature of Suggestions Respondent Per cent No Comment Extend the Services for 24X This service is enough Gram level information needed Daily SMS Required Need forecasting monthly rainfall information Need toll free telephone Service Total Page 37

47 CHAPTER 4: RESPONSE OF THE OFFICIALS 4.1: Introduction As mentioned earlier in the methodology, our efforts to get response for the questionnaire sent by to all the stakeholders in Karnataka yielded poor results. In spite of several reminders, except 4 persons from media and an equal number from the bureaucracy there was no response from others. As a last resort and after elaborate discussions with the Director, KSNDMC, we decided to call the officials through telephone. Accordingly we tried to contact 127 officials constituting 45 Assistant Directors, 44 Tahsildars, 30 District collectors (Deputy Commissioners), 3 Joint Directors of Agriculture and 1 Associate Director of Research apart from 4 persons from the electronic media (Table 4.1). Among them we were able to get response from 105 officials including media persons. There was no response from others the remaining 22 persons This shows that the response has been more than per cent. Among the Tahsildars, it was per cent followed by Deputy Commissioners with 80 per cent and Assistant Directors with per cent. All the Joint Directors of Agriculture, representatives from the media and Assistant Director of Research responded to our calls. Those of the mobiles which were switched off even after calling them for more than three times during different times of the day were pertains to the Assistant Director (4.44 per cent) and Deputy Commissioners (3.33 per cent). 4.2 Receipt of Daily SMS and Other Services Among those who responded to our queries, except 2 persons all others have reported that they were in receipt of the SMS, messages of the information sent by KSNDMC as alerts, forecasts and reports. Of the total officials contacted, majority (81.10 per cent) have reported that they are receiving the rainfall data on daily basis. (Table 4.1). Page 38

48 Table 4.1: Distribution of sample respondents by receipt of the services from KSNDMC Receipt of the services from KSNDMC Frequency Per cent Yes No Total Table 4.2: Distribution of sample respondents by usefulness and continuation of the Services from KSNDMC Officials Is it useful for you Yes Not Applicable No Total Assistant Director Tahsildar District Commissioner Joint director of agriculture Media Associate director of research Total Different officials have to take different decisions based on the needs and priorities of the situation. For example, the Deputy Commissioner, being the head of the district administration need to attend the grievances of several people including the farmers. In order to make proper arrangements for the visits of VIP, the DC needs to be appraised of climatic conditions like the day s temperature, probability of rains, wind speed, etc. Safety measures must be planned during natural calamities like floods, cyclone, drought, etc to mitigate the impact with the precautionary measures. The information from the KSNDMC comes in handy to make proper decisions. As far as the officials of the agricultural department are concerned, several officials reported that the information from the KSNDMC as alerts and reports directly influence the decisions of the day to day functioning of the department. It enables the agricultural officials to give suggestions to the farmers to take up agricultural operations, application of fertilizers and pesticides. Also alert the local fertilizer and pesticide dealers to make necessary procurements of fertilizer and pesticide along with the seeds to meet the sowing season demand. Page 39

49 With respect to the media, the information not only forms a part of the day to day publications but is also used to alert the government to take proper measures for the welfare of the citizens and also information for personal safety. Since the information provided by KSNDMC facilitates to take proper decisions, all the officials have reported that the services should be continued. Except 2.27 per cent of Tahsildars, all other have reported that the services provided by the KSNDMC were useful to them. The information provided by the organization seems to be very important to both the officials in the government as well as to the persons from the media. Table 4.3 shows that hundred per cent of respondents endorsed that the information sent by KSNDMC is vital and help to take proper precautions and decisions not only during emergencies, but also for day to day administration. Hence everybody reported that the services should be continued. 4.3: PROBLEMS A few problems were reported by the officials. The main problem pertains to the information sent as SMS to several officials was not related to their present place of work. It pertains to either their earlier work place or prior to that. However, the officials reported that they will call KSNDMC whenever they need information. On enquiry with the officials of KSNDMC, it was found that the concerned officials did not inform the KSNDMC as soon as the officials get transferred to a new place. The place of transfer is important as it would enable the organization to update the transfer details especially the new place of work. Similarly, the official or personal telephone (Mobile) numbers registered with KSNDMC should be reported to the KSNDMC soon after transfer of staff. Page 40

