41k Women Farmers To Get Mobile Phones In Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has decided to distribute 41,000 mobile phones to women farmers in the state.

They will get information relating to agriculture activities through the mobile phone.

The government would provide cell phones at free of cost to the women, who are identified with the government or availing Kisan Credit Card, said an official of Agriculture Department.

The government has made a Rs 2 crore budgetary provision to distribute cell phones to women farmers.

In 2013, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had launched a new programme called Digital Mandi for the farmers. He had distributed mobile phones to 18,000 farmers. They receive agriculture-related information such as weather information, market rate, etc. via SMS and voice calls.