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 What ICT innovations are being used for farmers to access and exchange the information they need, and for service providers to provide information to farmers?

 

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Submitted by Ajit Maru on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 11:20

Dear Colleagues:

This has been a very interesting discussion with a lot of examples and issues related to ICT innovations for/by farmers and Service providers.

Saravanan has drawn attention to a very complex issue when we consider use of new ICTs in farming, especially of smallholders in the context of economically developing countries. Most innovations, including those discussed in this forum, for these farmers are "piecemeal" and offer solutions to one aspect of a farming problem whether to counterfeit inputs, market price or weather.

Large and rich farmers such as in North America, Europe and Australia now have more complete ICT based solutions for example for dairy production or grains etc.  These may include a myriad of ICTs from GPS based  farm equipment, microprocessor based dairy byres, databases, use of crop models and simulations, GIS and complex Internet and Cell Phone based interactive data and information management systems.

Why is it so? Is it because of the complexity of smallholder farming systems where a multiple of crops and animals are raised? Is it because these farmers cannot economically use new ICTs? Is it because there is no organization to coordinate and integrate all information needed by smallholders?

Examining some of these issues indicate that most ICT innovations for smallholder farmers must first and foremost be designed to be able to solve "local" problems of these farmers. These may draw upon more "global" information but they must in some way transform it to becoming "local" adding value through relevance, usefulness and timeliness to the small holder who many a times needs a set of solutions as options rather than "the solution".

Problems of smallholder participation in agricultural marketing chains and using ICT innovation to contribute to value addition in such participation is at the core an issue of "aggregation". Usually farmers and farming communities need to aggregate at various levels and in different ways, from around input supplies, managing cropping systems, harvesting, post harvest and marketing to reap benefits. The same may have to be done to reap benefits of ICT innovation by integrating all the "piecemeal" innovations we now have at an appropriate local level. I can cite one potential example, that of TNAU e-extension centre on which there is a post in this forum where I see several of these services that can and need to be integrated to offer value added services at a local level.

There are other issues that will come in also. For example, for the resource poor smallholder who is also information poor, who will bear the start up and maintenance costs for the integrated information services? Should it be the public sector/government, the farmers associations/cooperatives, the private sector engaged in marketing etc?

Regards,

Ajit

Ajit Maru, GFAR

 

 

 

