India’s largest Kisan Call Centre (KCC) in the agricultural sector, a project under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmer Welfare (DAC&FW) and run by IFFCO Kisan as the execution partner, is strengthening the famers through its advisory and consultancy services.
Having started in 2008, the call centre has come a long way ever since it collaborated with the government to assist farmers in their day-to-day practices. Focusing on improving the quality of the calls and constant monitoring has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of daily inbound calls. Initially, the call centre was operating across 13 locations; today it is operating from 21 locations.
The calls are being answered by approximately 600 agriculture expert who are hired from various agriculture universities from 6 AM to evening 10 PM. Taking into account the diversity of the country, the service comes in 22 vernacular languages to overcome the geographical barrier. KCC establishes to resolve the enquiries with 90 percent efficiency and the average answering speed is less than 10 seconds. It not just supported the farmers against the devastating shutdown but also contributed to the country’s economy.
Entertaining more than 22,000 calls daily, the call centres ensured uninterrupted services during lockdown owing to the collective expertise of the team functioning from their homes.
From guiding the farmers over the call to providing additional services crucial for enhancing productivity, KCC has proved to be a true companion assisting farmers in every step of the process.
Moreover, the team backed up with intensive training have been well versed in Kisan Knowledge Management System that comes handy in providing myriad services that doesn’t compromise on the quality. Periodic training and monitoring is conducted for the tele advisors for quality assurance and successful resolution of the issues.
To expand the verticals of services, KCC is diversified in the realm of automated calls updating on weather and mandi prices. In addition to this, the services are not just limited to agricultural advisory but have included other allied services entailing horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, among others. Thus, the Kisan Call Centre is entirely dedicated to improving the farming techniques that aligns with the goal of enhancing the overall livelihood of the farmers where they can emerge as an enriched and empowered community. Keeping in mind the potential of the agriculture sector, the call centre is intensively working towards making agriculture the backbone of India’s GDP and eventually farmer welfare.