50 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary Scientists and technocrats offer several measures to mitigate impact of the natural disasters. They also help the administration to take proper rehabilitative measures to comfort the affected population. Of late, science and technology has offered several inventions to forecast the occurrence of such disasters well in advance such that the concerned administration could take proper measures and mitigate the adverse implications of the natural disasters on human population. In this direction, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) is providing several services to the people of Karnataka and the Government not only to take timely and proactive steps to prevent and get away from the sloth of disaster caused by various natural disasters but also enable the farmer to improve the farm output and reduce the cost of cultivation. Disaster Management is multidisciplinary and has complexity of information sharing and reporting. It comprises installation of field monitoring sensors - weather, geological, hydrological, collection of data on real time, transmission of the same to a central computational/analysis centre, data processing, analysis, alert recognition, simulation through appropriate mathematical models, customized report generation, dissemination of the information through the alerts, reports and advisories to the users. The evaluation study formulated the following twin objectives: To analyze the perception of beneficiaries and stakeholders who use the various services provided by the KSNDMC. To suggest appropriate and suitable measures to improve the existing system. An attempt was made to study the impact of the services of the KSNDMC on various beneficiaries and stakeholders starting from the top government officials to the farmers in the field. The study was mainly based on telephonic interviews and s with the stakeholders by using a structured questionnaire to collect the quantitative data.. Page 41

51 The KSNDMC has provided about 122 telephone numbers of farmers who approached the Helpdesk to seek the assistance of its services. We tried to approach all the farmers and tried calling the numbers provided by them. Out of 122 numbers called, we were able to get responses from 91 farmers. The main source of information for farmers and general public about the services of KSNDMC organization was through Media which includes News Papers, Television and the Radio. Later on, the information was spread across the farmer community through their friendship network and relatives, by the officials of the Agricultural department through neighbourhood gossips, etc. For the officials and media it was through the s and the SMS sent by the KSNDMC. A large share (90 per cent) of farmers who contacted the Helpdesk for information had called the Helpdesk for more than 5 times. Majority (89 per cent) had discussions with KSNDMC Helpdesk for about 2 minutes to 10 minutes. About 32 per cent of the sample farmers have started to contact the KSNDMC Helpdesk since 10 to 12 months followed by per cent who were calling the KSNDMC Helpdesk since more than a year. A large majority (90.11 per cent) of respondents approached the KSNDMC helpdesk to know the possibility of rain during the next few days (within two- three days). About 38 per cent of respondents reported that they had used the information for taking a decision prior to sowing the seed. Few farmers have reported that they had to postpone the sowing operations due to rain and few others had took a decision to make preparations for sowing based on the information availed from the Helpdesk. Similarly per cent of respondents have used the information prior to irrigation decisions. Another per cent of respondents have used the information to make preparation for harvesting the crop and also for threshing. Few farmers used it prior to applying pesticides and fertilizers (13.19 per cent). About 97 per cent of respondents have shared the information either with other farmers or with their friends and other village members. About per cent reported that they shared the information with friends and other farmers. They used the information and accordingly several of them had either postponed the sowing operations and harvesting or both due to rain or make preparations for sowing or harvesting accordingly. Page 42

52 Prior to the availability of the services from the KSNDMC, several farmers reported that they depended on traditional knowledge for agricultural operations. Several farmers reported that they had rains several times in the past after sowing the seed using the irrigation facility. Since draining out the excess water was a problem, the seeds start to decay resulting in total loss. 50 per cent of farmers reported that due to water logging the percentage of germination was low which resulted in low yields. In addition, many reported that they had undergone loss due to rains immediately after spraying, pesticides and also application of fertilizers (96.43 per cent). Therefore, the information provided by KSNDMC becomes quite useful. The above analysis not only endorse the general impressions of the people who are receiving the technical advice from KSNDMC Helpdesk but it also confirms that farmers can make profits and reduce losses by seeking information from KSNDMC Helpdesk and taking decisions appropriately. While farmers seek the information from the KSNDMC, the organization provides the information to the bureaucracy, media, and other research institutions and organizations. Such information seems to be very important to both the officials in the government as well as to the persons from the media. This is evident as cent per cent of respondents endorsed that the information sent by KSNDMC is vital and help to take proper precautions and decisions not only during emergencies, but also for day to day administration. Hence everybody reported that the services should be continued. The main problem reported by the officials was that the information provided by the KSNDMC to the officials was not related to their present place of work but pertains to the place of their immediate transfer or of the earlier place of work. The telephone (Mobile) numbers registered with KSNDMC either official or personal should be reported to the KSNDMC soon after transfer of staff in order to update the transfer details especially the new place of work. Updating of information about the change in the mobile numbers is quintessential for the use of information provided. In executing its work in providing a common platform to the various stakeholders both across the government officials at the district and taluk levels and the farmers, the KSNDMC Helpdesk facility has fared quite well with positive response throughout. About 69 per cent of the respondents have rated the services Page 43