Submitted by Kiringai Kamau on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 22:00
Anjit, I have never had a forum to document my work or even share what my company Octagon Data Systems Limited does to support smallholders. The time seems to be here for that now! To start with, I can confidently say that most of what seems evasive in delivering ICTs to smallholders has been nailed by the activities I have been engaged with for the last 15 years, which has seen me be transformed from ICT techie to an agricultural economist and a social entrepreneur at the same time. What started as a passion to save my father from a cheating clerk of a tea company, has become a solution that has transformed the tea value chain processes at all the layers of the chain. Starting with a technology to weigh tea, we have moved to weighing everything else from smallholders from tea to milk to horticulture, to coffee to everything else! In the process this has ensured that the smallholder producers come together to procure the technology that saves them from the cheating clerks and in the process forward-aggregate their produce for the market, and backward aggregate their orders for inputs procurement. This has created the need for organizational frameworks to manage the activities related to technology and handling of the financial proceeds from the market and paying the downward link to the su. The choice technology can run on GSM, Bluetooth, or deliver offline data to a processing center through other storage media, while leaving a smallholder farmer with a digital or paper record of what they have delivered to a produce collection center. We started with the offline storage, but with the coming of GSM and related technologies, we have had to keep pace with those who have come in the market and started doing what we are doing using these technologies. The outcome of this is that farmers can now aggregate their produce digitally, sell the aggregated produce with better negotiating power with the processors or consumers, get paid better rates for their produce whose payment is digitally processed removing the overheads associated with manual processing and in the process they have had reason to create their own savings and credit cooperatives to manage their payments. Some of the processing companies have found reason to sponsor the technology we sell because they are able to trace the source of the produce hence gain from the Fair Trade. I can therefore say that we have been able to transform various commodity chains and enriched the producers in those chains. Productivity has increased and the confidence of smallholders assured, which is so critical in any agricultural chain. Given the savings potential when using the technology, the issue of investment in the digital solution is not a constraint. Farmers feel they better borrow from banks or get the technology from us at a slightly higher price, but get the technology and the peace that comes with owning it as the employees no longer treat them as illiterates. The collectives that the farmers have created have grown in number with one employing over 600 employees while doing value addition of the farmer produce and so calling for a more serious software solution to manage the member register, payment, produce processing and payroll for the employees. What we have seen is that we have not rested as we move at the same pace as the farmer and market demands creating solutions to emerging needs. The end result is that at the end of this year, we shall have a software solution that is an ERP for agriculture tailored for smallholder producers. Two of the large tea processors told us that we have managed to ably compete against SAP using our bottom up solution which gains ownership by the smallholder producers. At the moment we are making every aspect of our solution digitally driven. The next challenge shall be to ensure that the training of the operators of the technology is the community themselves. I am therefore soliciting for ownership of this technology by the sector so that we can concentrate on making our business grow. I can therefore confidently say that, its not just in the west where large farmers can afford the technology. It is also not true that the various elements of the value chain cannot be automated, we have a solution that beats all the odds and are ready to share the success we have gained from agricultural integration to other pro-poor initiatives. Coming from a country that is leading also in mobility solutions, you can be sure that we are very much around with mobility options. I am ready to demystify technology at any forum and integrate it to any value chain. _____________________________________________________________________ Kiringai Kamau *WillPower Enterprise Development Limited *Development Consultant - Founder, Knowledge Specialist & Value Chain Analyst PO Box 35046 00200 Nairobi-Kenya Tel: +25420-2719733/2728708 Fax: +25420-2724389 Cell: +254-722800986/733375505 Websites:www.willpower.co.ke , http://rural-agriculture.wikispaces.com Office Email: [email protected] On Wed, Sep 19, 2012 at 3:31 PM, wrote: > ** > > Write above this line to reply|Escriba sobre esta línea para > responder|Pour répondre écrivez au-dessus de cette ligne > Dear | Estimado(a) | Cher/Chère: kiringai > > > • New comment *|* Nuevo comentario *|* Nouveau commentaire: *ICT > Innovation and Agricultural Value Chains* > > • Published on *| *Publicado el *|* Publié le: *19/09/2012 - 11:20* > > • *amaru *wrote *| *escribió *|* a écrit: > > * * > > *Dear Colleagues:* > * > > This has been a very interesting discussion with a lot of examples and > issues related to ICT innovations for/by farmers and Service providers. > > Saravanan has drawn attention to a very complex issue when we consider use > of new ICTs in farming, especially of smallholders in the context of > economically developing countries. Most innovations, including those > discussed in this forum, for these farmers are "piecemeal" and offer > solutions to one aspect of a farming problem whether to counterfeit inputs, > market price or weather. > > Large and rich farmers such as in North America, Europe and Australia now > have more complete ICT based solutions for example for dairy production or > grains etc. These may include a myriad of ICTs from GPS based farm > equipment, microprocessor based dairy byres, databases, use of crop models > and simulations, GIS and complex Internet and Cell Phone based interactive > data and information management systems. > > Why is it so? Is it because of the complexity of smallholder farming > systems where a multiple of crops and animals are raised? Is it because > these farmers cannot economically use new ICTs? Is it because there is no > organization to coordinate and integrate all information needed by > smallholders? > > Examining some of these issues indicate that most ICT innovations for > smallholder farmers must first and foremost be designed to be able to solve > "local" problems of these farmers. These may draw upon more "global" > information but they must in some way transform it to becoming "local" > adding value through relevance, usefulness and timeliness to the small > holder who many a times needs a set of