Hello! Everybody! I am Dr P S Janaki Krishna, working as an Associate Professor (Biotechnology) in Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, India. With regard to 'Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas', in India, it's slowly picking up. When the mobile was introduced in India in the beginning it was considered as a gadget for elite. However, that was proved wrong as it offers advantages even to a common man. As the common man is the real judge it has revolutionized the entire communication sector. With telecom operators strengthening rural focus, low cost handsets will play a major role. "Emerging Rural Mobile Market in India" shows that mobile industry players are eyeing rural India as their new area of opportunity. The companies are encouraged by the fact that mobile users are expected to cross 230 million by 2007 end and 500 million by 2010. Rural areas are expected to drive the next wave of telecom growth in the country, and they have a potential of adding at least 150 million new subscribers, says the report (PR Log). In India, there have been efforts by institutions such as Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, the World Bank, private organizations and individuals, to start up IT networks, which can help buyers and sellers (in retail businesses and elsewhere) to trade online, agri-goods and commodities. Such efforts also help in accessing information related to product quality, the place where it is grown and other useful information. While introducing mobile network in rural areas we should address the issues of accessibility, affordability, connectivity, feasibility, security and relaibility. The multipurpose mobile, locally made in local languages that are cost effective with preloaded agriinformation in local languages with day to day market information updation will improve agriculture in rural areas. Regards, janaki

Dear Manish, Thank you for the nice sum up of the III week discussions. I hope the final document reflects some of the demographics on no. of the total participants and regions and stakeholders represented etc. Also, the names of the participants may be appended along with citation of the document as it gives an authenticity and depicts the vibrant, diverse and intense nature of the forum when presented in other fora. This is only my suggestion. Thank you once again for the nice moderation and well covered depiction of the discussions with specific summaries for all the three weeks. Regards, janaki

Dear Dr Dasgupta Your valuable input and the kind of action plan suggested is quite encouraging and seems to be practical, ofcourse with lot of persuation and commitment from all the stakeholders. Where there is a beginning there is a way. The feedback is very essetnial for refining the models for further replication. Regards, janaki

Hi! Everyone This is Janaki I agree with Rubiya's apparent views on PPPs. The PPPs have gained significance in the context of globalization where everything is market driven. As rightly mentioned, unless the private partners' interests are taken care the PPPs are generally not successful. That's the reason; I mentioned the challenges in PPPs as "cost' and "enduser' factors, for which Manish sought for little clarity. We all agree that public institutions work for public good since they invest with tax payers (public money); henceforth their enduser is mostly the "common man'. However, for private organizations since the organizations are built mostly with their money, naturally they look for quick returns and their enduser is obviously a rich consumer who has the purchasing ability. Once we consider partnerships between these two for a common goal like serving the farmer in a village (landless resource poor) by providing enough information through e-agriculture the enduser has to be same and the cost factor has to be looked into by either public partner or both so that the service/product is affordable. On the other hand, if the private partners also work for public good as part of "corporate social responsibility' in some areas where there is a need for critical support from all stakeholders with "development motto' (eg. rural development/agricultural development)' there exists a common agenda and common goal and a "win-win' situation can be attained in PPPs in e-agriculture. There are some examples of PPPs in infrastructure (construction of Airports, Highways etc.) where the services are charged heavily due to the intervention of private partners which becomes outside the reach of common man. This should not be the case if the motto (agenda) of PPPs in e-agriculture is to reach a common farmer in a remote village. Regards, Janaki

Hi! Community Members, This is Janaki from India again. Follwoing are some of the thoughts on the issues raised by Manish Content and operational • How can win-win situations be ensured among the stakeholders while considering PPP? A well drawn thoroughly debated proposal/project that has verbally and legally bound MOUs with mutual trust and respect for all stakeholders' commitments, methods of functioning, including failure, credit, proprietary and benefit sharing and conviction to a common goal will ensure a win-win situation. • What are the challenges in making "public" information available through private channels and what are the ways to overcome those? Cost perspective Enduser perspective To overcome the above all the parties should have a common "development' motivated agenda. • How can content be best developed, updated and authenticated, and delivered to the intended beneficiaries? Content should be developed based on baseline survey from the intended users. One should seek from the endusers about what kind of information for which they are looking for. The sought after information has to be obtained from authenticated sources and updated on a regular basis depending on the nature of content. • What are the awareness generation tools to popularize ICT in rural areas in the context of e-agriculture? Awareness camps, brochures and pamphlets distribution in simple regional languages about the need and uses of e-agriculture. training the rural youth and women in running and maintaining the e-agri-centres once they are established. • How do we measure impact of e-agriculture initiatives and what are the key indicators? Increase in awareness levels Replicability of the exiting models Livelihoods improvement Increase in income levels Demand for content Next steps • How can the e-agriculture community go about collectively advancing the concept of partnerships? Forming of rural e-agrinetworks attached to strong grass root level organizations by conducting local need assessment surveys, identifying probable partners, identifying priority areas and projects through pre project workshops etc. The e-community members from various regions may be identified for involving in these tasks. E-agriforum may appoint under the auspices of FAO a team representing all stakeholders at various regions/ countries/states/ places for involving in the above tasks, the goal being the establishment of e-agricentres in the villages. The e-agricentres can be established in the villages through public (govt and non governmental organizations) and private organizations that are willing to take part in this endeavour. Many private organizations as part of corporate social responsibility may be engaged for this purpose. The PPPP (public, private, people participation) is necessary as the public institutions are known as knowledge generators and private institutions are known for converting knowledge into useful product. The dissemination channels of private organizations are very strong which can be utilized for this. A consortium approach may followed for drawing proposals based on the need assessment surveys. • How can we disseminate the learning from this forum to the wider community of practitioners and policy makers? As the present one is individual based, E-agri forum can go for institutional based memberships across the regions all over the world and share the information with them. Later on the forum can also share the information through e-agrinetworks established at different areas. The entire exercise cannot work continuously on virtual basis. At some stage actual actors have to be drawn and the required resources have to be mobilized. Organizations like FAO may initiate and follow up this responsibility. Regards, Janaki