53 of the organization as excellent followed by per cent rated as very good. The remaining 7.69 per cent of respondents rated the services of the KSNDMC organization as good. 5.2 Recommendations Some of the suggestions arising out of the discussions with the farmers and officials are given below If possible additional data on technological options such as temperature and humidity along with the wind speed and cloud movement to be supplemented as part of the daily SMS. The SMS facility to be extended to the lower level field staff who work at the Panchayat and Hobli level with the information pertaining to the particular Hobli and Panchayat level. This could be achieved through two or three layer communication, one based at District and another at Hobli level. Like rainfall data, it would be useful if the information (forecast) regarding the probability of occurrence of pests and diseases to crops. Such information could be provided by the Department of Agriculture. KSNDMC should send a proposal to the GOK to provide mobile phone numbers and the place of transfer of officials, such that the official receives the information of the concerned place only. In addition to the Hobli level information, it would be useful if the information pertains to an area which falls under a particular problem such as landslide, floods, drought, cyclone, etc by labeling the zone as Flood Zone or Cyclone Zone, which may cover more than one taluk or district or and call them as Hot Spots. Expand the list of recipients to include some peripheral functionaries. Phase out the traditional manual rain gauges as telemetric rain gauges provide quick information. All officials concerned should be provided with Mobile Phones who use the KSNDMC services for day to day administration and also transfer the information to the general public. Page 44

54 APPENDIX Appendix.1: Official responses Is it useful for you Frequency Per cent Yes Not Applicable No Total Appendix.2: Additional farmers data Getting information after any problem Frequency Per cent No Not applicable Total Page 45

55 Appendix.3: Distribution of respondents by household income (Rs. in Lakhs) District Name Not Mentioned Above 5 TOTAL Bagalkot Bangaloreurban Bangalorerural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 46

56 Appendix.4: Distribution of respondents by type of land Owned District Name Landless Marginal Small Semi Medium Medium Large Total Bagalkot Bangaloreurban Bangalorerural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 47

57 Appendix.5: Distribution of respondents source of information about KSNDMC District Name Radio TV News Friends Relatives Agricultural Dept. Friends Relatives Total Bagalkot Bangaloreurban Bangalorerural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 48

58 Appendix.6: Distribution of number of respondents contacted KSNDMC District Name No of Respondents Bagalkot 8 Bangaloreurban 0 Bangalorerural 0 Belgaum 1 Bellary 2 Bidar 2 Bijapur 6 Chamarajanagar 2 Chikkaballapura 3 Chikmagalur 6 Chitradurga 5 Dakshinakannada 0 Davanagere 1 Dharwad 2 Gadag 11 Gulbarga 5 Hassan 1 Haveri 9 Kodagu 0 Kolar 0 Koppal 2 Mandya 0 Mysore 1 Raichur 2 Ramanagara 0 Shimoga 2 Tumkur 8 Udupi 2 Uttarakannada 1 Yadgir 9 Total 91 Page 49

59 Appendix.7: Distribution of time frame of information sought from KSNDMC by respondents District Name 3 Months 4-6Months 7-9 Months Months More Than A Year Total Bagalkot Bangaloreurban Bangalorerural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 50

60 Appendix.8: Distribution of Respondents Nature of Information Sought from KSNDMC District Name Rainfall Cyclone Rain-Temperature Rainfall Cyclone Floods Rainfall Total Bagalkot Bangalore urban Bangalore rural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 51

61 Appendix.9: Distribution of Respondents by Usage of Information Sought from KSNDMC District Name Crop Sowing Providing Irrigation Rainfall and Temperature Chemicals to Spray and Fertilizers Street Play Brick Making Bagalkote Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagara Chickaballapura Chickmagalur Chitradurga Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Karwar Koppal Mysore Raichur Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Yadgir Total Total Page 52

62 Appendix.10: Distribution of Respondents Level of Satisfaction about Services of KSNDMC District Name Good Very Good Excellent Total Bagalkot Bangaloreurban Bangalorerural Belgaum Bellary Bidar Bijapur Chamarajanagar Chikkaballapura Chikmagalur Chitradurga Dakshinakannada Davanagere Dharwad Gadag Gulbarga Hassan Haveri Kodagu Kolar Koppal Mandya Mysore Raichur Ramanagara Shimoga Tumkur Udupi Uttarakannada Yadgir Total Page 53

63 Appendix 11: Questionnaire for Officials Are you receiving rainfall data as SMS on your mobile being disseminated from KSNDMC? Yes No How do you rate the programme at SL no 1? Excellent Very Good Good Fair Unsatisfactory Are you receiving high intensity rainfall alerts / very heavy rainfall alerts / heavy rainfall alerts? Yes No How do you rate the information at Sl. No. 3 on a scale of 1 to 10? ( ) Are you receiving the rainfall forecasts details? Yes No Are you receiving the severe weather warnings from KSNDMC? Yes No Are you receiving daily reports of KSNDMC? Yes No Your overall assessment of the services of KSNDMC Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor Page 54

