‘Mentha Mitra’—An android app based advisory digital tool for menthol mint farmers

• Published in: Industrial crops and products 2020-02, Vol.144, p.112047, Article 112047
• Main Authors: Singh, Prabal P., Pandey, Praveen, Singh, Deepak, Singh, Swati, Khan, Mohammad Saleem, Semwal, Manoj
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Android; ICT; Mentha arvensis L; Mentha Mitra; Mobile app
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.112047

•Mentha arvensis is an important crop popular amongst smallholder farmers in India.•Unavailability of timely scientific advisories largely affects its cultivation.•CSIR-CIMAP has developed a free android application ‘Mentha Mitra’.•‘Mentha Mitra’ downloaded and used by more than 1500 farmers.•This app helps farmers to boost menthol mint productivity and profit margins. Medicinal and aromatic crop cultivation by the small and marginal farmers not only increases their income, but also acts as insurance crops against the climate extremes. Amongst the aromatic crops, menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L.) is an important short duration (90–110 days) cash crop extensively grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. However, its farming is becoming less profitable due to lack of scientific knowledge, pest attacks, disease infestations, high water requirement and introduction of synthetic menthol in the market. It is apparent that the dissemination of the institutional scientific expertise on the menthol mint crop agro-technologies through the available information and communication technology tools would help in increasing the essential oil yields, on one hand and reduce their input cost on the other. CSIR-CIMAP has developed a bilingual (English and Hindi) android mobile application ‘Mentha Mitra’ for the menthol mint growers. This mobile application provides information on improved high yielding varieties, crop related diseases, insects, pests and improved distillation units. It also provides an interactive platform for the farmers to obtain the scientific e-advisories for the menthol mint crop during its growing season with an aim to increase their crop productivity and profit margins.