E-Agriculture

Question 1 (opens 12 Nov.)

Question 1 (opens 12 Nov.)

 

 Question 1: What roles does ICT play in producer organizations? Support examples with specific reference to an organization, the technology tool(s), and content delivered. 

In particular consider:
  • How can ICT facilitate accountability and transparency among members of an organization and between different organizations?
  • How can ICT facilitate climate change adaptation among members of an organization and the rural communities where the organization is active?

 


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Efaminu,

This is appropriate. By using mobile phones, one of the major costs hs been effectively eliminated leading to higher income for the producer and/or lower price for the consumers. Here in the Philippines, 10/10 farmers have mobile phones. I am pretty sure that farmers would have other use for their cell phones which are related in agricultural production.

Pierre Rondot
Pierre RondotCentre International de Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement (CIRAD)France

I beleive ICT can be very useful to facilitate transparency in transactions but it is always dangerous to try to remove middlemen as they have a role to play. Farmers are to farm and traders to trade. ICT can provide market information not to remove the middleman but to have "fair" price for the farmers. This is not the job of the government to distribute fertilizer to farmer even using ICT.   

ravishankar mantha
ravishankar manthaAgRisk ResearchIndia

Dear Pierre,

You are abosultely right, ICT will play a critical role, but at the same time, middle man cannot be over looked. For instance, in India they are the lifeline of farmers, they are the first line of support when they are in trouble, bringing in technology which will over look there shoulder would be a big issue. In fact, they should be part of the sytem, given the economic role that they play in sustaining the farmers.

 

Brenda Martinez
Brenda MartinezPhilippines

 

ICT plays a very important role in producer organizations. It helps a team run the organization more efficiently and it also enables better management when used competently.   This has been proven in a Hungarian case study on vegetable-fruit producer organizations that made use of various ICT tools like internet, wireless technologies, and particular software packages. The said tools and the utilization of  e-marketing also helped a lot in the producer organization’s increased productivity.

Globally an estimated one third of global food production is wasted or ‘lost’; that’s the equivalent of 1.3 billion tonnes or the amount produced in the whole of the sub-Saharan Africa. In the developing world, food loss occurs mainly in the production and at the post-harvest stage. Up to 40% of food harvested might be lost due to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions and infrastructure.

Given that many smallholder farmers in developing countries live on the margins of food insecurity, a reduction in food losses could have an immediate and significant impact on their livelihoods.

Food loss (which happens in the production and distribution stage while food waste is what happens in the retail and consumption end of the food supply chain) causes an enormous drain on natural resources and is a contributor to negative environmental impacts. Given conventional, resource-intensive agriculture, the significant rate of food loss means all the resources – land, water, inputs – used in food production along with the greenhouse gas emissions that result from every stage of the food supply chain (agriculture is responsible for 30% of total GHG) are all in vain.

Could this be an opportunity for ICT-based solutions that assist small-scale farmer organizations to identify and develop centralized storage and cooling systems, for example, that can help reduce losses at the production and post-harvest stage?

Could an ICT system perhaps help smallholder farmers learn and be trained to abide by food safety standards to minimize distribution rejects and reduce losses?

Could an ICT system help smallholders be in touch with ‘secondary’ markets for cosmetically rejected harvests that do not meet weight, size and appearance standards instead of these ending up in dumpsites?

 

There are several examples of farmers forming organizations that invest in technology or facilities to reduce post-harvest losses. Most of the well known examples focus on facilities like silos or refrigeration units.

Are there examples of producer organizations using ICT to reduce food loss?

Susan Balanza
Susan BalanzaPhilippines

You have post challenging questions Lucy. I believe that ICT can be a powerful tool in ensuring food security. Food are being lost during calamities (drought, floods, frosts), post harvest mishandlings, inadequate drying facilities (drying in public roads causes 5-15% loss) and inappropriate technologies. Technologies are available but are not practiced due to poor dissemination. A functional ICT system would very much promote reduction of food losses. Strategic location of post harvest, storage facilities and processing centers are easier located through ICT, technologies on substitute commodities (drought or flood resistant), post harvest handling technologies can be readily accessed and market requirements (standards, packaging style - whether in sacks or in small bags, size etc) can be immediately known.

Geotagging, showing location of production centers, post harvest and processing centers, storage facilities and service centers, when perfected can significantly help reduce food losses. 

Fatima Cascon
Fatima CasconPhilippines

The Vegetable Industry Council of Southern Mindanao, Inc. (VICSMin) Philippines hosted the 8th Mindanao Vegetable Congress last August 2012. Participants were mostly small farmers, vegetable producers, vegetable supply chain players, government sectors and other support organizations from Mindanao, Luzon and Visayas with the aim to improve market accessibility. The ultimate goal of this congress is for the farmers to use the information and knowledge in improving market accessibility and production capacity to enhance their standards of living.

The system to be provided by the Smart Communications will allow farmers to use mobile phones in marketing vegetables.  Vegetable farmers in Davao and other parts of Mindanao will subscribe to an extensive information management system in marketing their products with the use of mobile phones.  Using the system enables farmers to reach out to a wider market by informing consumers via text on availability of supply. This will also enable farmers to be updated on relevant information regarding price fluctuations in the market.

At the moment internet trading is not possible because most vegetable farmers have no access to computers and are not computer literate.

Advantages are (1) slowly eliminate numerous middleman or jobbers to benefit farmers and consumers. (2) Assurance of competitive of price (3) Unite farmers to come up with the right volume of supply to cater to the demands (4) Develop opportunities outside Mindanao.

Mobile texting by farmers is a good start in getting connected but still communication technology's effectiveness depends on how management implements the technology into the organization.

Thanks Fatima, this is an intersting example. Is there any information on who is supporting the initiative? Is the vegetable industry council working alone, or do they have financial support from government or another party? Also, is the local mobile network operator directly involved in the project (or is the project just making use of the mobile network service)?

Thanks.

Fatima Cascon
Fatima CasconPhilippines

HI Michael, the Vegetable Congress last August was supported by The University of the Philippines Mindanao, other support agencies are the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit XI, Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM 3 Program-USAID), and the City Government of Davao- City Agriculturist’s Office.  The System is to be provided by Smart Telecommunication.  Fingers crossed – wishing for its success.