image
logo
COMPENDIUM, IEEC-2023   ( ISBN : 978-81-967860-4-5 )
Print
Theme 1: Emerging experiences on CBOs’ intervention and Sustainable Agri-food Systems

ANGRAU Chatbot - India's First SAU Chatbot for Answering FAQs of the Farmers

A. Lalitha, K.S. Purnima, K. Gurava Reddy, A. Manoj and M. Venkata Ramulu

Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Lam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
lalitha@angrau.ac.in

Abstract

The ANGRAU WhatsApp chatbot’s purpose was to answer the frequently asked questions of the farmers as a Text document or image. AI&CC team identified the most common queries farmers typically seek on FCC toll free number. SMATBOT Company based in Hyderabad was selected for ANGRAU chatbot development. Next, verified WA business API account to connect the SMATBOT development tool for creating 50 chatbot flows and responses. Conversation flow was defined by mapping out farmer FAQs and expected bot responses. This involved creating highlighted intents, which represent farmer questions, and defining corresponding responses. Furthermore, trained the ANGRAU chatbot by providing sample queries and responses (in the form of PDF documents) prepared from ANGRAU's ‘Farmer’s Almanac’ book. This helped the chatbot understand farmers’ inputs and generate accurate generic responses with PDFs download option. Then, connected SMATBOT platform with WhatsApp API of ANGRAU chatbot. This process typically involved generating and configuring API keys, web hook URLs, or utilizing platform-specific integration methods. Once the ANGRAU chatbot was integrated with WhatsApp, team promoted it among farmers through social media. ANGRAU extension centres shared farmers list for triggering bulk messages. ANGRAU advertised the availability of chatbot through triggered bulk messages from ANGRAU WA platform itself on WA number of the farmers. Team ensured that farmers know how to interact with the user-friendly chatbot by preparing a poster in Telugu and widely publicizing it. AI&CC team continuously monitored the ANGRAUBoT’s performance and made improvements based on user feedback and analytics.

IEEC-2023 at RARI (SKNAU, Jobner), Jaipur, Rajasthan organised by Society of Extension Education, Agra, India