YOGYAKARTA – Faculty of Agriculture UGM has launched an application, Petani (farmer), based on Android and Short Message Service (SMS) for famers to enable farmers in communicating with experts from UGM amidst the lack of farming mentors in the country, said Dean of Faculty of Agriculture UGM, Dr. Jamhari, S.P. , M.P., to reporters on Monday (17/11) at Grha Sabha Pramana UGM.
Currently, there are 47,955 farming mentors, which is considered too few for the number of villages which reaches 75,224.
Jamhari hoped the application would enable farmers to get the latest information related to farming solutions. A car is also provided that will come to the site of the farmer after getting a request from them.
UGM agricultural experts are involved to inform the farmers on how to solve a problem.
Anita Hesti, Director of 8villages Indonesia, the company that provides the app said that the app was specifically made for the farmers for free. She claimed that experts will respond to farmer’s questions in 1x24 hours. “We’re offering IT and the web services. If a certain farmer doesn’t have an android mobile phone yet, they can register by SMS,” she said.
The Petani app can be downloaded at link http://www.8villages.com/petani or text IKUTI RPP (mobile phone number), send to 2000.