Dear Colleagues:

Thank you all for very interesting, informative contributions in this discussion.

At the outset, let me state clearly that I am a believer in the potential of ICTs to bring a technological revolution in farming and agriculture which can enable smallholder family farmers, the majority of farmers in today’s world, to benefit and also cope with challenges in agriculture and their livelihoods.

However, I would like to point out that while there is a lot of documentation and anecdotal information available on the potential use of ICTs to improve family farming based on pilot projects, as provided in this forum also, there is very little hard evidence on the impact and sustainability of these projects as also what has been the learning from almost 20 years of our experience in the use of the “new” ICTs such as computers and cellular telephony, for agricultural development.

Yes, cell phones have contributed to connecting people in rural areas. It is true that cell phones can enable farmers, fisher folk, pastoralists and honey producers etc. to enter and sell into markets. However, what is the tangible evidence that computers and “Smart” phones have impact on smallholder family farmers (outside some developed countries) to improve their farming and benefit from this improvement?

In fact, the evidence available today raises a lot to questions about what has been done so far and what could have been done till now to really exploit the potential of this technology for the smallholder family farmer? For example, the lack of useful content on most Institutional Internet based sources of developing countries adapted to be effectively used exploiting the full potential of these ICTs in local conditions including. 

Let us understand that there are a very many other ICTs beyond cellular telephony that are also impacting on farming and agriculture.  Some of these are listed here (http://www.egfar.org/news/icts-improving-family-farming). The central issue is how these ICTs can be used to benefit small holder farmers of economically developing countries who need very rapid development of their farming to survive and cope with a rapidly changing world?

Smallholder family farmers thirst for information, which they recognize is a critical resource in todays’ market oriented farming, to improve their farming and participate in markets. They need information about what, when, how and where to grow and how and where to market what they grow.  Each smallholder farmer has unique problems and each needs not only a solution but a basket of solutions with options that they can decide upon. Today’s ICTs have the potential, not available so far through any “old” ICT, to satisfy this need.

And yet, there are huge issues that have not even been discussed about the availability, access, timeliness, trustworthiness, affordability, relevance, usefulness and how smallholder farmers can make effective use of this information. In fact, the question could be, is the information that the smallholder farmer needs even available and accessible?  There is very little evidence of it. For example, market price information provided through cell phones is usually wholesale price at a distant market and not the farm gate price that the small holder farmer could get with her very small quantities of produce. Call centers to assist farmers offer immediate answers to a pest problem or a sowing date but not on how to optimize production for a reasonable income with resilience and sustainability for the farmer for her livelihood.

Neither have issues such availability, access and affordability of useful hardware, appropriate software, quality connectivity, useful farm advisory services, appropriate content and the necessary Institutional support, especially in research, innovation, extension and building of capacities in farmers to effectively use information needed for smallholder farmers been discussed in much depth and with evidence.  

And what about the possible impact on family farmers who are and could be excluded, on economic, social, gender, age and political grounds  from the effective use of these technologies?

I hope we, as leaders in thinking about ICT and family farming, can also consider some of these issues going beyond the brighter side of the potential use of ICTs in family farming in this discussion.   

Warm regards,

Ajit

Ajit Maru , GFAR Secretariat