[quote="Lisa-Cespedes"] Question 2 (8 Dec.) What positive impact can ICT have on the agricultural value chain? Where in the value chain can ICT reduce transaction costs? [/quote] There probably are numerous ways in which ICTs can reduce transaction costs. It is clear that theoretically they could help bring the producers closer to the markets and vice versa - in practice, cultural and historical factors can reduce this effect as has already been demonstrated in some studies on the traditional roles of middlemen. Middlemen tend to be slightly demonized as in theories on value chains, and are often portrayed as reckless profiteurs from poor farmers. In many african countries though, the play a role in traditional prefinancing schemes, inputs procurement, market information provision and relationship building between the small farmers and bigger traders. In itself, having access to market prices via ICT does not always help small farmers to conclude better deals - as access to transport, packaging and uniformity of quality can hinder the conclusion of good deals. But in the case of organized farmers' organizations, it can definitely help to set quality standards of the products, facilitate grouped sales, facilitate grouped and uniformized packaging, temporarily stockage (in order to sell at the best moment) etc. I'm also inclined to say that the question is too open - as if all the actors in the chain would profit equally from the use of ICT at certain points in the value chain. So for me, the ground question would rather be: who benefits most from specific ICT interventions in the value chain? This question then also better relates to the underlying objective of poverty reduction: who do we need to support with ICT's (and at what level) in order to reduce and/or ban poverty?

[quote="jo.cadilhon"] I wonder whether I'm still in the topic of this e-forum if I ask the ICT experts to share their thoughts about information management technologies and how these can work in developing country contexts. [/quote] Hi Jo, My feeling is that information management technologies are still in their early stages in developing countries - that is, if we talk about IMT's [u]owned[/u] by the users themselves. In Mali, one of IICD's local partners FRUILEMA (a grouping of five fruit exporting firms) is working with a web-based platform 'Fresh Food Trace' (including databases and GIS), developed by the Senegalese firm Manobi, which does facilitate certification and traceability. However, we also see that the appropriation of such a heavy tool by non-experimented users is not an easy task at all, and that dependency relations with the platform-vendor (e,g. Manobi) can intervene negatively in the process. In the case of the farmers' federation FEPPASI in Burkina Faso, we chose for a step-by-step approach during which the farmers first appropriate themselves the basic ICT tools, then proceed to a more complex setting, and now are in the stage of developing and enhancing an internal database on product quantities and quality.

[quote="sameera"] Different types of ICT have different strengths and also weaknesses. I think this is where we need ICT and Agriculture experts to work together to find the right tool for right role. [/quote] Good point, Sameera. The users and the context in which they evolve does eventually dictate what tools are most appropriate at a certain point in time. One of the problems may be that the context and the technologies evolve rapidly and that it is thus difficult to determine whether the right tool now will still be the right tool tomorrow. I would also like to add multimedia (digital camera, video etc.) to the list. Maybe an important distinction to make is the one between analog and digital ICTs - the latter having the obvious advantage that data once digitized can freely and easily be adapted and distributed along different types of ICTs. From that perspective, one could for instance propagate the digitization of community radio stations - in order to facilitate networking and information exchange via other channels such as the Internet, podcasts, etc.

[quote="michaelriggs"] Does anyone think it would be useful (and possible) to assign different roles in the value chain to different types of ICT? Or would that be too much of a generalization? [/quote] I agree with Henry Benavides' answer : yes and no. Each situation, culture and context will probably call for a slightly different use of ICT's, and it may be difficult to assign specific roles to specific types of ICT. But it may be interesting to further investigate the correlation between the types of ICT that are used related to the type/level of organisation, the kind of product etc. as Henry also suggests. I guess there is a certain logic in the premise that more complex transactions/communications call for more complex and more intensive ICT-systems. On the other hand, I am inclined to amend Henry's premise that there is a direct correlation between the education level and the use of ICT's. In several pilot projects in Mali and Burkina Faso over the past four years, we've seen that the use of multimedia (digital photo, video, presentations, projections, etc.) can be quickly adopted by even non-literate farmers, and that the very fact that these non-intellectuals become producers of information can greatly enhance the trust of their fellow farmers in the information that is provided. We have witnessed a greater willingness by farmers to adopt new farming technologies and methodologies with this use of multimedia by farmers themselves. See also the article "Farmers teach farmers with ICT's" in the resource section.

Hi everyone, My name is Francois Laureys. Dutch, 49 years old, father of 3 children. I'm currently Country Programme Manager for IICD (International Institute for Communications and Development) in Mali and Burkina Faso. My background is Communication Studies (University of Amsterdam), and radio journalism - I've worked as a journalist for several radio stations between 1980 and 2000. At IICD, I've been working on Capacity Development and on Knowledge Sharing Programmes before I became Country Programme Manager in 2004. In mali and in Burkina Faso, IICD started ICT4D programmes in Agriculture in 2005. Since then, I have been advising, coaching and monitoring approximately 15 projects with local partners in this sector.