NARAYANA SWAMY: 2 LAKH WEB PAGES DATABASE ON AGRICULTURE
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| A.V.Narayanaswamy, VPS 354, Vattavila, Thirumala.P.O, Thiruvananthapuram 695006 Ph: 0471- 2351742 |
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Download Database of featured talents. (Excel file) |
It is said that for a farmer cultivation of the crop is less strenuous than marketing it. And when the modern market extends beyond the borders of one’s country, the problem becomes all the more acute.
IT-savvy farmer A.V.Narayanaswamy’s significance comes here. He has tried to put together the different agreements and their allied technical specifications that govern the trade in agricultural goods in the world market.
A farmer from Wynad, he became aware of the shrinking market for coffee and the WTO agreement during the later half of 1990s. Many overnight journeys to Bangalore to browse the Net to gather information on the global scenario taught him the need to gather the available data in one place. Thus floppy by floppy he gathered valuable information that was to later expand in the course of 6 years into a 2 lakhs web pages database on agriculture. Simultaneously he learned different programming languages and software packages to put the information in proper order.
If 42-year-old Narayana Swamy is a pioneer enabling farmers to become farming entrepreneurs, his own life is a reflection of that pioneering way. After the death of his parents, 12-year-old Swamy grew under the guardianship of the courts. He completed his schooling from St.Joseph’s, Neelgiri and graduated in economics from Vivekananda College, Chennai. At the age of 21, he came back to reclaim his ancestral property of 8-acres coffee estate in Wynad. At the age of 25 he married Prabha from Thiruvananthapuram. They have 2 children: Vishnu and Veda.
The family does collective farming of resources for the database. While Prabha does the data processing, Vishnu does html and scripts and Veda does graphics and mail.
Armed with the latest information on the tricks of the trade, Narayana Swamy is preparing the farmers of Kerala to take on the world.
Courtesy: T.Gireesh Kumar, Kerala Kaumudi, February 2, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
