[quote="zainul"] I think a concise definition of value chains,their salient features and operational procedures may help the participants to contribute more specifically. May I request Lisa and Sapna to do the favor? Regards, Zainul [/quote] Dear Zainul, If you would kindly repost your question in the discussion section, that would be helpful (it may not get due attention here). What you ask is pertinent to many people reading in this forum I am sure. Whether or not there is a concise answer, I think is best left to our Subject Matter Experts and other participants (not the facilitators!). Regards, Michael

[/quote] Dear Lisa, May I know if any particular activity is more important than others in the value chain concept? Best regards, Tasnim [/quote] Dear Tasnim, Please see the forum discussion, particularly questions 1 and 3/4 for thoughts on this issue. It is complex. Regards, Michael

Here is a link to the article as it was published on i4d magazine http://www.i4donline.net/articles/current-article.asp?Title=Web2.0_tech…

Dear all, The discussion has mentioned public-private partnerships (PPP) many times now as having an important role in the success and sustainability of ICT in the value chain. Earlier the e-Agriculture community held a forum on PPP in Asia, which has some relevance to our discussion here. For those who were not part of that discussion, you can access the PPP forum (and others) at [url=http://www.e-agriculture.org/275.html]http://www.e-agriculture.org/275…] We've also created a Key Topics reference on PPP at [url=http://www.e-agriculture.org/569.html]http://www.e-agriculture.org/569…]

[quote="sameera"] Let me to share with you outcomes of a interesting research done by LIRNEasia, a research organization in Sri Lanka. [/quote] Thanks for sharing this example with quantitative data Sameera. For those of you interested, the report by LIRNEasia is linked in the forum's Resource thread at: http://www.e-agriculture.org/mm_forum.html?&tx_mmforum_pi1[action]=list…

This is a very interesting scenario Thao. Have you, or has anyone, looked at the epidemiological applications of ICT (rural e-Health programs) to see what experiences there could be transferred to agriculture? Improving and simplifying compliance in data collection seems to be a common goal. [quote="Thao"] [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] ICT can assist farmers in meeting compliance requirements. We were visiting a supplier that's a co-op of farmers in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. They're growing rice that meet Global GAP standards. They showed us books of records of information by each of the 500 families, with entries after entries for compliance purpose. ICT could enable the recording as well as checking of that data to be a lot easier and less time-consuming. [/quote]

Thanks for this example Sameera. I note that you describe a case where multiple types of media, facilitated by ICT, are used to make the same content available. Interesting.

This is a very valid point made by Jean-Claude. There are still great challenges to the use of new/modern ICT in rural areas around the world. We need to keep in mind the "traditional" forms ICT like print, radio, etc. And in the case of technologies such as radio that do require electricity, look to the new alternatives that run on solar, turbine or other forms of power. While I agree with the many here who say the focus should not be on the technology, it is important to be aware of technology, both in terms of what is available and to qualify it in different contexts. I hope everyone is enjoying the exchange in this forum! :) cheers, Michael

I agree with Sameera that there are different types and categories of ICT, and that it is important to determine which are appropriate in any given context. We hope this forum will help develop our understanding of that. A variety of examples, from bar coding, to SMS text messaging, mobile phones, and the Internet are presented as means by which increased competitiveness can be achieved through the use of ICT in a recent USAID paper. (A link "ICT & Value Chain Development" found in the Resources section of this forum will take you to the full paper.) 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?

For starters, I'm very happy to see all the comments on this question. I think it is a really important issue - one that is often overlooked in my perspective. Henry is right on in saying the the question on avoiding negative impacts is the "million dollar question". We may not have answer yet ... but if it's worth a million, it must be worth pursing!! :) "Does the presence of an ICT in a social group provide information/knowledge that helps to 'level the playing field' or does it risk further distorting advantages (or disadvantages) of a particular group?" This is what I always ask myself when reviewing a project. I have seen pilot studies where the latter happened unintentionally, but unfortunately they are not well documented. This is unfortunate. It would be good to see incentives for documenting challenges, even when they are not overcome. Jo's comments about better understanding economic return are also very important, but more work needs to be done before we have good models as far as I know. IICD and FAO are two institutions that wish to further our understanding of the impact of ICT on rural livelihoods, and one potential way to measure this is in the value chain. What Sapna presents is an interesting idea, but I do not think it is realistic to expect this to occur in most countries in a way that can offset the rate at which economically advantaged groups can acquire new technology on their own. Although maybe we should look for a model that would promote economically appropriate subsidies of technology for the disadvantaged … as long as it come with the needed contextualization and capacity. (I know Sapna is aware of this! But I am a bit skeptical of how most development initiatives, no matter how good intend they are, treat technology.)