Design and Development of a Crop Information System for Technology Transfer

Kerala Forest Research Institute have documented over 5000 plants from the state of Kerala of which around 1300 are crop plants. A comprehensive information system comprising the plant identification details, photos of various parts of the plant, botany for plant identification, and agro techniques was found necessary. The crop information system was designed and developed with this objective in mind. There are over 3,12,000 permutations and combinations through which the selection of plants can be made. The Agile software development approach was used for the development of the software. The interactivity and easiness of the use were specially taken care in the development phase. The developed software was tested with a group of research scientists, extension officials and progressive farmers for final validation. It was made available in the website www.farmextensionmanager.com. The application can act as a ready to use guide for the farming community in the area of plant identification and cultivation.