Dialog Launches 'SAVIYA', a Mobile Advisory Service for Dairy Farmers

 

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, announced the launch of ‘SAVIYA’, a mobile based advisory service for dairy farmers to improve dairy production capacity, quality of milk produced, and health of livestock.

The service is provided in partnership with the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) who aim to advance sustainable growth in Sri Lanka’s dairy sector by supporting farmers and related enterprises through the Market-Oriented Dairy (MOD) Project, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ‘Food for Progress’ initiative. The service’s technical knowledge content is provided by the subject-matter experts of the MOD Project.

Despite the importance of Dairy in the Sri Lankan livestock industry, the country meets only 30-40% of the growing local fresh milk demand. While the MOD Project aims to enhance the capacities of over 5,000 dairy farmers to improve the quantity and quality of locally produced milk, it found that lack of timely access to relevant information continues to be a prominent issue affecting over 332,335 Sri Lanka’s dairy farmers. SAVIYA addresses this information gap by providing accurate and relevant information on dairy best practices, dairy management, cattle feeding and calf management, sent straight to the farmer’s mobile phone and customised according to the farmer’s individual requirements, animal’s development stages, and other relevant information, such as good nutrition and disease prevention. This service will complement existing extension efforts by DAPH, Provincial DAPHs and Dairy Processing Companies, enabling a broader reach by providing registered dairy entrepreneurs and farmers with time-sensitive, commercially valuable technical messages via text and voice linked to the lactation cycle of animals from pregnancy to calving.

A soft-launch of the product was carried out at the Market-Oriented Dairy Enterprise Day held in Anuradhapura, which was attended by over 800 dairy farmers.

SAVIYA adds to Dialog’s services for farmers, following the launch of ‘Govi Mithuru’, or ‘Uzhavar Thozhan’ in Tamil, which provides personalised information to farmers, tailor-made to suit their individual crop needs. Featuring 20 crops with over 600,000 registered farmers, Govi Mithuru is Sri Lanka’s largest mobile agriculture service. Content partners include the Department of Agriculture under the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as institutes such as the Tea Research Institute and the Industrial Technology Institutes, along with the Ministry of Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine of the Government of Sri Lanka, providing family nutrition advice.

Dialog subscribers may access any crop on Govi Mithuru, or SAVIYA for dairy, for Rs. 1+tax per day. To subscribe to Govi Mithuru or SAVIYA, or both, users simply need to dial 616 on their Dialog mobile and register for the service in their preferred language. SAVIYA can also be directly accessed by dialling 6162.