solutions as options rather than > "the solution". > > Problems of smallholder participation in agricultural marketing chains and > using ICT innovation to contribute to value addition in such participation > is at the core an issue of "aggregation". Usually farmers and farming > communities need to aggregate at various levels and in different ways, from > around input supplies, managing cropping systems, harvesting, post harvest > and marketing to reap benefits. The same may have to be done to reap > benefits of ICT innovation by integrating all the "piecemeal" innovations > we now have at an appropriate local level. I can cite one potential > example, that of TNAU e-extension centre on which there is a post in this > forum where I see several of these services that can and need to be > integrated to offer value added services at a local level. > > There are other issues that will come in also. For example, for the > resource poor smallholder who is also information poor, who will bear the > start up and maintenance costs for the integrated information services? > Should it be the public sector/government, the farmers > associations/cooperatives, the private sector engaged in marketing etc? > > Regards, > > Ajit > > Ajit Maru, GFAR > > > > > > > > * > > • Read more *|* Leer más *| *Lire la suite: > http://www.e-agriculture.org/forumtopics/question-1-opens-17-sept#commen... > > > > > -- > > • To manage your subscriptions log in: > http://www.e-agriculture.org/en/user/login and then click on > 'Notifications': http://www.e-agriculture.org/user/15731/notifications > > • Para manejar sus suscribciones, ingrese con su nombre de usuario: > http://www.e-agriculture.org/es/user/login y haga click en > "Notificaciones": http://www.e-agriculture.org/user/15731/notifications > > • Pour gérer vos abonnements, entrez votre nom d'utilisateur: > http://www.e-agriculture.org/fr/user/login et cliquez sur > «Notifications»: http://www.e-agriculture.org/user/15731/notifications > > > > View original post: > http://www.e-agriculture.org/mailcomment/redirect/%3C15731.37919.4708.13... > --
Submitted by Kiringai Kamau on Mon, 05/20/2013 - 19:13
Anjit,I have never had a forum to document my work or even share what my company Octagon Data Systems Limited does to support smallholders. The time seems to be here for that now! To start with, I can confidently say that most of what seems evasive in delivering ICTs to smallholders has been nailed by the activities I have been engaged with for the last 15 years, which has seen me be transformed from ICT techie to an agricultural economist and a social entrepreneur at the same time.
What started as a passion to save my father from a cheating clerk of a tea company, has become a solution that has transformed the tea value chain processes at all the layers of the chain. Starting with a technology to weigh tea, we have moved to weighing everything else from smallholders from tea to milk to horticulture, to coffee to everything else! In the process this has ensured that the smallholder producers come together to procure the technology that saves them from the cheating clerks and in the process forward-aggregate their produce for the market, and backward aggregate their orders for inputs procurement. This has created the need for organizational frameworks to manage the activities related to technology and handling of the financial proceeds from the market and paying the downward link to the su.
The choice technology can run on GSM, Bluetooth, or deliver offline data to a processing center through other storage media, while leaving a smallholder farmer with a digital or paper record of what they have delivered to a produce collection center.
We started with the offline storage, but with the coming of GSM and related technologies, we have had to keep pace with those who have come in the market and started doing what we are doing using these technologies.
The outcome of this is that farmers can now aggregate their produce digitally, sell the aggregated produce with better negotiating power with the processors or consumers, get paid better rates for their produce whose payment is digitally processed removing the overheads associated with manual processing and in the process they have had reason to create their own savings and credit cooperatives to manage their payments. Some of the processing companies have found reason to sponsor the technology we sell because they are able to trace the source of the produce hence gain from the Fair Trade. I can therefore say that we have been able to transform various commodity chains and enriched the producers in those chains. Productivity has increased and the confidence of  smallholders assured, which is so critical in any agricultural chain.
Given the savings potential when using the technology, the issue of investment in the digital solution is not a constraint. Farmers feel they better borrow from banks or get the technology from us at a slightly higher price, but get the technology and the peace that comes with owning it as the employees no longer treat them as illiterates.
The collectives that the farmers have created have grown in number with one employing over 600 employees while doing value addition of the farmer produce and so calling for a more serious software solution to manage the member register, payment, produce processing and payroll for the employees. What we have seen is that we have not rested as we move at the same pace as the farmer and market demands creating solutions to emerging needs. The end result is that at the end of this year, we shall have a software solution that is an ERP for agriculture tailored for smallholder producers.
Two of the large tea processors told us that we have managed to ably compete against SAP using our bottom up solution which gains ownership by the smallholder producers. At the moment we are making every aspect of our solution digitally driven. The next challenge shall be to ensure that the training of the operators of the technology is the community themselves. I am therefore soliciting for ownership of this technology by the sector so that we can concentrate on making our business grow.
I can therefore confidently say that, its not just in the west where large farmers can afford the technology. It is also not true that the various elements of the value chain cannot be automated, we have a solution that beats all the odds and are ready to share the success we have gained from agricultural integration to other pro-poor initiatives. Coming from a country that is leading also in mobility solutions, you can be sure that we are very much around with mobility options.
I am ready to demystify technology at any forum and integrate it to any value chain.
_____________________________________________________________________
Kiringai Kamau
WillPower Enterprise Development Limited
Development Consultant - Founder, Knowledge Specialist & Value Chain Analyst
PO Box 35046 00200
Nairobi-Kenya
Tel: +25420-2719733/2728708
Fax: +25420-2724389
Cell: +254-722800986/733375505
Websites:www.willpower.co.ke, http://rural-agriculture.wikispaces.com Office Email: [email protected] 
On Wed, Sep 19,
Submitted by Brenda Burrell on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 14:16

