This system was developed to automate the price monitoring mechanism for agriculture inputs. The need for the system was felt because of output and resource wastage in manual price inspections. It would take the department at least a week to finish inspection drive in a market as the staff would visit the site and report variation in prices to concerned authorities after two days. The authorities would then take another three days to analyse the variation and issue orders to magistrates for fines. Fertilizer and pesticide companies have now been provided with user logins to enter their product details and base price onto the website. Once the price is entered, it automatically syncs to the mobile application given to the inspection staff. The staff visits various dealers and uploads the evaluated price and other identification credentials against each product quantity of fertilizers and pesticides.
The system then analyses the difference between the base price and the evaluated price and automatically sends an SMS of the variation to the concerned authorities including the designated tehsil price magistrates who have also been provided with a compliance Android application. The details of the shop and the product for which variations are found is automatically updated on the application available to price magistrates. Using the application, the magistrates can readily update violator’s details and issue orders to concerned officials to collect fines. Once fines are collected, the magistrate closes the case on the mobile application and submits a weekly report to the Agriculture Secretary. The system contains an online storage of the price data of fertilizer and pesticide products. It has resulted in transparency in evaluation of prices and better enforcement of base prices.