Question 1 (opens 17 Sept.)

Hi!  I am John Batchelor, farmers son, clinical data manager & founder of WeFarmIt.  We are a social enterprise developing social networking platforms and cloud computing for the farming and food community. We aim to build food communities everywhere and plug them into the Wefarmit "Farm Cloud" platform and associated apps like the first one we released a few weeks ago "HERDit". This is a simple app that we are expanding on and will soon be bringing out an international update. Despite it being created initially for UK farmers to meet local regulations we are finding farmers everywhere are using it to keep track of their herd. We have a load of great features we are working on for future releases.   

We currently do all of the above on a shoestring budget and with the help of volunteer coders I have been lucky enough to find. Finding proper funding to take us to the next step is now our main priority. My long term goal is to give every farmer access to quality and affordable (free where possible) web and mobile apps for interconnectivity, productivity and compliance. We are going for a ride on The Digital Tractor and we want you to join us!:)

UK uplands smartphone trial (Bodmin Moor Livestock Initiative)

At the end of October I will be helping to kick off a smartphone project with 12 farmers in the UK uplands. They are all livestock farmers farming on Bodmin Moor and I am helping with the project. The plan is to equip 12 local farmers that have shown an interest in ICT but have little experience of it. We will be training them up in the use of mobile devices and helping them make use of devices in their day to day work.  The problem is still one of connectivity in rural areas.  I know it is hard to believe in the UK but a number of farmers (including myself until 3 years ago) had no access to broadband of any kind be it wired or wireless.  Although 3G has improved and we are soon promised 4GLTE the problem is bigger than that. The digital divide between urban and rural areas has a longer lasting effect and once rural areas do get connected that is just the start of the battle. Training and ag tech mentoring schemes are what is needed to get the rural population up to the level of ICT skills. Training can come in many forms, e-learning and instructor led even things like playing Angry Birds just to get used to touch screens.  The younger generation take this for granted sometimes but these basic ICT skills are missing in a number of "not spot" areas.  I imagine training challenges could take longer to overcome than the network coverage problem.

The first question is very interesting, and all comments bring interesting view. From my own experience in Mali and India, there are different ways of providing the benefit of technologies to farmers. There are imho two strategies: one is direct contact, and one is indirect.

Let's start with indirect strategy: providing the power of ICT to farmers through intermediaries. In our operations, I've identified at least three types of intermediaries, with different opoprtunities and challenges. The first type a community-based intermediary that is litterate (usually both text-literate and minimally ICT-literate). This person is the contact point for farmers to provide or receive information. The best example is the few SMS-based market  information system that have been deployed in differen countries. They are usually not accessible by farmers and they couldn't use directly but it is possible to find someone in the community that can serve as proxy. To date, to the best of my knowledge, those approaches have largely failed. The major reason of failure is due to the fact that such intermediary position is usually far from being a full-time job, and the incentive for the intermediaries are usually low, while they are the critical element in the overall architecture. We have experience this type of systems in Mali and have witness this kind of issues. We also witnesses other issues such as gender, where literate intermediaries are usually men and in our case the producers were mainly women.

The second option, is an organizational intermediary. This is the case where farmers are already strcutured in e.g. cooperatives. Usually such existing cooperatives are efficient in self-management (connecting members between them). The managers of cooperatives are also usually middle-class educated person that can be trained to use ICT, and (s)he serves as the ict proxy to provide and retrieve information in systems: sharing issues, expertise requirements, trading offers, etc. These types of solutions work well in structured communities, but if such organizationnal strcutures are not existing, it is far from easy to start one from scratch.

The last option for itnermediaries is what i cann news-proxy, where ICT empowers organizations that are source of news to farmers. Here the idea is to enable community radios with ICT and allow them to be the relay for information to farmers, as welll as collector of information. Like for the previous setup, the link between people and their community radio is already in place, so it makes things easiers. The big advantage of such solutions is that it is already existing all over e.g. Africa. We have been setting-up such a system in Mali with 5 community radios.

