Dear Rubaiya, I agree with you that there is tremendous opoprtunity for private - public in e-agriculture. You have rightly identified content as an important issue. I do think a model is in place that IRRI has been nurturing with BRRI (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute). On the Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank there is up to date information on rice production technology. It is in simple fact sheets. There are also changes being done in the coming three to four weeks. There is no reason why telecentres cant link to thatand even develop customized material from it. With CIMMYT we are now extending the approach to BARI. The short cut many private sector groups choose is to bipass the current government scientists and hire short term consultants (retired ag professionals) and pay large sums to have material written that may or may not be up to date. In the very process the government institution is marginalised. The cost of working with institute scientists is not large. For BRRI there were a series of workshops with 25 to 30 scientists producing the material. In the process the Bangladesh Rice Knowledge Bank has become institutionalised and so is now part of the annual program review. It is also linked to the Training Centre of BRRI and so is now being used for government officer training. That material will be authoriative for any e-agriculture model that evolves. Question: farmer asks in telecentre for information on BRRI dhan 47. There is a fact sheet on the Knowledge Bank that can be accessed. I feel there is a model in embryo that can be built on by any PPP emerging network. e-krishok could form such linkages. Noel

Dear Janaki, Reaching resource poor men and women is an issue raised by Janaki that has slipped under the radar in most of the discussion to date. And yet these are the prime implementors of information that we are hoping to provide through e-agricutlure. I am wondering how e-krishok is addressing the social factor in its e-agriculture initiative. Noel

Dear Kashfia, It is good you are entering into an MOU with the Department of Agriculture Extension. That seems a very practical direction. I am interested to know if you have also approached research institutions such as Bangladesh Rice Research Institute and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute. Also what does your unit look like in the village or union? Is it a cluster of computers or a single computer? Who manages the computer? Noel

Dear Tomal, IRRI with the Philippines Rice Research Institute has been working with mobile phones for information to extension and farmers. There has also been a link to a village computer. The experience has been positive in the context of the Philippines for which mobile phones have a lot of other uses. In the context of Bangladesh it may be that the mobile phone network of Grameen Phone has use for market information for high value crops so tied to a supermarket type model. I am still not sure for the majority of more marginal farmers (men and women) that mobile phone use is critical. In fact many of our clients have food deficit and hunger months. Noel

Dear Irfan, This is fascinating. An internet van. Can you tell me more? For the open agriculture program in Philippines there was an internet bus to promote e agriculture extension. I would be interenst to know more about your experience. Noel

Dear Narayan, What you are doing sounds very interesting. For the telecentres what is the business model for paying and generating revenue? Do farmers have to pay for the information or the internet time only? Noel

Dear Remi, For e-krishok in the five localities wha tis the physical arrangement of the computers? Who manages? How is that person earning income? How much is non agriculture content in terms of income? Noel

Dear Remy,, I am interested in what you are doing with e krishok? What is the specific facility that you are using for the computer access by your clients. Yopu metioned five localities. Is this five villages, five unions, five thanas? is it one computer? or more? Noel

Dear Sunit, A most intersting activity. Is there any information on the farmer client using this service? (in terms of education, wealth, gender). Are there any studies in English that could be accessed. Noel

Dear Amit, I do think this is a very interesting model. And I am keen to look it up. The differenec for agriculture will be the local knowlegebase is specific. For a country like Bangladesh that local knowledge is with the agriculture research institutes and extension services and valdiated tehnologies from local innovation. There is a lot of material aleady in existence and it is for a lot adapting it to internet and updating. So the question here is two? Can local companies take the public knowledge and put in a form for the internet. If so do they tehn sell it? Or is it information that runs alongside advertisements that bring in the revenue. Noel