Dear Dasgupta, Thank you for your clarifications. Issues should never detriment the introduction of new technologies. I agree that situations are improving, but still lot of progress has to be witnessed in the rural areas. Regarding non-conventional energies lot needs to be done. That's again another challenging domain. My dream is to have e-agrei-schools run on solar/wind/nuclear energy in every nook and corner in rural India. The answer might be only through PPPs, though these models are still evolving and we are learning lessons with reagrd to infrasturcture projects etc. Thank you once again for expliciting the need despite the issues in e-agriculture. Regards, Janaki

Hi! Manish! V-Agri of 'ASHWINI' Platform is the project implemented by Byrraju Foundation, Hyderabad, India. It is supported by Media Lab Asia and is being operated in 75 villages in West and East Godavari districts of Andhra Oradesh. This project developed confidence over 2000 farmers in these villages. First the data sheet is being made available to farmers to fill. This is processed into digital format fecilitated by a software developed by Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad. For reseach the aim is to find out if ICTs can be used for poverty reduction. The methodology used is Ethnographic Action Research. Queensland University of Technology and University of Adelaide will be providing the guidance for carrying out research. The major issue is the identification of right farmers/community to whom the service actually goes as 70%-90% of cultivators are not real owners of the land. The details on v-agri can be obtained from www.byrrajufoundation.org. With regard to 'AgRIS' project the details can be obtained from www.agric.nic.in Thanks Janaki

Hi! Everyone! This is Janaki. The discussion tis really enlightening. As part of this, I would like to share some of the working PPP e-ag models in India whcih I know. 1. e-choupal of ITC ( already been shared by my friends), which I consider as worth replicating in entire Asia. 2. Agricultural Resources Information System (AgRIS) in Haryana State Here at village.Panchayats the CSCs (e-disha Ekal Seva Kendras) are being established thorugh PPP model and the SWAN is also being established to provide requisite connectivity. The appropriate agriculture local content, so developed is disseminated throguh the CSCs, In addition to the Internet, The minimal service charges are charged for the transactional services that are provided by these CSCs. 3. The v-Agri model of Byrraju Foundation It is a modified version of the e-Sagu model developed by IIIT, Hyderabad . While retaining the basic e-Sagu's concept of "taking the crop to the scientist, instead of scientist going to the field", v-Agri model is expanded to include all the important service providers to the farmers and villagers through a collaborative approach. Using information and communication technology through Ashwini platform, virtual linkages are developed with all the major stakeholders who can provide services to the farmer. This has been adjudged as one of the best models and received many awards in virtual service provding categories. These are only few examples. However, the issues that persist in any model are 1. Infrastructure: Power and Internet connectivity in rural areas 2. Capacity building: Training in running e-agri centres in the villages and awareness on the utility of e-agriculture (the complementarity benefits or the value addition it can provide to conventional praactices of agriculture (as we have no technology yet to produce tomatos from computers through Internet) 3. Data ownership and authenticity (resposibility sharing among the partners)/proprietary issues 3. Mechanism for regular updating of contents & knoledge base Thanks

Dear Nancy. Sorry, I could not log in earlier to this due to several other pressing assignments. Here are my views on some of the issues raised. Public/private partnership and their role in accessing and contributing to CGIAR iGPGs? Public private partnerships are crucial for the present day societies whose economy is sustained on knowledge base. However, for various reasons both CGIAR institutions /private companies are generally put up on high pedestals and are viewed as highly proprietary ones that cannot be reached very easily. Primarily this notion has to be ruled out by actions to strengthen these collaborations. CGIAR institutions have wealth of knowledge and private companies are known for converting knowledge into user friendly applications. Especially for ICT applications many public software and electronic companies have developed a number of tools and products that can be used for knowledge access and dissemination. A collaborative iGPG project may be envisaged with CGIAR (Knowledge source centers)- Private companies (Tools and products development for data sorting and dissemination) - Regional NGOs (linking people- the endusers/ farmers in the villages). What might stimulate local ownership and investment in iGPGs? Investing in capacity building of local people in application of agricultural knowledge for better agricultural practices. Establishment of locally owned "e-agricentres' in the villages and market yards and training the local youth and women in e-applications for smooth running of centres might lead to local ownership. How can universities and indigenous groups contribute to the iGPGs? They should also become partners in iGPGs projects as traditional state agricultural universities have lot of manpower and research and extension networks With best regards, P S Janaki Krishna Faculty Institute of Public Enterprise Hyderabad, India.

Hi! This is Janaki from India. In India in the state of Andhra Pradesh we have 'e-seva centres' established by the state government even in the rural districts. The e-seva ('seva' means service) experiences from these centres in India can be emulated while designing and provding 'e-agriservices to the farmers. The 'e-seva centres' basically act as clearing houses for paying taxes, electricity and telephone bills, booking train, air tickets, applying for passports etc. However the concept can be adopted for disssemination of agricultural information through electronic media. Details can be viewed in the www.aponline.gov.in. Regards, P S Janaki Krishna, Faculty (Biotechnology) Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad - 500 007.