How to make information demand driven? Last week forum participants' began discussing how it is possible to make information more demand driven. Among the main related questions and issues raised were: • How is it possible to empower rural communities- men, women, and children- through the use of ICT? In particular, how is it possible to minimize the time necessary to transfer agricultural information and technologies from knowledge producers to knowledge users? • To what extent has the use of ICT improved access to education and employment? • How can we catch people's attention on e-agriculture programmes? Key Factors: • Asha Singhal underlined that in order to meet rural communities' expectations, and therefore to make information more demand driven, it is necessary to evaluate the level of literacy of the community in which the programme has to be implemented so that the programme's structure can fit the community's needs. Moreover, every programme has to be designed to be attention grabbing as well as to be regularly monitored in order to catch implementation problems and/or new content more relevant to the community. Clare O'Farrell brought up a similar issue in the "Innovative systems' topic. • Ujah Oliver Chinedu underlined that substantial investment in developing-country ICT is necessary to "empower agricultural agents' as intermediaries between knowledge producers and knowledge users. • Several users suggested that ICT use in agriculture should lead to the achievement of food security. Ramadhar specifically raised the issue of using ICT to promote good practices across the world, and that this is particularly important for sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural practices in the light of problems such as global warming. • Side by side participation by both governmental and non-governmental institutions is necessary to bridge the information gap between the national and the local levels. • Participatory ICT tools such as video conferences can also facilitate communication. Challenges Faced: • Janaki Krishna mentioned that many rural communities do not participate in ICT initiatives because of the lack of demanded content, ie detailed information on governmental programmes in rural areas as well as region-specific information on "agricultural insurance, agricredits, agrimarkets, agripricing, and agri-inputs'. Other users suggested that once this type of information is provided, farmers will feel more encouraged to participate actively in information sharing activities. • The lack of e-agriculture schools was also indicated as another hindering factor towards the diffusion of practical information about agri-inputs and their management. • Farmers' participation in the above-mentioned structures and/or programmes can also be blocked by the lack of the necessary infrastructure for the implementation of these programmes. Francesca Solmi E-agriculture.org Team

Hi, my name is Francesca Solmi and I am from Italy. I have been interning at FAO all summer and I have had the opportunity to look more closely to examples of e-agriculture. Here is one based in India that I found interesting. The Swaminathan Research foundation is a non-for profit trust funded in 1988. Its mandate is to impart a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women orientation to a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas through harnessing science and technology for environmentally sustainable and socially equitable development. The organization focuses on several research areas, including food security, biotechnology, biodiversity, and information/education/communication. Its website provides a database of monographs, working and research papers, some of which can be consulted online for wider accessibility. One of the Foundation's main programs is the Information Village Research Point (IVRP) created in Pondicherry, India. The rationale of the project follows from the Foundation's acknowledgement that often food security is more a function of efficient information and knowledge flows than it is of intensive rural production. The location for the project was chosen because of the already established presence in the village of reasonable telecom infrastructures and because of the high responsiveness that it had shown to a previous development project. The objective of the IVRP - which connects 12 locations through a hybrid system of wired and wireless network including phones, PCs and radios - is to diffuse ICT among the poorest strata of society and to provide them with both a greater understanding of governmental policies and essential information for their agricultural practices. One of the main challenges faced by the organizers of the project is that of maintaining the users' attention as they need to have access to constantly up-to-date information and to receive prompt replies to their queries. For such reasons, the information delivered varies across the different villages in order to meet their precise needs and it is divided into "frequently updated sections' (i.e. weather, crop prices, wave heights) and into "long term content', providing details on government programs for specific groups. (http://mssrf.org/iec/601/index.htm) This system has become rather famous in the e-agriculture circles. Do you think it could be applicable in different environments? If not, what would be the issues involved in applying it elsewhere?