64 Appendix 12: Questionnaire for Farmers Respondent Name. Village Hobali Taluk District Gender Male Female Age(year) Educational Background Primary High School Diploma Graduate > 50 Others Number of family members Income(Annually) Above 10 Total Land owned (in Hectares) a. Marginal b. Small c. Semi-Medium d. Medium e. Large (Less than 1h) (1. to 2.) (2. to 4.) (4. to 10.) (> 10) Type of Ownership Single Joint From where did you get to know about Help Desk Radio TV News Friends Govt or NGOs How many calls have you made till now?... How long you are the getting information from Helpdesk a.3 Months b. 6 Months c. 9 Months d. 1 Years e. > 1 year Regarding which issue you generally contact the Helpdesk? Drought flood Rainfall Earthquake Landslide cyclone Temperature Tsunami winds Annually how many crops do you sow in the land > 3 Page 55

65 How much time will you spend to take information from the department over phone (minute) >15 What is the satisfaction level from this department poor Ok good excellent Among whom your sharing the information which is provided by the department Neighbors Friends Village Member Relatives Others Any suggestion you would like to give for this Department Has he implemented the services? Was it useful for him? By sharing the information has the farmer implemented the same? What kind of crops will he grow, food or commercial? How much time did you spend in connecting to a phone line? What was the initial reaction from the department? Did you get sufficient time to discuss with the concerned person? Page 56

66 Appendix 13: List of Farmers Contacted SL NO DATE CONTACT NUMBERS REMARKS 1 8/2/ Response 2 8/2/ Response 3 8/2/ Doesn't exist 4 8/2/ Response 5 8/2/ Response 6 9/2/ Response 7 9/2/ No response 8 9/2/ Response 9 9/2/ Response 10 10/2/ Response 11 10/2/ Response 12 10/2/ Response 13 10/2/ Switched off 14 10/2/ Response 15 10/2/ Response 16 10/2/ Switch off 17 10/2/ Response 18 10/2/ Temporarily out of service 19 10/2/ No response 20 10/2/ Not Reachable 21 10/2/ response 22 10/2/ Not Reachable 23 10/2/ Response 24 10/2/ Response 25 10/2/ Response 26 14/2/ Response 27 14/2/ wrong number Page 57

67 28 14/2/ Response 29 14/02/ Response 30 14/02/ Response 31 14/02/ Response 32 14/02/ Response 33 14/02/ Response 34 14/02/ Response 35 14/02/ No response 36 14/02/ Response 37 14/02/ Response 38 21/02/ Response 39 21/02/ Response 40 21/02/ Response 41 21/02/ Response 42 21/02/ Response 43 21/02/ Response 44 23/02/ Response 45 23/02/ Response 46 23/02/ Response 47 23/02/ Response 48 23/02/ Switched off 49 23/02/ Response 50 23/02/ Response 51 23/02/ No response 52 23/02/ Response 53 23/02/ Response 54 24/02/ Response 55 24/02/ Not reachable 56 24/02/ Temporarily out service 57 24/02/ Response 58 24/02/ Doesn t exist 59 24/02/ Response 60 24/02/ Response 61 24/02/ Response 62 24/02/ Response 63 24/02/ Response Page 58

68 64 24/02/ Response 65 27/02/ Switched off 66 27/02/ Response 67 27/02/ Response 68 27/02/ Response 69 27/02/ Response 70 27/02/ Response 71 1/3/ Response 72 1/3/ Response 73 1/3/ Response 74 1/3/ Response 75 1/3/ No response 76 1/3/ Doesn t exist 77 1/3/ No response 78 1/3/ Response 79 2/3/ Doesn t exist 80 2/3/ Response 81 2/3/ Switched off 82 2/3/ No response 83 2/3/ No response 84 2/3/ Response 85 2/3/ Response 86 2/3/ Response 87 2/3/ Response 88 2/3/ Response 89 2/3/ wrong number 90 2/3/ Response 91 2/3/ Response 92 27/3/ Not reachable 93 27/3/ Response 94 27/3/ Response 95 27/3/ Response 96 27/3/ Response 97 29/3/ Response 98 29/3/ No response 99 29/3/ Doesn t exist Page 59

69 100 29/3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Doesn t exist /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ no response /3/ Response /3/ Response /3/ Doesn t exist /3/ Response 117 2/4/ Response 118 2/4/ Response 119 2/4/ Response 120 2/4/ Response 121 2/4/ Response 122 3/4/ No response Page 60

70