There has been an improvement in crop yields with support of new technologies, in addition to learning video-making skills – thanks to Digital Green which is catalysing a quiet revolution in the little hamlets of India. Its founder, Rikin Gandhi, has been named as a top young innovator by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Digital Green is Delhi-based project that aims to educate farmers about farming techniques, through locally produced videos in which local cultivators are featured. The project works in over 200 villages across Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh with seven NGOs, helping famers improve their living standards and productivity.
Gandhi, originally a native of Vadodara in Gujarat, founded Digital Green in Bangalore in 2006. Under the initiative, more than 500 videos have been produced – documenting more than 300 farming practices – and screened over 5,000 times. It has been viewed by over 16,000 farmers. The initiative encompasses a 8 to 10 minute video screening is organised for small groups of farmers on a daily basis. The videos focus on various types of optimum agricultural techniques, social issues, government programmes, livestock and seed germination, among other issues.
