Farmers make time for social media to network, share and solve

‘From knowing about different PVC pipes to discovering innovative farming methods, it is all easy through social media’

It’s been a month since ‘BN FandPatil’ got on Clubhouse, the social audio app. He sits by a window at 7 p.m. for a live conversation on the Indian Farmer’s Club voice chat room, catching up with fellow farmers Shivaji Awate, Samadhan Bagul, Vijay Jaibhave and Balasaheb Gavli Barshi on agricultural practices, weather, marketing and crop management. Social media is not new to him — he also uses Facebook and Instagram to network. “Social media se bahut benefit hua hai (social media has been of great benefit),” he says, adding that his Facebook post on farming beans 10 years ago received many comments, opening a window of opportunities. “I learnt natural activation techniques of soil and the importance of weather,” recalls the 36-year-old farmer.