A team of 40 members from CARITAS – a social arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka, visited the MSSRF’s Village Resource Centres (VRCs) and Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) in Pudukkottai and Thiruvaiyaru, TamilNadu, on June 17 and 18, 2023.

Headed by Fr. Luke, the National Director of Caritas, they visited the centres to gain first-hand experience on how ICT can be useful to small and marginal farmers.

Dr. R. Rajkumar, Principal Scientist at MSSRF, along with the staff and knowledge workers, explained the protocols required to establish knowledge centres. They also demonstrated ICT-enabled programmes to the visitors.

Management Committee Members of VKC, farmers, and officials from the Animal Husbandry and Agriculture Departments shared their feedback on the predominant role of VRCs and VKCs in providing information, seasonal crop-based advisories, and other online services. They highlighted how the ICT-enabled programmes helped farmers access relevant information and advisories without having to travel to the information source.

Following the visit, a meeting was organised at the office of the Joint Director of Agriculture Pudukkottai – Mr. Periyasamy, who explained the various joint programmes conducted with MSSRF.