32 Kisan Call Centre

P. Jaisridhar

epgp books

 

 

 

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION

 

The Kisan Call Centre is an ICT initiative launched by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture on January 21, 2004 to instantly respond to farmer’s queries in their local language. Farmers from any part of the country can contact KCC simply like common public do to contact the customer care of their preferred network for queries. If it is a BSNL connection KCC can be contacted by just dialling 1551 toll free number. If it is other network, then farmers can dial “1800-180-1551” and get their query solved. In Tamil Nadu, until 2014, it was Cartel India Limited which acted as Level-III centre for Kisan Call Centre in Tamil Nadu. From May 2014 onwards, the administration of Kisan Call Centre was taken over by Indian Farmer Fertilizer Company (IFFCO) and working since then in the name of IFFCO Kisan.

 

In today’s condition, the policy makers feel it as a real challenge to bridge the communication gap that prevails between two farmers, between two villages, between two regions and perhaps between two countries. The only way to bridge this gap is through some ICT initiatives. Recent studies have shown impressive growth of telecommunication network for effective information utilization and delivery of knowledge and information in the country.In Kenya, the helpline service was started on a pilot basis by GSMA Foundation, Inc., which was funded by Rockefeller Foundation. The technology was named Kenya Farmer’s Helpline. It was mainly started to bring a change in the economic, social and environmental development in the country. The helpline received very good support from the local farmers and till 2010, the helpline solved queries of over 30,000 farmers. During the same period, India solved queried of over one lakh farmers. Now, the number would be much more than what we expect.

 

However, the communication pattern in agriculture has few flaws. For example, the drawbacks experienced in the existing human resource basedextension services has been that the monitoring authorities are not able to get a clear feedback on the quality of extension services being delivered in the villages. Further, the extension services delivered is knowledge and information based on felt needs and what has been given to them by the higher authorities. On the other hand, a call centre based extension services will be delivering knowledge and information exactly as per the requirement of the farming community. This system would also help keep a record of what is being delivered to the farmers in terms of knowledge and information. There are totally 13 kisan call centres in and around the country. For Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Kisan Call Centre is located within the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University campus and managed by IFFCO. Usually the management rights of Kisan Call Centre is obtained from Telecommunication Consultant India Limited (TCIL) through tenders. With the common toll free number 1800-180-1551, farmers can contact to KCC from any part of the country. More than 200 agriculture graduates at Level-I and 150 subject matter specialists at Level – II are being employed across the country to serve the farming community.

 

1.1. Working hours and shifts

 

Working hours for the staff at the Level-I centre is shift basis. The centre is operated 14 hours a day between 6.00 AM to 10.00 PM in three shifts. The first shift starts by morning at around 6.00 AM and goes up to 11.00 AM. The second shift starts by 11.01 AM and end by 4.00 PM. The last shift starts from 4.01 PM to 10.00 PM. Once the shift is over, the Integrated Voice Response System (IVRS) will be activated which will record the voice of the farmers and display it the next day morning when the shift starts. Among all ICT projects, KCC has created a revolution in bridging the communication gap between farmers and extension personals. In coming years, many new innovation can be expected in KCC to make communication more effective. Already, innovation like text message, video calls etc being performed in the centre are monitored constantly for future upgradation.

 

2. Working Pattern and Infrastructural Design of Kisan Call Centre

 

KCC is a 24×7 service centre that functions in three levels viz., Level-I, Level-II & Level-III. Level – I has a typical call centre infrastructure, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) like set up that hosts agricultural graduates who are fluent in answering farmer query in their local language. When these graduates cannot solve the query, they will immediately transfer the call to the Subject Matter Specialist (SMS) at Level – II. Unlike Level – I, Level – II doesn’t have call centre infrastructure. Instead, it have experts working in various research or teaching institutes of the concerned State’s agriculture, veterinary or fisheries Institutes. About 90 per cent of the farmer’s problem gets solved in Level – II itself. In Level III, administration works will be taken care of. Officials working at Level – III will constantly monitor the officials working in the other two levels. Level – III makes sure that all calls are properly responded and reported to Telecommunication Consultant India Limited (TCIL). The working pattern and infrastructural design of each level are detailed below,

 

2.1. Level – I

 

The working pattern of the system here is, the level –I functionary (operator)also called as the Farm Tele Advisor (FTA) receives the call with a welcome phrase and notes down the personal details and query of the farmer. The operator feeds the details in the knowledge management software (KMS) given to all the KCC centres by TCIL. KMS holds the database of the callers and it will be monitored periodically by TCIL. Once the details are registered in the software, an identity number will be generated which will be given to the caller for future reference & identity purpose (i.e.) next time when the same caller calls KCC, he can simply say his ID number and the operator will take the entire details including the call history of the caller with the help of KMS. After listening to all the details given by the caller, the Level-I functionary will respond to the caller and provides him the necessary solution. Inter-personal communication skill and local language proficiency are the two essential pre-requisite of the level-I functionary.