In the last two cases, as one commenter mentioned, the fact that usb data dongles are now widely available makes things relatively easy to deploy. But there are still lots of places where community radio stations don't have computers, or are not covered by a mobile data service. In that case the only option is to rely on mobile telephony and voice services: using voice-based services to connect radio stations to the web where they can get and put information. Here again, in our project in Mali 1 radio is in such a case and use voice technology to access audio file that provide market information. The big advantage of this approach too is that it does not require anything at the farmer end, and those with or without mobile can be reached.

Finally, the direct access solution is by far the most difficult optin, but imho the only one that is potentially sustainable. Here there is no other choice that using voice technology (IVR) to deliver services to farmres. Due to illiteracy and/or capacity of their phone, this is in most cases the only option. the major difficulty here is the design of the interface so that it is usable by farmers. We have been focusing on that approach in India (farmer helpline) and in Mali (news report) with so far relatively good success.

Obviously, all these approaches are complementary and can be mixed to build a complete ecostem of services for farmers.

Cheers

Steph

The link below is to a recent article in The Guardian that describes the use of ICT by a farmer in Kenya. While it's written in a style for a general audience, it also profiles broader issues and has quotes from decision makers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/26/new-technology-farming-films-africa

Hope that helps

Mark Varner

The iCow approach was developed in Kenya for small-holder dairy farmers and helps them manage their cows to have a greater profit. While it uses the "i" moniker, the approach is not a smartphone approach, but rather it uses SMS text messages sent from/to a 'short code' that goes into a server. Farmers receive SMS reminders of when tasks must be accomplished for individual cows, but as a dairy expert and son/brother of dairy farmers, the linking to local veterinarians and artificial insemination technicians is a key component. Additionally, matching advice on feed supplementation to milk production level helps maximize profits.

Evaluation of iCow indicated that besides reduced spending on purchased feeds, there was increased market and incomes, reduction of animal illness and mortality and increased customers reported by AI providers. This later aspect is important for the long-term quality of the cattle, and thus sustainability.

Hope this helps

Mark

The Backpack Farm Agriculture Program (BPF) distributes packages of “green” farming inputs and training through a network of franchise training and distribution centers expanding across rural Kenya.  The BPF is an internationally recognized social enterprise committed to transforming Arica’s smallholder farmers into agri-preneurs— empowered to feed themselves and the world. 

Our grassroots program is now enhanced by the first crop-specific, mobile phone-delivered agriculture training content designed specifically to support smallholder farmer's primary production in Kenya and the East Africa region delivered in both English and Swahili.  We deliver content via both sms and basic smart phone application.  Our sms content includes farming tips for 20 specific crops. the more comprehensive mobile application includes 5 sections including training videos, crop specific production models, crops & diseases.

Yes, we are differentiating the target audience. The smallholder farming community encompasses both subsistence and semi-commercial smallholders on 2-5 acres. We are committed to supporting both with the critical advice and technical information to improve the quality and quantity of their crops.

The benefits of our commercial model include:

1. Basic handsets or android “smart phones.”
2. Affordable – less than $1.25 for either basic sms or mobile application;
3. Content developed and tested at BPF’s existing network of training farms in Kenya;
4. Open to smallholder farmers on all provider networks ensuring maximum reach, accessibility;
5. Voluntary, on-demand access;
6. Affordability: Package prices with phone, content and bandwidth;
7. Training videos ensures value to semi-literate audience;
8. Cost-effective supplement to physical training programs for major international NGOs and commercial out-grower value chains;
9. Content can be retrieved & used multiple times further re-enforcing viral knowledge transfer -- unlike radio-based information, tips which airs one-time;
10. Content available in English and Swahili-- the primary languages of East Africa Community (EAC).
11. Leverage international partnerships. 

A couple of others have already mentioned the potential impact of using low-cost video technology to create and disseminate information with farmers. The USAID FACET project has developed Integrating Low-Cost Video into Agricultural Development Projects: A Toolkit for Practitioners to help organizations interested in using video to do so in a more deliberate way. The toolkit is available online at http://ictforag.org/video/.

Thanks to one and all for this interesting discussion.

Radio – the first wireless ICT – is, of course, not an innovation.  However, new ICTs have fostered innovative use of radio. 

