Kumaraguru College of Technology on Tuesday launched a mobile application linked with website to help the farmers of the district by creating awareness on technology supported farming.

The project is funded by IEEE Foundation, USA to the tune of $18, 263, to help the farmers and the technical partners are Yellow Tree Academy and Eco Green Unit.

Launching the app, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director, Dr K Arunachalam pointed out that India has grown five times since 1950 in terms of agricultural production and also appreciated that Tamil Nadu generates 72 per cent of its internal revenue from agriculture.

Despite this growth, the concentration should be focused on removing mal-nourishment and developing climate resilient variety of crops, he said.

The project “Smart Agriculture for Sustainable Food Production” was conceived by researchers of the College to create awareness among farmers about the benefits of ICT solutions in crop production and marketing the produce.

The website ‘Mann Uyir” is launched to assist the farmers in sharing the knowledge on best practices for the crop production, to know about the availability of machinery and farm equipment for rental and to have a portal for marketing their produce.

The name “Mann Uyir” signifies the relation between the earth and living things and shows how protecting the farmers can protect the economy and the society.

IEEE Philanthropy Manager, Dr Preeethi said that there was a lot of opportunity for the faculty and students to address various social related problems. She said that different funding sources are available under IEEE for research in engineering, developing smart villages and fellowship and stipend for students.