tem que considerar la possibilidad tecnica via satellite um singolo ponto de antenna satellite para crear poi uma red local wireless para telemovel et internet o telemovel local pode ser gratuito o muito barato com isso pode utlisar skype o custo da connessao satellite wide band com eutelsat 6000 euro /ano

Hi Grace, I am an MD and I breeed sheeps. What you say it the same that happens here 25 km form Torino (italy) It must be pointed out that here farmres avoid as much as possible to call the vet unless a cattle isd delivering. when they have a sick animal they sell it for meat. the price of the vet is too high in comparison to risks and benefits. The vet here works alot with the cell phone to follow also the therapy from distance so to give appropriate instructions also wthout visiting, some kind of home made tele-vetmedicine

Hi Mark, I have a general remark about the use of mobile phones. The use of mobile phones for personal use should be highly promoted and subsidised because this allows to build connections and mantain closer relationships. This is part (at least for me) of what is called "social capital" and is important for develpment as much as technical fiocused exchange of information. It has been estimated that in big companies 50% fo the relevant information is exchanged through channel that are not formal, e.g. conversation at the coffe machine in the corridor.

trading online looks appealing to sell products but it could be not sustainable in rural areas unless they have cheap regular mail service. OCCAM explored the possibilities of helping local rural population to sell online their artisanal products in an ict VILLAGE in Madagascar (with sateliite wideband connection and community telcentre) but it was not sustainable as a business model because of lack of shipping service and because of costs (inlcuding reaching the nearest post office

hi Charles Do you have any metrics about tradenet: number of users statistic of use (number of call sms a day) etc? which kind of rural area covers? is it exploited also for personal non trade related communication??

Regarding risks, I have some local experience here in Italy, Here farmers have insurances so if the season is not good they do not deploy much efforts to save crops and prefer to cash in insurance money. They are not very much concerned about weather forecasts because of this. So the concept of what is a risk should be evaluated in the wider frame.

Dear all, I am very curious about figures, metrics, numbers, parameters otherwise the discussion appears to be very generic. When we speak of village what do we intend? How many inhabitants? 20, 100, 1000, 10.000? I also suggest to avoid moralistic considerations like "business people exploit farmers" we all know that economic mechanism are cruel. If we go moral, then everybody who sells anything is in the loop and is culpable. If all the farmers were able to skip intermediaries, the latter should find another job. Also farmers are concurrent between each other.... one remark, I buy hay from my neighbourgh, to find out the market price (to charge) he goes to the closest village and talks to other peasant that hang around the bar in the main square of the village making htere their business. I am located 25 km from Torino (the hometown of Fiat cars, a high tech pole in northern Italy).