Hi my name is Harsha de Silva. I am the Lead Economist at LIRNEasia [pronounced "learn asia"] a regional ICT policy and regulation capacity-building organization active across the Asia Pacific. We are based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. I have been looking at how ICT can increase efficiencies in agriculture markets for some time now. For some of our recent work with a focus on transaction costs and traceability; please see http://lirneasia.net/projects/2006-07/icts-transaction-costs-traceabili…. There is more... I will get a link for them soon... I also just completed a scoping study for IDRC [for ENRAP with FAO and IFAD] on ICT and Rural Livelihoods, essentially looking at how ICT is being used to improve agricultural livelihoods in South Asia. Hope to participate in a fruitful discussion.
Submitted by Michael Riggs on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 11:51
Dear Harsha, welcome! I'm very glad you have joined. Please invite your staff and colleagues as well. We look forward to your sharing with us from your broad experience on how mobile phones, as part of our ICT "tool kit", can impact livelihoods. I met with Shalini and Chase last week to talk about the report. Very interesting work :) cheers, Michael (FAO)