E-Agriculture

Question 1 for discussion Monday 17 Nov.

Question 1 for discussion Monday 17 Nov.

Here is the first question to for our forum discussion (beginning Monday, 17 Nov. 2008 ). Please reply with your experiences, thoughts and ideas: Describe the characteristics and success factors of applications of mobile telephony in rural areas. Tell us about the people/actors involved, how they use telephony, what information is exchanged, and the processes that occur?
 Sheryl Fernando
Sheryl FernandoPhilippines

Based on my observation here in Benguet (Philippines), the use of mobile telephony in farm areas is very useful interms of communicating market price of various crops being sold in the trading post. It helps the farmers in naming a very competitive price for their crops. Another advantage of mobile telephony between the [url=http://www.bsu.edu.ph]Benguet State University[/url] radio program, BSU on-the-air and the farmers is the exchange of Q & A about farming techniques.

 Jimmy L. Calata
Jimmy L. CalataPhilippines

Mobile Telephony is also used here in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines for various agri-based applications: 1. Monitoring of agri products (volume, price, producers/channels/buyers, location, schedule) 2. Info gathering on agri inputs (seedlings, etc), supplies, machinery, etc. 3. Consultations with domain experts (about rice, corn, vegetables, fruit trees, pests and diseases, etc.) 4. 3G, video calling, and speaker phone features, built-in cameras are used to capture real situations(pests and diseases) and sent top experts for appropriate action and advice

In my opinion, what can really facilitate rural farmers in e-Agriculture is voice SMS in local language, giving them daily updates of local weather, crop information, DOs and DON'Ts in various farming methods and techniques, aggregation of buying and selling, market trends and prices, local success and failure stories told in first person by the person concerned, etc.

 Jimmy L. Calata
Jimmy L. CalataPhilippines

Mobile Telephony is also used here in Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines for various agri-based applications: 1. Monitoring of agri products (volume, price, producers/channels/buyers, location, schedule) 2. Info gathering on agri inputs (seedlings, etc), supplies, machinery, etc. 3. Consultations with domain experts (about rice, corn, vegetables, fruit trees, pests and diseases, etc.) 4. 3G, video calling, and speaker phone features, built-in cameras are used to capture real situations (pests and diseases) and sent to experts for appropriate action and advice

Pamela Mappala
Pamela MappalaDepartment of Agriculture - Agricultural Training InstitutePhilippines

Mobile Telephony is currently the preferred mode of communication of our clients to get quick information particularly on our elearning courses as part of our eExtension Program for Agriculture and Fisheries. They also know that they can easily get technical assistance directly from our experts especially when they are in field work wherever they may be, and have no internet access at that time.

 Khalid Khan
Khalid KhanPakistan

Could someone please tell us about the monetary aspects and implementation methodology of their existing programs i.e. - who implemented the program? - do farmers purchase the equipment from their own resources and is this done individually or as a group? - is there any subsidy? - is there an initial training program and is this conducted by the private or public sector? - is the program commercially oriented and sustainable? - has any impact assessment been carried out from a development point of view?

Nallusamy Anandaraja
Nallusamy AnandarajaTamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityIndia

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (SAMETI) is in collaboration with C-DAC (Govt. of India) and providing Daily Dynamic Market Information on major vegetables, flowers, fruits from seven major markets in South India (www.tnau.ac.in). We are exploring to add text based SMS in local languages on commodity and prices details and also VOICE based SMS to help the illiterates. Further, as I believe mobile phone farm technology delivery has immense scope on Weather based information and farm advises Sharing farmers needs to the scientist for technology development Availability of inputs and its cost / unit Mobile FAQ and clarification Toll free mobile services for farm subsidies and schemes with kind regards anandaraja e-Extension centre TNAU, Coimbatore, India

 Helene
HeleneUnited States of America

Hello, The [url=http://www.grameenfoundation.org/what_we_do/technology_programs/applicat... Technology Center[/url]'s [url=www.applab.org]AppLab[/url] has facilitated the creation of a weather application and an agricultural tips application for use by rural Ugandans. Both are SMS-based. Some of the principles we believe will lead to success: * Learning specific users' needs: before building applications, we conducted [url=http://www.grameenfoundation.applab.org/section/needs-assessment]needs assessment[/url] (thanks in part to one of our moderators, Nigel Scott from Gamos) and [url=http://www.grameenfoundation.applab.org/section/ethnographic-research]et... research as well as a [url=http://www.grameenfoundation.applab.org/section/high-end-device-trial-wi... device trial[/url]. We hope others can learn from our findings. * Creating strong partnerships: partnering with telecommunications companies, government entities, engineering firms and local NGOs increases buy-in and sustainability. Our applications have been built in partnership with MTN, [url=http://www.brosdi.or.ug/]BROSDI[/url] and the Ugandan Department of Meteorology, among others. * Building off existing technology: our applications are designed primarily to add value to the services provided by [url=http://www.grameenfoundation.org/what_we_do/technology_programs/village_... Phone Operators[/url]. By leveraging existing human networks and cellphones already in people's hands, impact can quickly be reached. * Providing local content in local languages: local partners are critical for this piece. * Providing ample training and marketing: we create color comics in local languages to describe the use of our applications. People won't use services they are unaware of or uncomfortable with. Khalid Khan raised a number of excellent questions which I hope have been somewhat answered for our project. We rely on existing Village Phone infrastructure, so the operators already have their phones. They charge users for accessing the services, making them sustainable. We are currently in a mature pilot stage and have so far provided direct training for all operators actively using the services. That being said, we will eventually publicize the shortcodes for general access. Please let me know if I can answer any questions about these specific projects. You can try a demo on [url=www.applab.org]our website[/url]. Héléne Martin [email protected]

Collins Mwesigwa Collins
Collins Mwesigwa CollinsUganda National Council for Science and TechnologyUganda

In Uganda the Agric sector is comprised of illiterate, semi illiterate and literate people. Mobile technology is widely used by everybody that can afford a handset. Product Prices: Due to price fluctuations in agricultural products,mobile telephone service have been so useful to farmers, they can easily find out the current prices on the market which has reduced exploitation of farmers by business people. Exposure: Mobile technology has made it easy for farmers to get in touch with the market and the business world and viseversa. However, there is less mechanisation in Agriculture in Uganda besides being the leading revenue earner for the country.

Sheryl, thanks for starting off this discussion. You bring up 2 interesting examples, one of market price information and another on extension type services via mobile phone. Can you tell us a bit more about who's involved in initiating and sustaining these activities?