If you had thought that the toll-free kissan call centre number (KCC), 1551, was for farmers, think again. For, almost 30% of the calls made to the number are from urban areas, with callers asking for assistance in home gardening.
What?s more? The callers also seek veterinary advice, as the KCCs has an animal husbandry advisory division too. Nurseries in urban areas also seek advice on the price of seeds, the best place to buy the seeds and the best fertilisers to use.
?We receive calls asking us about how to plant a garden and which flowers to place where. People also call to seek advice on treatment of their pets, asking what kind of medicines need to give by describing the symptoms of the animal,? said a call attendant. But the most worrying fact of all is that almost 85% of the callers are repeat callers.
This indicates that the popularity of the programme has not spread beyond its initial reach, when it was launched on January 21, 2004. In terms of attrition, the KCC suffers 50% attrition every month, more than the BPO industry?s rate of 30%.
Due to this rate of attrition, the companies to which the project has been outsourced are forced to compromise on the eligibility criteria for KCC employees. The minimum eligibility for a KCC attendant is a BSc in agriculture, but preferred employees are MSc in agriculture.
With high attrition, call attendants are often graduates, who are given forwarding phone numbers to consult agricultural scientists to solve a problem.
KCC was set up with the aim of gathering feedback from the farmers, on the kind of results the information passed on to them have produced.
However, on an average only 25% calls are logged. ?The software on which we work is very slow and cumbersome, so all calls cannot be logged,? said the call attendant. This fact goes against the very foundation and purpose of providing the service.