Before plunging into thoughts on ICTs and radio, however, let me offer the observation that people seldom adopt a new practice just because they get information about it.  They need to understand the information, they need to participate in, or at least listen to, a discussion or conversation or even debate about it. They need a chance to ask questions, offer opinions and express their doubts – even to say “I tried that technology, and it sucks!”  Thus, effective use of ICT’s not only conveys data, but translates it into widely understood language, facilitates dialogue about it, and enables a sharing of opinions about and experiences with it.  Clearly, this goes beyond delivering a 160-character SMS.

What this means is that, as Stephane Boyera pointed out above, most modern ICTs are best used by an intermediary such as a broadcaster or extension agent, a farmers’ organization or community leader.   These intermediaries (note the word “media” at the core) can translate into locally appropriate language, facilitate dialogue, field questions, host panel discussions, encourage debate, and keep it entertaining.

Modern ICTs and radio are a perfect match. Mobile phones have brought to radio both the phone-in show, where farmers can call in with their questions and comments,  and the “phone-out” show, where the host calls pre-selected farmers or extension agents to get “live, in the field” content from distant locations. SMS messages can remind farmers to tune-in when a radio show is about to begin.  Community radio agents with good mobile phones can capture and submit community discussions, farmer questions, etc to the broadcaster.  Radio sets with record and playback capacity can offer “radio on demand”.  IVRs are another great radio-on-demand tool, and they give farmers more options for asking questions or sharing their experiences by leaving a message.

Farm Radio International discovered much about how best to integrate new or modern ICTs with radio to provide farmers with effective communication services.  You can find the report at http://bit.ly/farmradioict

Considering women farmers support 70% of agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is crucial for them to receive the appropriate, relevant information and resources in a timely and consistent manner. As Kevin points out above, radio used with other media, can help facilitate that.  Rural women tend to have more access to radios than mobile phones, even if they don’t personally own either. Through their own formal and informal networks, women inherently seek out the necessary knowledge they need to produce food for their family and to earn an income at the market. Radio, because of its affordability, accessibility and inclusiveness can strengthen women’s active involvement around agricultural production and marketing. Integrated with SMS programs, twitter, face to face gatherings and extension support, radio can not only reach but involve more women farmers than other ICTs alone.

While access to market prices using ICTs has been widely tested, the challenge is maintaining a reliable, long-term service that is sustainable and effective.  Knowing the price of something doesn’t always answer the right questions for both men and women farmers. Effective radio programs can potentially sustain a market service for farmers and further the discussion around market needs beyond just commodity pricing. Issues around transportation, storage, comparative advantage of commodity and local market selection, production timing, middlemen management and marketing to buyers can be discussed through radio-based and ICT-integrated discussions and forums. 

You can access Farm Radio’s report on MIS and radio

here: http://bit.ly/farmradiomis.

This working paper gives insight on the status of ICT's in India

Will be happy to receive comments on this

Regards

Surabhi

Dear All,

Greetings and Wishes,

I am N. Anandaja, working as Assistant Professor (Agricultural Extension) in newly established e-Extension Centre of TNAU. I have specialization in Information and Communication Technology in Agriculture (ICT-A), especially on Transfer of Technology.

As you aware due to climate change and other reasons, agricultural growth rate is declining and food prices are soaring. Youth and farm women are not interested to take up farming as viable business proportionate for the livelihood. How to motivate the youths and other stakeholders to take up farming as profitable one? ICT is one such tool has little faith, which can facilitate speedy transfer of farm technological information especially on Market, Pest & Disease Control, Value Addition and Weather Information. 

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (India) has explored the power and potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) intervention in Transfer of Farm Technology which may accelerate the speed of flow of technology, weather data and price information to extension system and finally reach to the needy farmers. Effort on promotion of ICT will help the ‘young minds’ to be in the farming.

