The District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) in Parbat is all set to provide assistance to farmers through mobile phone service.

The DADO has developed computer software in order to share information among farmers via SMS service. The office claimed that it will be the first service of this kind in the country.

DADO chief Basudev Regmi said they have collected cell phone numbers of around 1,000 farmers in 47 VDCs and one municipality and started sending information to them. He said they will send information to farmers about services being provided by the DADO and provide them necessary assistance to resolve their problems.

Officials said the project will disseminate information about all services to farmers who are involved in commercial farming. The initiative, however, will be started formally within the next two weeks, Regmi said. “We planned to start the service before Tihar but it has been delayed due to some technical problems,” he said.

“Farmers can receive information about all daily activities of the DADO along with tips on modern farming techniques. They also can inform us about their problems sending text messages to our software and we will send specific solution to their respective cell number,” said Bishnu Magrati, information officer at the DADO.

Officials said the initiative was started to share information on time after farmers complained about services such as irrigation, youth entrepreneurship and trainings being provided by the DADO. Surendra Parajuli, a farmer, said they hope to receive information on time and equal treatment for all.

The office has started collaborating with telephone service providers Nepal Telecom and Ncell.

Meanwhile, the DADO has also been updating its activities on website.