I'd like to introduce Freedom Fone as a platform for two-way information sharing with farmers. Our open source products offer solutions where Internet access is limited - for caller and information provider alike. Check out our online demo at demo.freedomfone.org.

Freedom Fone is a DIY hardware solution that connects to mobile networks via voice enabled GSM modems and sim cards. Where Internet is available to the organisation running Freedom Fone, the service can optionally be connected to VoIP.

The free version offers:

  • IVR - interactive voice menus
  • Voicemail
  • Incoming SMS
  • SMS Polls

The commercial solution adds:

  • Callbacks
  • Campaign dialing
  • Voice surveys

We are currently working on SMS sending functionality for both solutions and will be looking to add USSD support.

Freedom Fone is a particularly interesting option where illiteracy or unsupported language scripts (eg Khmer in Cambodia) limit the use of SMS for information exchange. Where information cannot be précised into the 160 characters required for an SMS, voice becomes a compelling alternative. For example:

  • Using IVR voice menus for short (2-3min) information packages & updates
  • Teaching farmers to use voicemail for submitting questions and providing feedback, experience, opinion and insights

Though radio is a great channel through which to share audio information, if a listener misses a programme they lose a chance to learn... and of course you have to have a licence to broadcast. With Freedom Fone, content can be made available as an information on demand service 24/7 using IVR-based voice menus...and you can offer a service without having to jump through radio licensing hoops.

When you build your own service you can choose to offer the information in any language or combination of languages.

Farmers' voices received via voicemail can be exported and incorporated into voice menus or radio broadcasts.

Cost of voice calls is a major hurdle in many countries, but not all. Where call costs are competitive, organisations can seriously consider using Freedom Fone's Callback function to offer 'cost free to caller' services.

Campaign calling can be used to advertise products, issue alerts and promote events, all at no cost to the farmer.

Thanks
Brenda

Submitted by Karin Nichterlein on Wed, 09/19/2012 - 14:42

I am Karin Nichterlein, Agricultural Research Officer, Research and Extension Branch, FAO, Rome, Italy. The comments so far have shown the vast and various ICT innovations that have been developed to help farmers access and exchange information they need through various service providers. It is true that different access to ICTs must be considered for the best form of adoption to engage farmers along with documenting and disseminating issues and innovations experienced by farmers. As it has been mentioned, the use of ICTs is very diverse in rural areas in regards to the different medias such as rural radio, mobile phones and internet. ICTs provide the possibility for farmers and stakeholders to share their experiences, to improve practices, learn from each other, as well as provide linkages to different markets and information. Wide use of mobile phones and internet may be difficult in some rural areas due to limited literacy, low level of connectivity and/or high costs. Here,  intermediaries with skills and access to ICTs play a role in letting farmers benefit from ICTs.

 

In response to these particular aspects, I would like to introduce the Technologies and Practices for Small Agricultural Producers (TECA) platform that combines a knowledge repository with a tool for discussions (please see: http://teca.fao.org). TECA has been developed by FAO to facilitate access to practical information that can benefit small producers around the world. Through the knowledge repository  information on applied technologies and practices can be accessed from partner organizations agreeing to share their descriptions on TECA. The focus is on concrete technologies presented in a non-academic, simple and descriptive language, complemented by photos, presentations and videos. Users or intermediaries can leave comments for sharing similar experiences or posting questions. An additional tool is the online forums, or Exchange Groups, where members can enquire a community of practitioners about a specific agricultural technology or practice, and at the same time share their own experiences with other members looking for support.

 

In regards to intermediaries providing ICT services, I would like to share with you information about  recent initiatives of one of TECA’s partners, the Grameen Foundation Uganda’s Local Knowledge Project (http://teca.fao.org/partner/grameen-foundation). Through a network of 800 community knowledge workers based at village level in different regions of Uganda, local practices in agriculture  - often communicated only verbally across communities and generations - are collected and documented, translated into English and shared for discussion and feedback with members of an Exchange Group on TECA. The community knowledge workers are equipped with smart phones which they use to capture farmers’ local innovations. These experiences, together with the contributions and comments from the TECA platform are then compiled into a comprehensive document that is shared with farmers and other stakeholders through various channels of communication.  Another initiative, is the establishment of a call centre by Grameen Uganda, where farmers can receive advice by experts in local languages. The TECA platform is one of the sources from which they draw information for their advisory services.