Pl. view few of initiatives of e-Extension centre of TNAU

TNAU AGRI TECH PORTAL http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/

TNAU Weather Information Network http://tawn.tnau.ac.in/

TNAU Multi Video Conference facility http://vcon.tnau.ac.in (Meeting protected)

TNAU-IFPRI Knowledge support for Indian Agriculture http://www.advanceagriculturalpractice.in

TNAU-IIT-C Mobile Agro Advisory Services http://e-vivasaya.rtbi.in/aas/index.php (Password protected)

TNAU on-line course contents http://mms.tnau.ac.in/

TNAU-CDAC-Daily price information through Mobile http://services.indg.in/market_info/market_information2.php

I am looking forward to learn, work with you to sustain few initiatives of TNAU on the Nobel cause of agriculture,

If you are interested, let we work together

With kind regards

N. Anandaraja , Ph.D

Faculty, e-Extension, TNAU, Coimbatore-3

0422-6611383, 09443444383, [email protected]

farmers in Zambia are now able to access extension advice services on any farming proble they are facing on their farms on questions ranging from production, processing, storage, marketing including climate change. This is an initiative ny the department of National Agricultural Information Services in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. The platform allows farmers to send their questions in form of SMS using their mobile phones and they receive answers to their questions within the shortest time possible. The system also helps us generate new radio broadcast topics from the questions raised by the farmers. So far the farmers are appreciating as it is now taking little time for feedback to and from the farmers.

  http://nais.smsize.com/users/nais-p?1418667681=1

What an interesting read. I have a couple of questions: who is producing the content for the various services and how is content consumed?

Are the innovations only technological or also behavioural? Do we have hard evidence on change of power relationshiop between farmers, traders and consumers?

I am not very sure but the question seem to be focused at the ICT innovations used for the farmers by other NOT by the farmers them selves! Am I right and if not I always stand to be corrected.

Right, here in the rural communities of Uganda where my orgarnization opertates (www.krcdevorg.weebly.com), farmers have access to mobile phones but there is no content for agriculture that they can surelly access. May be, farmers use the mobile phones for calling to inquire about the agricultural produce prices. On the otherhand, most of the farmers do not know or have no skills to read sms sent on their phones and most of them find it had to dig far into their mobile phone platforms based on the fact that most of the mobile phones on their disposal are programed in foreign languages. Though the mobile internet (G3 NETWORK) can be accessible in most of the villages here in Uganda, computers are not accessible to majority of local farmers. Also, the mobile phones which can be able to browse internet, are still very expensive to majority of loacl farmers and very few who own such mobile phones, again they dont have the appropriate skills on how to utilize the same for information access on the internet.

Television and radio are also common in reaching to the local farmers but again most of them they dont own television sets based on the fact that most of the households of the local farmers lack electricity. Also, agricultural content on most of the television channels here in Uganda is so limited as most of the television media groups are for commecial purposes so they see no business to broadcast content which is of lower class people who cannot contribute much to their profits.

On the other hand, radios are so accessible to most of the rural farmers but again, the agricutural content is greatly missing. Further, expenses involved like battery replacement is still one of the hindering factors for for access to most of the local farmers.

Lastly, still deep in villages, mobile phone and mobile internet networks is still a very big problem. Phone companies mostly target communities where they feel they will be able to make profits.

Thank you

Agriculture is the mainstay of the rural sector of Sri Lanka. Farmers are resource poor and face constraints in gaining access to information and knowledge not only to improve crop productivity but also to compete in business environment. To expose rural farmer to knowledge and information, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka has built an innovative ICT-based farmer education program that is Online Diploma in Agro-technology in local languages and English. This is the first-ever attempt by Sri Lankan university system for giving opportunity for farmers to pursue further education through Open and distance learning with appropriate information and communication technologies while being engaged in their cultivations. Course lessons developed by Agriculture experts were converted to an interactive digital form into online Learning Management System (LMS) in Moodle. A prototype was developed and implemented with farmers all around the country.

Even though many internet based online courses are available, due to incompetency in English language, local farmers are unable to follow them. This was the major reason to develop an online Diploma program in Agro -technology in local language. To considering the easy access and without any fixed learning times, the program was converted to an Online Distance Learning Program. However Sri Lankan farmers have never even dreamt for the university education. The Online e-diploma program started in 2008 in order to solve this problem.