 

KCC infrastructure is typically designed like multi-national company’s BPO centre. Level-I office has 8 individual chambers. Each chamber will have a computer installed with a mic to hunt the lines received to the centre on first come first serve basis. The entire interface has an air condition facility and Local Area Network (LAN) connection for high speed internet. For power back up, all the KCC centre around the country are installed with uninterrupted power supply. The infrastructure maintenance will be taken care by the management. Currently IFFCO is taking care of the maintenance.

Picture 1: Kisan Call Centre of Tamil Nadu located within the TNAU Campus, Coimbatore

 

2.2. Level – II

 

Unlike level – I, there is no specific office structure for level – II. The contacts of all the scientists working in various research stations, Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs), veterinary dispensaries, agriculture department, animal husbandry and fisheries colleges are available in the database. Therefore, when a farmer raises a query at Level – I and if the query is not answered, the level – I functionary will first assess from where the call is made. For example, if the call is received from Vellore district, the farmer will be asked to contact Virinjipuram Research Station or KVK or the level – I functionary will connect the call in conference mode to Level – II functionary and make sure that the caller gets a satisfied solution for his / her problem. More than 90 of the farmer’s query are answered within level – I & II. If in some exceptional case, the call is not answered, then it is the responsibility of the KCC officials to guide the caller with a suitable solution within 72 hours. These solutions are provided in the form or text message or through telephone by an advanced system installed at KCC. Like Level – I functionaries, Level – II also have some pre-requisites. They are,

  • Must be the native of the state with local language proficiency and communication skill.
  • They must be strong in their subject and must possess sufficient field experience.

 

Level – II doesn’t have a formal set up like level – I, but they do possess a telephone connection, a computer with internet facility, an UPS and a LAN connection within the centre in which they are working. Proposals have been made to start a specific centre for Level – II and it is still in the pipeline. Soon in the future, every research station, KVK and institutes will have a team of Level – II subject matter specialist specially dedicated for responding to the calls being forwarded from Level – I functionaries.

 

2.3. Level – III

 

Level – III is the nodal agency. In other words they can be called as the management group or the system of administration. Mostly, the nodal agency will take care of staff’s salary, recruitment procedures and overall management of the centre. After being declared as the official partner, IFFCO had done many improvement in the quality of service delivery within KCC. They had set standard instruction for all the staffs working in the KCC and the time plan for delivering 24 x 7 service to the farming community. Recent, IFFCO had gone a step further and developed m-Kisan mobile app and Green SIM card plan with an activated voice, text messages and call back options. M-Kisan app is available in the google play store and can be installed in both android smart phones and apple. This app was launched by our Honourable Prime Minister Shri. Narandra Modi Ji. Once the app is downloaded in the smart phone, the farmer has to register his / her personal information and enjoy the benefits of the app. Farmers with the app will get instant updates of agricultural technology, weather information, market status, mandi prices, best agricultural practice tips and much more. The app is designed in such a fashion that the farmer can enjoy the additional features like integrated voice recording system, send and receive SMS and Kisan Suvidha service.

 

Another initiative of IFFCO which is the Green SIM card are given at free of cost to the farmers who are registered with the IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL). Through this sim card, farmers can contact the experts working in the IKSL and also get one touch connectivity to Kisan Call Centre. Software upgradation, new cyber innovations related to KCC are all being carried out by the nodal agency only. Apart from these initiatives, IFFCO also monitors and review the activities of KCC by a team consisting of Board of Directors and experts. They make sure every time whether the periodical reports and call records are properly submitted to TCIL or not. A schematic representation of how kisan call centre works in the country was drawn by the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) for easy understanding about KCC. The same has been adopted in the present module to ease the learning. The diagram is drawn below,

  1. Skills required at different levels in Kisan Cell Centres

  Three skills are commonly required for the officials working at Kisan Call Centre.

