Enhancing Government-Farmer Communication through a Virtual Assistant

Overview

India’s economy and livelihood depend largely on agriculture, which accounts for 18% of the GDP and employs 45.5% of the total workforce. Yet, many Indian farmers struggle with the lack of information on various aspects of agriculture and farming, such as schemes, resources, and markets. 

To address the lack of information among the farmers of Jammu and Kashmir, the state government launched a comprehensive program for agricultural development that aimed to reach more farmers. To support this initiative and empower the farmers with reliable and relevant information, GDI Partners collaborated with Auriga IT to create a holistic solution that can answer the farmers’ queries.

About Client

GDI Partners is  an impact -driven start-up that collaborates with government and impact-oriented leaders to design and implement development programs that create lasting and positive change for people and communities.

Challenges

The main challenge was to create a solution that everyone can use, especially since most farmers are not familiar with technology and have limited access to reliable information sources. In addition, farmers faced other difficulties such as:

• Language Barriers: Farmers spoke in various native languages and dialects, making it challenging for them to access answers to their questions. They also lacked trustworthy sources of information that they could rely on.
• Understanding Queries- To better understand the needs and problems of farmers, the authorities required a system that could provide them with a realistic view of the queries that arise, rather than relying on assumptions or biased choices.

Solutions

GDI Partners teamed up with Auriga IT to develop a virtual assistant that could overcome them all and reach every home easily, without the need for complex systems. Using our expertise in chatbot solutions, we developed a virtual assistant that uses a large language model, and a database to answer any questions that farmers in Jammu and Kashmir may have.

• Large Language Model – We used a large language model and the government provided data to equip the virtual assistant with a wealth of knowledge, so that it can answer a wide range of questions accurately.
• Multilingual Chat Assistant- We used natural language processing and Whisper, an audio transcription API, to enable multilingual support. This allows us to convert speech to text and detect the language of the user’s query.

• Integrated into WhatsApp- We made the virtual assistant accessible through WhatsApp using the WhatsApp Business API, ensuring easy access for more farmers.

Project Outcomes

• Easy Flow of Information- Farmers easily accessed and understood information through a simplified virtual assistant on WhatsApp.
• Removed Middlemen- The virtual assistant cut out middlemen, making solutions accessible to everyone in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Overcome Language Barriers- Farmers can ask questions in their own language (Urdu, Hindi, English) through the virtual assistant.
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