The Online Diploma in Agro-technology program consists of eight Certificate Courses on diverse agriculture subjects. Learning Management system (LMS) was developed in local language using Moodle and online discussion forums and chat sessions were also designed in LMS to discuss their day-to-day issues in agriculture with their colleagues and teachers. Solutions and advices given by them would allow farmers to solve problems in cultivations easily. The courses and lessons were developed based on farmer needs. Through this farmers are getting useful, relevant and updated knowledge and information on issues in agriculture. In an effort to improve retention and quality of learning of farmers, a number of steps were taken in preparation of study materials to enhance guidance and advice. Learner support is also provided through learner guides, print material, CDs and DVDs, face-to-face discussions, computer assisted instruction and video-conferencing in local language. To encourage peer interactions, online learning groups based on agriculture interest of student farmers have been facilitated. The courses can be accessed through any one of the National Online Distance Education Service Access Centers which are established by Ministry of Higher Education with all ICT facilities and the Government ICT centers located throughout the country, or through student personal computers.

As the result of following the program, knowledge on agriculture and accessing the relevant information for farming has been significantly improved. Through this program all student farmers have empowered towards learning and farming. There is an improvement of personal and professional characters of farmers. Because of the program, communication ability, social contacts and leadership qualities of farmers have been improved. Due to increment of their income via improving their cultivations they have gained a higher social status in community. Also the program showed positive impacts on the farmers’ entrepreneurship ability, marketing capacity, social mobilization and agri-business creations by following the course and transforming traditional farms to professional ones. Online distance learning is a suitable method for farmers to learn. This is a new and modern opportunity for younger generation who lack knowledge and information on agriculture and for those who have special interest on agriculture. Also, this program is considered to student farmers as a way of keeping themselves with satisfaction and pride towards agriculture as their profession.

As a startup based on agriculture, at Tambero.com we developed free tools to optimize the production of small and medium farmers worldwide. Right now we have users un 89 countries, most of them in South America, Asia and Africa. Our free system uses innovative ideas and trends such as QR codes to track information about land parcels and cattle in the cell phone.

Thanks to these innovations we have been recognized in various fields of technology, however it has been difficult to have the support of agricultural aid organizations. It often seems that offer free radical innovation does not always fit into the schemes of agriculture and international aid organizations. 

You can see an example of QR usage here:

https://twitter.com/tamberoweb/status/245148120185450496

A dynamic firm in Ghana, Prep-eez, is currently building a national electronic extension platform, in collaboration with the government, that will allow information sharing between farmers, agricultural extension officers and agri experts via voice and SMS. The platform has two main components. A comprehensive e-knowledge management website where most of the agronomic content will be created by scientists and published on the portal for users such as field officers, farmer based organizations, NGOs, researchers and policy makers. The second component would involve transmitting relevant content from the knowledge management portal to smart phone enabled agricultural extension officers in the field, and from there to the farmers' mobile phones via voice and sms.

The IVR and audio component provides an opportunity to deliver critical content to farmers in local voice dialect, and the farmer also has the opportunity to contact the nearest extension officer or  call center for further support. It naturally involves the establishment of a call center to handle farmer queries for effective response. There will be regional  e-labs as well that would be expected to help develop extension officers and  farmer's e-learning skills.

Are there examples out there of successfully delivering content to farmers via voice?  

There is great potential in mobile phones as a means of relaying information or creating two way channel for information access. Considering the penetration rate of mobile phones especially most African countries, it becomes the most desired way to recieve and share information. A number of great areas have been discussed here already, here is my contribution:

Frontline SMS as a good number of you may already know is a great tool for SMS communication management and is freely available for download to service providers.

Twitter on feature phones is something Im thinking about recently and I see it as a very low cost means of sharing information within communities and groups of farmers and other groups. Twitter has SMS short codes for a number of countries which one can use to configure feature phones to recieve tweets as SMS.  If a telecentre/service provider/opinion leader are followed by special interest groups of community members such as famers, they can then tweet content which is then broadcasted to all the group members. Whats interesting is that only one person sending the tweet is charged and thats if he/she does it from their phones. In Kenya this would cost about USD 0.0125.

The limitation for SMS is ofcos the shortened information which may loose meaning, however for successful cases I have witnessed usually have content validators who are proffesionals in given fields such as Agriculture and can figure out if the SMS content developed makes sence or not.

Cheers!

Hi dear colleagues

Here is a strong evidence that the mobile should be used to support AIS. These are the results of a study conducted in Egypt in 2010. 