We have seen in this discussion forum many exciting examples of using ICTs for farmers, but need to keep in mind that the successful implementation of ICTs to benefit farmers requires a careful assessment of many factors including information needs of various farmer groups, capacities of farmers or intermediaries, communication culture, costs, available resources etc.

Submitted by Possiano Teretere on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 19:23

Dear Members,

 

I am called Possiano and work with Grameen foundation on the Local knowledge project.

 

Thanks Karin for sharing about this project. I just wanted to emphasize the ability for our application to capture content in text, audio and video formats. This is one way we ensure that the information submitted by our community knowledge workers has been genuinely collected from the farmers. Our content dissemination application also provides information on which specific farmer was served with a specific piece of information, the time, location and their contacts details fetched from out farmer database. This gives us the ability to follow up on the effectiveness of the different practices.

Submitted by Pier Paolo Ficarelli on Thu, 09/20/2012 - 00:50

In India I am involved in supporting two different digital paltforms using two different approaches. The aim is to delve in practice into the "CIAS" as key succcess factors for the integration and impact oriented use of ICT in Agricultural service delivery and agro advosory:  

  1. mKisan - is part the mAgri initiative: http://bit.ly/KfHmL4  We look at issues of dissemantion of information without intermediaries to focus on scale and content quality management. The medium is voice with restricted use of SMS linked to Voice messages. With CABI we look at creating a call centre also without intermediaries, capable of linking directly farmers with experts. We look also at use videos for non-smart phones devices.
  2. Digital Green already introduced in this forum by Ritu, is proposing a video-enabled extension approach wich aims at increasing adoption rate after video screeneing through the deployment and facilitation of community based service providers. With Digital Green in the frame of a MEAS study we are looking at all the issues of instituionalsation of intermediaries within the partner organisation, content management and scaling- up with quality.

The use of intermediaries is critical to facilitate any behavoural change, as asked by Roxy, or simply facilitating farmer-expert knowledge sharing . At the same time, their long term existence remain critical, without motivation and cost recovery mecahnisms, as more articultated alreasy by Steph and others.

Quality content provision to ICT platform remain a huge and understimated cost challenge. Without relevant content , that can be continously updated and validated, the great opportunities offered by ICT in lowering access barrier to agrcultural information access will be lost.    

  

 
Submitted by Shalini Kala on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 09:10

Researching in Asia we discovered two important factors for advisory to be of value to smallholders:

1. Customisation/localisation of the information/advice being provided - Several advisory services running in the region supply broad agriculture information.  What farmers, including smallholders need is advice customised to their needs, their farms, their farming operations.  One such expereince is on the OneFarm Services in India, an initiative of ekgaon.  Read more at: 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-agri-biz-and-commod…

2. Quick response time: Small-holders have in general low risk bearing ability.  Hence, it makes a great difference if they get responses to their queries within 24 hours or it would take longer.  With 2-3 livestock animals, losing one to disease is a huge set back for a smallholder.

Read more on this research championed by IFAD and IDRC at:

http://www.e-agriculture.org/content/strengthening-rural-livelihoods-im…;

Shalini

Submitted by Rachel Zedeck on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 18:45

To truly accomplish sustainability (however you define it), doesn't an innovation need to reach scale ? What what is real scale?  Should we measure in percentage of marketshare, impact on GDP or simply household income?

Submitted by Lisa Cespedes on Thu, 09/20/2012 - 17:11

Highlights of Question 1: Forum on ICTs for Agricultural Innovation Systems

Today, Thursday 20th September, is the fourth day of this Online Forum, and the discussion continues to benefit from the active participation of people in over 100 countries.

I have started a summary of the various innovations mentioned by participants. (This summary covers only those mentioned under Question 1): http://bit.ly/R2CPRw

Lisa

Submitted by jancy gupta on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 18:52

Traditional ICTs such as TV and radio are being widely used by Indian farmers to access and exchange information. Due to the high penetration rate of mobile phones, it has stepped in as the future of ICT in India. Low cost of the mobile device and its ability to provide feedback are added advantages. Few examples of success stories of extension programs using mobile technology in India are Reuters Market Light (RML), Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) of Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO)) and Kisan Sanchar.  However, full potential of mobile phones to provide information to farmers has not been fully exploited by service providers. Though mobile is extensively used in farmer to farmer information network, its use as an official information service provider is yet to gather momentum. Content development and timely delivery of information has to be focused and invites the urgent attention of policy makers and extension professionals.

 

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