Elliot Faminu
| Organization type | Government/Bilateral Organization |
|---|---|
| Pays | Nigeria |
Agripreneur, Consultant, Webdesigner, Agent for Agri-Tech Innovation.
This member participated in the following Forums
Forum Forum: "ICT and producer organizations" November, 2012
Question 1 (opens 12 Nov.)
Hi,
would it be out of place to use as example the Federal government of Nigeria, using mobile or evuchers - text message confirming to farmer he has made purchase of a bag of fertilizer which the farmer presents at collection point for claiming. This seeks to remove middle men who have the money to buy off the inpute and re-sell at higher prices, thus making it out of reach to subsistent farmers. Through this means inputs get to real farmers who apply to the scheme and probably at subsidised rates.
Simple, but true defination when put against rural poor or subsistent agriculture.
Very useful information, thanks.
Forum Forum: "Using ICT to enable Agricultural Innovation Systems for smallholders" September, 2012
Question 3 (opens 24 Sept.)
Hi,
in the case of commercial enterprice this would work, it is assumed those on this level of activity can also afford this level of effective design and probably cheaper, considering productivity.
In the case of the small holder, of which are responsible for over 80% of production, we cannot afford to overlook the need for an intermediary, though incurring more on overhead cost, to bridge the gap between. Most small holders in Africa are illitrate, but with a simple but powerful tool as the mobile phone and an intermediary we can gradually make this very useful group of producers literate and eventually reduce the involvement of that layer of human capacity to the minimum but not outrightly.
Sir,
In both instances the intermediary i.e. the Extension officer is highly in play, this challenge is further worsened considering the extension worker: farmer ratio which is very inadequate. Probably training more of school leavers with no jobs could reduce this challenge and training of contact farmers who in turn retrain farmers within their communities.
Secondly, community ICT clinics would need to be setup, another challenge would be power and low cost internet access.
Information and Communication Technology is key to knowledge generation, documentation and sharing between farmers, this is also the embryo for Innovation.
Let's look at this example, the very few farmers here (Lagos) who have internet access or facility are often more knowledgeable in their various enterprises and tend to ask questions that make their fellow farmers seem outdated when they gather for their regular farmers' meetings. Sometimes these questions asked (of information they already know from their online browsing) is borne out of a show off or 'You-guys-are-archaic' attitude often setoff possibilities in those having challenges and make them want top seek for solutions they never thought were possible, especially when they learn of a simple method of dealing with it.
The traditional extension system which requires the presence of an extension agent in remote locations and often the extensioner to farmer ratio is grossly inadequate. ICTs (that is radio inclusive) has proved to be of very important help to farmers, who in turn reach extension agents via phone and the message is disseminated.
75 per cent percent of farmers in the rural areas have phones and so we are moving into that electronic wallet. Here is how the system works; the farmers will get their alerts about the allocation for seeds and fertilizers, they will go to the agro dealer in their own village and they will send that information to the agro dealer, seeds and fertilizers suppliers are also on the electronic platform. Farmers receive an sms alert with their fertilizer allocation thus eliminating the need for corrupt middle men.
No doubt, use of ICT makes documentation and archiving easy and accessibly at the same time to the interested public. Challenge in emerging nations like mine, however, is power and other supporting infrastructures.
Question 1 (opens 17 Sept.)
I work with the Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority (Nigeria), we use the radio to reach our farmers in remote locations. Recently Government initiated the use of SMS to sell directly to crop farmers in need of fertiliser. This removes midle men who are often the cause of high prices. However, few of the small holder farmers who have access to the internet often complain about cost. Our organisation together with the World bank sponsored Fadama (dry season farming) project launched an ICT clinic, with the aim of providing resources/ information and access to farmers who can come to make use of the facility. However, the farmer may need to bear a huge cost on transportation to get to the facility which is situated in the town and the internet speed could be incredibly fruastrating and service charges prohibitive. How, can your organisation be of use?
Forum Forum: "Challenges and Opportunities for Capturing Impact in ICT initiatives in Agriculture" September, 2011
Introduction and Question 1
You raised deep and probing questions. There is need to track down how ICT is affecting production and productivity, in relation to farmers' behaviour in terms of adoption rates, and what factors facilitate adoption of a particular technology - cost, availability, accessibility etc. coupled with farmers' access to other information sources. For emerging economies these are very important statistics we need especially as penetration of ICT is low.