They are, assistance skills, communication skill and computer operating skills.

  1. a) Skill to assist a farmer This is the most essential skill for the KCC functionary or an FTA. He should know how to greet farmer when he/she calls for a query, he should always keep the caller in a comfort zone and must not panic them with hard words. For example, when a farmer calls to enquire regarding a pesticide recommendation for his crop, the FTA on the line must take his query politely and should start with word “nothing to worry, there is a solution to your problem”. This will keep the caller in comfort zone and will create confidence in the centre for easy approach in the future. He should always complete his conversation using simple sentences and common words.
  2. b) Skill to communicate with the farmer Communication is a pre-requisite qualification for any expert working the agriculture and allied sector. Before starting the conversation, the KCC official must keenly listen to the query of the farmer by showing interest that “he/she would like to help the farmer”. The official must relate the query with the native practice by penetrating into the minds of the farmer and respond them empathetically. While having a tele-communication with the farmer, it is always necessary to control the temper in voice and adopt moral courage. Use simple words, speak politely and close the call with the end note. These are some standard instructions to be followed in a call centre to effectively communicate with the farmers.
  3. c) Skill to operate a computerWhen it comes to call centre job, without a computer there is no work. Similarly, Kisan Call Centre is also like a MNC BPO. Plus, to collect information available in the web, there must be some instrument to see or hear the information. Computer does that work and to operate it, one must need skill and know its basics. It is also an essential qualification for KCC job. During the recruitment, staffs are selected only after they prove that they know at least basics on using a keyboard or a mouse and some knowledge about the internet and how to generate an information, send and receive mail and search for data in the web.

Picture – 2 Level-I infrastructure at the Kisan Call Centre of Tamil Nadu.

 

  1. Knowledge Management System (KMS)

    Knowledge Management system is an IT tool used to store and recover information in the web. Every company has a KMS software to store the details of its clients and share them when necessary. Similarly, KCC also has a KMS software developed by Telecommunications Consultant India Limited (TCIL) to store the personal details and call history of the farmer and share them during the conversation. KMS software consist of an user interface registration form which will be used to take down the required detail of the caller by the Level-I functionary. Once the registration is made, an ID number will be provided to the caller so that the next time the same caller contacts KCC, he can just say his ID number and the Farm Tele Advisor (FTA) can take the entire call history of the farmer. Such facility is provided through KMS software. TCIL holds the database of every day calls received at the respective KCCs operated in and around the country.

Picture 3 – Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) installed at KCC, Tamil Nadu

Picture 4 – Data centre of TCIL, Delhi where the KCC call database are maintained

Picture – 5 – Knowledge management software for KCC call centre.

 

5. KCC’s Mission

 

KCCs mission is to provide agriculture and allied information services to the farmers for improving his/her socio-economic status. For this, KCC requires an information database from where it can take instant message and disseminate it to the farmers immediately. This is why the role of ICT is definitely inevitable. ICT can only couple traditional knowledge and advanced input and deliver with ease to the farmers for enriching their knowledge in agriculture and allied fields.

 

5.1. Environmental factors affecting the performance of KCC

 

During adverse climatic conditions, like flood, storm, heavy rain etc, the telecommunication networks will not work properly and can cause inconvenience to the farmers. The UPS power back up installed in each centre can supply power only for few hours. During power shut down because of natural calamities, it is difficult for the officials at the centre to respond to the farmers queries. These are some of the environmental factors that affects KCC performance.

you can view video on Kisan Call Centre

 

Web links

  • http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/kisan/kisan.html
  • http://dackkms.gov.in/Account/Login.aspx
  • http://mkisan.gov.in/aboutkcc.aspx
  • http://mkisan.gov.in/registration.aspx
  • http://www.icar.org.in/en/node/599
  • http://crispindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Kisan-Call-Centre-Sudhakar-Reddy.pdf
  • http://rkvy.nic.in/static/download/RKVY_Sucess_Story/Madhya%20pradesh/Kisan_Call_Centr e.pdf
  • http://djd.dacnet.nic.in/kccdetail.html
  • http://www.thebetterindia.com/2304/kisan-call-center-bridging-information-gap/
  • http://www.iffcokisan.com/home/helpline-kcc
  • http://www.tcil-india.com/new/html/kcc.html
  • http://www.digitalrtimission.com/uploads/3.KISSAN_CALL_CENTRE.pdf
  • http://mkisan.gov.in/aboutivrs.aspx