Another advantage that's been brought by mobile telephony to our farmers is the significant reduction in their frequent travels to our province's Farmers Information and Technology Services Centers. With their cellphones, they can now interact (text, voice and video) with our agri technologists and resolve issues and concerns instantenously. Except, of course in such instances where they need to go to the Centers for more information, or where the technologists themselves need to go to the farms to have a first-hand assessment of the complained situations. The early resolution of our farmers's problems (plant diseases and infestations) brought about a certain level of "safety net" against production risks and losses. Jimmy

About 3 months ago while traveling back to my rural province from a conference in Manila (Philippines), I had the chance to talk to a middleman/wholesaler of agri products. It was a long travel so we had a long conversation too. She's engaged in a buy-and-sell business: she buys fruits and vegetables in bulk from my province and sells them to small merchants in another province, and likewise buys livestock from that province and sells them to merchants in my province. In general, she was happy about mobile telephony as she was able to have constact contact with her family while she's away from home doing busness, but on the other hand, she was sad because of some reduction in her business opportunities. With cellphones, she said, her contact farmers are now able to determine quickly which traders within and outside our province offer higher prices. Many farmers, she said, are now transacting business directly to merchants, practically eliminating the middlemen/wholesalers in the chain. In the Philippines, middlemen/wholesalers play a major role in the product distribution chain from the producers to the consumers, and they generally earn more money in the process than the farmers themselves. There is this practice that middlemen/wholesalers loan out money as well as agricultural inputs and equipment to the farmers, with the agreement that the produce of the latter will be sold exclusively to the former. With mobile telephony, the farmers are now contacting financial institutions and their well-off relatives for their production capital and logistics. Also, the farmers' knowledge about the quantity and dates of delivery of products to buyers help them avoid the situation of bringing back their produce to the mountains or selling them at very low prices as most of their commodities are perishable. Jimmy

Another advantage that's been brought by mobile telephony to our farmers is the significant reduction in their frequent travels to our province's Farmers Information and Technology Services Centers. With their cellphones, they can now interact (text, voice and video) with our agri technologists and resolve issues and concerns instantenously. Except, of course in such instances where they need to go to the Centers for more information, or where the technologists themselves need to go to the farms to have a first-hand assessment of the complained situations. The early resolution of our farmers's problems (plant diseases and infestations) brought about a certain level of "safety net" against production risks and losses. Jimmy

Hi Grace, About 3 months ago while traveling back to my rural province from a conference in Manila (Philippines), I had the chance to talk to a middleman/wholesaler of agri products. It was a long travel so we had a long conversation too. She's engaged in a buy-and-sell business: she buys fruits and vegetables in bulk from my province and sells them to small merchants in another province, and likewise buys livestock from that province and sells them to merchants in my province. In general, she was happy about mobile telephony as she was able to have constact contact with her family while she's away from home doing busness, but on the other hand, she was sad because of some reduction in her business opportunities. With cellphones, she said, her contact farmers are now able to determine quickly which traders within and outside our province offer higher prices. Many farmers, she said, are now transacting business directly to merchants, practically eliminating the middlemen/wholesalers in the chain. In the Philippines, middlemen/wholesalers play a major role in the product distribution chain from the producers to the consumers, and they generally earn more money in the process than the farmers themselves. There is this practice that middlemen/wholesalers loan out money as well as agricultural inputs and equipment to the farmers, with the agreement that the produce of the latter will be sold exclusively to the former. With mobile telephony, the farmers are now contacting financial institutions and their well-off relatives for their production capital and logistics. Also, the farmers' knowledge about the quantity and dates of delivery of products to buyers help them avoid the situation of bringing back their produce to the mountains or selling them at very low prices as most of their commodities are perishable. Jimmy

In every info system development project, it is imperative to involve the users themselves and even other key players, and to get critical inputs from them in order to come up with a system that is really useful and friendly. Of course, the developer must be cognizant too of the features as well as limitations of the available cost-effective and efficient technologies in designing the system, and perhaps integrate any available stable and relevant modules. The point is, the mobile telephony solution, or any info system for that matter, must be able to address the needs of the users, or at least provide them with the important basic information that will lead them to the final resolution or satisfaction of their needs. So if the solution that you wish to come up with is for farmers, the same must have the capability to deliver A to Z, so to speak, and not give them further problems on what to do and where to go next, or perhaps at least guide them on the next steps that are not within the capability of the extant solution/system. The needs of other interested users, like merchants, government, researchers, etc. should be considered too. Jimmy

[u]Bridging the Digital Divide[/u] http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/09/09/robert.conway/

The mobile phone has indeed evolved dramatically, and is expected to continue morphing into "a device that has it all". We see technological improvements in mobile phones happen at a very fast pace, finding their way in many new models that surface in the market for the buyers' delight. Of course, the manufacturers and sellers are delighted too :-). The sad part is :-(, the potential socio-economic impact that the technology can bring to the communities (especially those in the underdeveloped and developing countries) is not tapped to the fullest, or maybe just 50% of it. Users are more pre-occupied with the gadgets and technological enhancements, and not so much with the productive uses of those enhancements for poor communities. The companies that profit most from these products should be encouraged to invest more of their money to community centers, like telecentres, that make use of ICT and collaborate with ICT users as well for community development. With that, we might be able to see an increase in the annual economic growth rate in underdeveloped and developing countries that is much more dramatic than the 1.2 percentage points mentioned in the study of the Deloitte Consulting Firm.

Mobile Telephony is also used here in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines for various agri-based applications: 1. Monitoring of agri products (volume, price, producers/channels/buyers, location, schedule) 2. Info gathering on agri inputs (seedlings, etc), supplies, machinery, etc. 3. Consultations with domain experts (about rice, corn, vegetables, fruit trees, pests and diseases, etc.) 4. 3G, video calling, and speaker phone features, built-in cameras are used to capture real situations (pests and diseases) and sent to experts for appropriate action and advice

The mobile phone has indeed evolved dramatically, and is expected to continue morphing into "a device that has it all". We see technological improvements in mobile phones happen at a very fast pace, finding their way in many new models that surface in the market for the buyers' delight. Of course, the manufacturers and sellers are delighted too :-). The sad part is :-(, the potential socio-economic impact that the technology can bring to the communities (especially those in the underdeveloped and developing countries) is not tapped to the fullest, or maybe just 50% of it. Users are more pre-occupied with the gadgets and technological enhancements, and not so much with the productive uses of those enhancements for poor communities. The companies that profit most from these products should be encouraged to invest more of their money to (a) development of mobile telephony application systems/solutions - e.g., in agriculture, and (b) community e-centers, like telecentres, that make use of ICT and collaborate with ICT users and key stakeholders as well, for community development. With that, we might be able to see an increase in the annual economic growth rate in underdeveloped and developing countries that is much more dramatic than the 1.2 percentage points mentioned in the study of the Deloitte Consulting Firm as discussed in the following webpage: "Bridging the Digital Divide" (http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/09/09/robert.conway/)