Please note behind the results: the network used by farmers, the potentials of partnerships/relations that can be mediated, innovation players, types of information and media that can be used .. and more for your food for thoughts.

The study was conducted in seven extension centers allover the country in the governorates of: Ismaillia, Daquahlia, Kafr El-Shiekh, Fayoum, Assuit, Behira, and Nobaria Zone. These centers were selected randomly from the fifty centers connected to the Rural and Agriculture Development Communication Network (RADCON). All farmers visiting these centers during October and November 2009 and have a mobile phone (126 farmers) were personally interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire. 

The main results of the study were as follows:

1. Percentage of farmers having high value mobiles with 6-8 specifications (40.6%) were close to those having low value mobiles with 1-3 specifications (46.9%).
2. The estimated value of farmers’ mobiles was not related to farmer's age, education, land holdings, or animal holdings, but was only correlated to the number of crops planted during the year, which means that farmers own a mobile for utilization and not to gain a status.
3. 87.3% of the respondents contact fertilizer dealers to know the prices, 80.2% contact their folks, relatives, and friends to solve an agricultural problem, 77.8% contact the extension worker for the same reason, and 77% and 75.4% contact seed and pesticide dealers to know the prices sequentially.
4. Solving agricultural problem represented 33.86% of respondents' usage of mobiles, knowing prices in general represented 28.2% of their usage, while knowing news, dates and places were 19.8%, 16.4%, and 7.67% sequentially.
5. Contacting folks, relatives, and friends for agricultural purposes rated to 46.97% call per month, meaning that one of each two of respondents’ calls were to exchange agricultural information or issue.
6. Cooperative contacts by farmers rated to 19.83 calls per month, and 16.3% calls to the extension agent, followed by fertilizer, pesticide and seeds dealers.
7. The source of 34.2% calls received by farmers were relatives, other farmers, friends, and folks, and 14.3% extensionists and agronomists, while 10.3% crop, animal, fertilizer and fodder dealers.
8. 20.6% of respondents’ calls were for exchanging news and advice, 9.5% to solve a problem and information exchange, 7.9% to announce meetings date, and 7.9% to purchase crops.
9. Farmers prefer to know the weather condition daily or seasonally, best practices or recommendations monthly or seasonally, diagnoses and treatment information weekly, monthly or seasonally, new varieties and selling places seasonally, irrigation advise and market prices monthly or seasonally.
10. Respondents equally preferred to ask for weather information and to be sending to them, while those who preferred to ask for other agricultural information were double the number of who preferred to receive it regularly.
11. Short Message (SMS) were highly preferred by farmers to receive information, followed by voice calls, and then images and video for diagnoses and treatment information.

PS. There are 3 mobile companies in Egypt. A SIM card can cost $ 0.16 to 0.48. A minute of voice call $ 0.0225. A mobile set from $ 10 to 500.

PPS. Taking advantage of this by extension service is ongoing.

When considering what ICT innovations should be used with farmers, I always try to answer some key questions first.

• What types of information do they need? Our surveys throughout Africa have shown that farmers are interested in receiving information on prices, weather forecasts, information on where to find inputs, agricultural tips and best practices, disease and pest outbreaks, information on volumes of commodities in markets, and access to buyers.

• What technology do the farmers have access to? What is the infrastructural lay of the land? In most rural areas of Africa where Esoko works, the technology available to farmers is typically not the Internet or even smartphones. However, most farmers either have a mobile phone themselves or know someone who has access to a mobile phone.

• Next I ask what are the skill levels of the farmers using the technology? Are they literate? Do they know how to use SMS or only how to make voice calls?

At Esoko, we are exploring a variety of different technical options to supply farmers at all skill levels with the information they need   . . . from a more sophisticated farm leader who uses a smart phone to do business to a smallholder who owns a mobile but cannot read. Therefore, we try to ensure many different channels are available, including SMS, VoiceSMS, IVR where the farmer can call and get information from an automated system, and an agricultural helpline where a team of experts respond to farmers’ requests for advice. 

Rich discussion and postings shows that variety of ICT innovations are happening around the globe...

Are there any ICT innovations designed around (entire) agricultural value chain? if so how it works?