Question 2 (opens 19 Sept.)
What factors make ICT-based advisory services for smallholders sustainable?
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<p>Dear all, Thanks Asad for that analysis.</p>
<p>Let me add to say that involvement of stakeholders in the design of ICT advisory services is important for sustainability . This makes the users ownership of the system. Many a times proffessions design ICT services for adoption by small scale farmers. Certain concepts like USSD and other concepts are not well explained to stake holders. I would like to pose a question. Has anyone come up with an ICT advisory service with the involvement of stakeholders that is sustainable?</p>
<p>Particulary i am more concerned with costs related to organising content which the beneficiaries access at the end of the day. Are these people paid from revenues generated by the system or a subsidy from external funds is used to pay them. As long as the advisory system fails to pay for its operation costs then we need more innovative thinking to mitigate this fact.</p>
<p>In Zambia we are working towards this goal of establishing a sustainable market information system based on strengthening symbotic relationship that exists between market agents and farmers through competition. More details on request as we are on pilot stage. Thanks</p>
Dear Richard
In Bangladesh we have developed two different helpline one is Agri helpline for only farmers and another one id SME helpline for micro and small enterprises. Bother of these services are commercially launched by mobile phone operators without any subsidy. And these are paid services. You would be happy to know that these services are sustainable and earning good revenue.
I hope it was helpful.
Thanks & Regards
Asad
<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>Thanks Asad for that analysis. Let me add to say that involvement of stakeholders in the design of ICT advisory services is important for sustainability . This makes the users ownership of the system.
Many a times proffessions design ICT services for adoption by small scale farmers. Certain concepts like USSD and other concepts are not well explained to stake holders.<br>
I would like to pose a question. Has anyone come up with an ICT advisory service with the involvement of stakeholders that is sustainable? Particulary i am more concerned with costs related to organising content which the beneficiaries access at the end of the day. Are these people paid from revenues generated by the system or a subsidy from external funds is used to pay them. As long as the advisory system fails to pay for its operation costs then we need more innovative thinking to mitigate this fact. <br>
In Zambia we are working towards this goal of establishing a sustainable market information system based on strengthening symbotic relationship that exists between market agents and farmers through competition. More details on request as we are on pilot stage.<br>
</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Richard-Sangonet Zambia</p>
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Dear Members,
I would like to share about a CDAC, Mumbai project in collaboration with Department of Agriculture, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram etc. This project called Intelligent Advisory System for Farmers (IASF) is a hybrid expert system which incorporates potentials of "Rule Based Reasoning" and "Case Based reasoning", which are majorly two techniques used in expert systems. The integration of these two techniques provide a powerful system which is used for complex decision making process. This system is used for answering queries related to farming activities carried out in Northeast states of India such that
IASF is also a knowledge repository for Agricultural/Horticultural crops (Rice, Maize, Potato, Mustard, Cabbage etc. ) which are major crops grown in the North Eastern Region of India.
This system over a period of time is designed to acquire intelligence such that human/expert intervention is reduced to a minimum. The system uses an artificial intelligence engine (developed by CDAC) to provide solutions to farmer's problems relating to Pests and Diseases of major crops, weeds etc.
This System is also integrated with the mobile service delivery gateway (MSDG) of the Government of India, in which CDAC is the designated agency appointed by DEITY. This provides the system to push the advisory directly to the farmer's mobile device as an additional delivery method apart from the web.
For more information on this system please log in to http://iasf.cdacmumbai.in/ias/. The system has also been translated into Metei and Khasi language, which are major local languages of Manipur and Meghalaya.
regards,
Canning S Shabong
IASF State Co-ordinator, Department of Agriculture, Meghalaya, India
Canning...
I would like to learn more about the model but your registration process requires uploading an ID? Can you share more about the thinking behind this registration requirement? Is there a demo username & password you can supply me?
Rachel
Dear Rachel,
I had already replied earlier this morning but it seems my post is still yet to be uploaded to this portal.
Yes to can log in as Farmer/Student by using the Login Code -law1206. This user code which i created will automatically show you the Khasi interface. However, you can change the language to English from the language selector. You can also change the State(Meghalaya or Manipur etc.) which you want to view.
The basic reason for the registration process is to capture farmer's/users identity and email/mobile number based on geography. However, we are also exploring whether to create a Guest ID for Guest to login without having to register on the site. But on second thoughts, if we enable Guest ID, then farmers/users may not register on the site and hence we may not be able to keep track of users or their location( the system has a database of the State which is drilled down right up to the village level). We are also exploring the idea of directly entering farmers registration details centrallly by the Department, as few farmers have access to the internet, because of low e-literacy, prevailing digital divide etc.
regards,
Canning S Shabong
Some important factors contributing towards the sustainability of ICT- based advisory services for small holders are: