Thanks to all for the discussion so far. We agree that ICT cannot replace face-face interaction, and that they must be adaptive to emergent needs.  In a project run in Laos with animal health workers, we piloted the use of a smartphone app as a training tool. Our findings included that animal health workers were keen to learn the numerous functions of smartphones, and perceived the benefits as contributing to their overall literacy in phone communications. Moreover, an unexpected outcome of the project was the farmers' immense interest in being connected to the internet and sharing photos. This has shown lots of potential for using photo sharing for surveillance and communication about farm issues between families, which we will be exploring. 

Has anyone used internet-enabled photo sharing amongst farmer communities?

FYI, the training app is freely available for download at: http://training.vetswithoutborders.ca/