What is Agricultural Planning and Information Bank (APIB) ?

What is APIB: It is a joint project developed for the East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya by the North Eastern Space Applications Centre(NESAC) in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Government of Meghalaya. It is a single window access to knowledge related to agriculture and allied sectors useful for the farmers, extension personnel and planners.

User Needs Assessment: A team of Scientists/Engineers from NESAC with the support of District Agriculture Officer (DAO), Agriculture Extension Officer (AEO) under the guidance of Project Director, APIB conducted a primary survey through a structured questionnaire (designed in Khasi language) and got feedback from farmers and extension personnel in the district, and a comprehensive report on the information needs expressed by them was brought out. This report formed the basis for the subsequent development of the APIB.

What it contains and provides: It contains information modules on natural resources, Package of Practices for 25 crops, Soil crop Suitability, Integrated Plant Protection (12 crops), Varietal Selection (16 crops),Post Harvest Information (8 crops), Agro-meteorological Services, Food Processing, Fertilizers, Farm Machinery & Hand tools ,Allied sectors & occupations, Soil conservation and Forestry,Water resources, Micro Credit and Self Help Groups.

Natural resources module provides block-wise details of the Land resource Development Plan (LRDP), current Land Use Practices, Soil Type map , Ground Water Prospective map and  Watershed map.  Extension officials can also use this module.

Package of practices are provided in both standard and comprehensive versions. This module provides the correct version for each of the major crops. The following crops were chosen based on the user needs assessment report.

• Food grain crops: Rice and maize.

• Vegetable crops: Potato, cabbage, tomato, carrots.

• Fruit crops: Oranges, pineapple, lemon, papaya.

• Spices: Pepper, tezpatta, turmeric, ginger

• Other crops: Broom grass.

Integrated plant protection provides vital and practical information necessary for pest/disease prevention, control and mitigation. Integrated approach encompassing cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical methods have been considered.

Harvest/post harvest module provides crop-wise information on traditional stoarage devices, such as harvest tips, post harvest handling and processing.

Allied sectors gives information  on Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Sericulture and other non farming activities essential for the farmers of this region.

What are the sources of information : Natural resources module was built using the NRIS data base. Non-spatial modules were based on information gathered from institutions like Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)- Research Complex for NE Hill Region, Barapani, Meghalaya; and Publications of Directorates of Agriculture, Horticulture, Soil Conservation, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Sericulture etc, of Govt. of Meghalaya. The Agro-met module was designed based on data collected from Regional Meteorological Centre, IMD, Guwahati. Compilation is done by qualified scientists and is vetted by experts.

Website File Format : The text content is in HTML, ASP,JS,DOC files. The image files are in JPEG, GIF formats. The database is built with MS Access and MS SQL. Total 286 files and database size is 49.9 MB.

Peer Review: A Steering Committee chaired by the Commissioner & Secretary (Agriculture, etc Department) and five Working Groups constituted by Government of Meghalaya have been guided the development of APIB. Working Groups have also facilitated inter-departmental cooperation and supplied the required information for the development of APIB in the East Khasi Hills district.