e-Velanmai is an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based, demand driven and participatory agricultural extension model in agriculture to provide timely agro advisory services by a multidisciplinary team of agricultural scientists to the registered farmers using ICT tools (Digital camera, Laptop, internet and mobile phone) through an Extension Coordinator (EC) on need basis.

Given the problems that extension agents/researchers face in facilitating direct contact with farmer clients due to the physical distances involved and the lack of transportation needed for their mobility, the applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers excellent possibilities to render cost effective and quality extension services to farming community.

To confront the complex nature of agriculture and the challenges being faced, the use of multidisciplinary expertise involving a mix of specialists is becoming more and more the norm in addressing agricultural information delivery today. With this background, an attempt was done to evolve an effective ICT based technology transfer model called ‘e-Velanmai’ (Velanmai means ‘agriculture’ in Tamil language i.e., electronic agriculture) for the dissemination of agricultural information from a multidisciplinary team of the agricultural scientists of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) directly to the needed farmers on pilot basis in the selected command areas (Palar, Aliyar and Varahanadhi sub basin) of Tamil Nadu. The proposed model is aimed to provide timely and appropriate technical advice to the needed farmers on need basis, thus overcoming the inadequacies experienced in the earlier technology transfer models and achieve agricultural development in the region. This action research was conducted by Dr.C.Karthikeyan, Association professor, CARDS & principle Investigator. Pilot testing of this ICT based project was initiated by the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development Studies (CARDS) of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore during July 2007 and it is being implemented with the support of the World bank aided TN-IAMWARM project sponsored by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Based on the successful attempts in pilot experimentation the e-Velanmai model of Agricultural Extension was up scaled in 19 sub basins of Tamil nadu during 2011-2012 under the TN-IAMWARM project.