eSAP

eSAP is an ICT tool for plant protection. This tool can be accessed by registered users only, it is not available for all. The Govt. of Karnataka, in its ongoing efforts to digitise agricultural extension, has adopted eSAP to empower the extension workers who provide plant protection services to the farmers of the State. Content support, expert support, training support and deployment of eSAP in Karnataka is managed by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur in collaboration with other Agricultural Universities in the State. Please contact the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur for training (esapuasrgok@gmail.com) on eSAP.

Field User Application of eSAP:
This application enables extension workers to register farmers and crops, to independently identify crop health problems, estimate the extent of the problems, prescribe solutions and follow up with farmers. The extension workers can manage insect pests, microbial diseases, nutritional disorders and weeds that affect crop health, and estimate the densities of different natural enemies of crop pests. The extension worker can also record plant protection initiatives that farmers have taken up by themselves. Further, eSAP empowers them to recommend good agricultural practices to the farmers. The extension worker can perform all these activities without depending on network availability.

Expert Support System:
In a situation where an extension worker needs help during the diagnosis of any crop health problem, eSAP connects the worker with the designated team of State Experts. eSAP has a separate mobile application for experts that is integrated with a discussion forum. Any delay in responding to queries is automatically escalated, which ensures prompt responses from experts. The response from the experts are relayed back to the farmers by the relevant extension worker.

Principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM):
The field user application has crop/crop age/problem-specific protocols for damage assessment. Economic Threshold Levels (ETLs) defined in the system position the crop health problem according to the damage intensity. Based on the age of the crop, nature of the problem and the intensity of the damage, prescriptions are generated in the device.

Ticketing System:
eSAP has a built-in ticketing system that can integrate with a call centre application. This facility will allow the farmers an easy access to plant protection services.

Other features of the field user application:
-The application works offline in Kannada and English languages.
-It allows for printed recommendations to be handed to the farmer in the field, and, thus, heralds “prescription-based farming” in the State.
-eSAP allows the extension workers from different organisations in the State to work on a common instance.
-Farmer list is synchronised across devices and is made available when offline too. Thus, extension workers do not depend on network availability to identify previously registered farmers, which helps in tracking the crop health situations prevailing in each farm, and in each crop.

Web portal of eSAP:
The portal side of eSAP allows the client to create multiple realms and sub-realms, with each defined by a unique set of properties — crops, prescriptions, locations, languages, devices, experts and report users. There are role-based access restrictions that ensure smooth functioning of the system. The Reporting Engine of eSAP allows users to generate a variety of reports — tables, graphs and spatial plots. Farm-specific history can also be accessed through the reporting system. eSAP has a Pest Alert System that can be configured by each user with respect to the nature of crops, problems, intensity of damage, location and duration.

eSAP is built on the Crop Health Management Platform of M/s. Tene Agricultural Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru for UAS Raichur