More than 78000 farmers have been registered through the Bardana mobile app, developed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) under the umbrella of “Digitisation of Food Department”.
Bardana has been successfully launched by Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), other systems that have been launched are Flour Ledger Management Information System and Inventory Management System.
The Punjab government buys 40% of the wheat produced in the province every year to stabilize market price of this staple crop. The PITB has developed a centralized system based on an android application to verify and record data of farmers from whom wheat is purchased by the government. Each farmer’s data is recorded through the application at the procurement center.
The centralized system provides real-time reports of the wheat procurement process from each center. The application has an inbuilt feedback system that sends SMSes and makes automated calls to farmers to gather their feedback on the procurement process. The centralized system enables real-time monitoring, improved transparency and accountability in the wheat procurement process.
These systems are playing a pivotal role in “Wheat Procurement Drive 2020” and monitoring the stock positions and wheat delivery mechanisms across Punjab, he added.
This was informed in a progress review meeting chaired by PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor. Director General IT Operations Faisal Yousuf and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.
The wheat procured from farmers is recorded through PITB powered Wheat Procurement App and Web Portal. For the first time Payment Scroll is introduced, through which payment against the wheat procured is calculated and its access has also been provided to the banks and concerned centers to facilitate in calculating and making payments to the wheat sellers.