Question 2 (opens 14 Nov.)

Hi Kelly,

The answer to that question depends a lot on what are the short and long term business information needs of coop members and their cooperative, and what they and their cooperative can afford to purchase and maintain in the short and long term, and of course what is available and serviceable locally. Everybody wants 24x7 access to the Internet and the Web, why not? But few can afford it.

Yes, John! It is very true that internet access is a very big problem the reason why in spite of the proposals or recommendations for the software and even bills to be passed to the senate to develop ICT in agriculture sector, it is still the lack of budget allocated to the department that remains to be the problem.  It has to be the priority and must consider being a long term plan so that they could muse that the fund allocated would be worth it though it would cost much than the previously distributed fund.

Thanks!

Kelly

Just a note following Kelly's post that on Monday next week we'll open a question about how the public sector can support producer organizations use of ICT.

 I think one of the priority areas that producer organizations should invest in with regard to ICT is the transfer of information and knowledge rapidly over large distances through communications networks. The use of networking  such as social networking might as well help in information dissemination. In a way, it does not need so much of investment (money).

Hi Gigi, if I may add, ICT offer opportunities (seeing communities evolve into virtual networks and e-communities interact via internet telephony) for participatory approaches to knowledge sharing recognizing that many actors are involved, hence, it follows a lot of different sources, forms and types of information and knowledge  will be shared, communicated, aggregated, and circulated supporting agricultural research for development.  

Based on actual practice observed, one of the more effective ways to effect change from the point of view of producer organization in helping their target beneficiaries, i.e., farmers.  is to capacitate them -- providing training using traditional media  technology (for example, threater/play) that would enable them to understand the process, participate  and use the newly acquired skill to their advantage.

As we have done in a similar setting but with different audience or target group, capacitating the target group opened up understanding and acceptance of the new technology being introduced to them, and allowing them to participate fully in the process of research, formulating solutions and recommendations to their issue at hand.

This has been done in the past, as stated in one of  the documentations made by the United Nations in one of their projects on ICT and traditional media. 

Please refer to this site for their pdf file:

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd16/sideevents/presentations/14may_f...

That's very true, Sansu! Having the farmers to be involved in the process of research and be part in the making of solution are ways to expect cooperation from them. Farmers may be trained extensively but without the first-hand experience they may likely be the worse players in the implementation process of any well-funded projects for the agriculture sector.

Kelly

Hi Sansu and Kelly, I agree, totally. Training and involving these farmers will certainly make a difference. Taking the farmers involvement in the process of research, for instance, emphasizes the importance that knowledge needs to be sourced from different actors with different perspectives (diverse set of actors)- the relations among the actors (network of actors involved in a specific activity) are the key to knowledge sharing and application. This is a major change from rather linear paradigms of knowledge creation and use, according to Ballantyne (2009), that saw research institutes as the creators of knowledge and technology, extension as the diffusers of advice, and farmers as the adopters of new practices, and where the different knowledge and information systems were often quite separate.

Taking PROLINNOVA (PROmoting Local INNOVAtion) as an example, a project of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), emphasis is on participatory innovation development with farmers encouraging 'farmer-led experimentation' and the integration of farming communities into innovation systems promoting kowledge sharing among farmers and other innovation actors, encouraging farmers to compare and share their experiences and to more critically experiment.

Source: DOI:10.1177/0266666909351634

Producer organizations should invest on facility, equipment tools, research and more importantly human resource.  ICT and productivity are linked on how they can make individuals and organizations more productive. Lack of education and understanding of ICT are the greatest barriers to be dealt with if an organization decides to participate and engage successfully in it.

Information is a critical resource, infrastructure is essential but still it is the knowledge, skills, ideas and creative efforts of people that lead to innovation. Can you just imagine if we have hight-tech equipment, gadgets, fast conenction but there is absence of human and intellectual capital?  You can't control or use what you don't know or understand. Ensuring quality human resource development is the only guarantee that ICT will be pro people and will be beneficial.

I agree to your post, Fatima. By training as well, human resource in the agricultural sector will become efficient and effective in their tasks. It is also one of the apprehensions of farmers and even the government when they hear producing ICT for the agriculture sector as in the first place it might just be a waste of their time in learning the skills in the use of ICT. But then if it's well introduced and they get acquianted with its benefits, they would gladly accept it and maximize its use.

Kelly