Question 3 (opens 19 Nov.)

Question 3: What should be the role of the public sector in supporting producer organizations' uptake of ICT?

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Kiringai KamauVACID AfricaKenya

19.11.2012

I have already responded in an earlier mail to most of the issues I would
have loved to comment on....

I however read this and felt provoked to respond to some of the issues:
*

The losses incurred in developing countries are largely due to
infrastructural constraints related to poor transport, storage, processing
and packaging facilities, in addition to capacity gaps that result in
inefficient production, harvesting, processing and transport of food.

These are standard value chain functions. Value chain mapping and
identification has been touted as the panacea to all sorts of sustainable
development models/perspectives in agriculture. Our experience is that
there is need for a physical space to support the introduction of a
facility that would engage with actors at commodity or service provision
level to address these issues. Where investment is needed, the
organizational framework needs to be considered keenly. Read by earlier post

There should be strong government commitment and support for ICT
development in the form of policy incentives, increasing levels of
investment in ICT R&D projects, accelerated investment in ICT
infrastructure and telecommunication facilities, increase manpower
development and skills training in ICT.

Most developing countries lack the financial wherewithal to support basic
necessities. On a priotized ranking, ICT will come very low. The challenge
is not to expect much from the government but p[ropose a PPP that supports
the infusion of what the government can supply with what the communities
are able to do on their own including mobilizing investment.

Public sectors should support ICT to:

I would propose that these functions be dealt by PPPs rather than the
Public Sector (Government) with the government playing the role that they
can be encouraged to play with the most critical being the provision of
infrastructure or to link with global partners such as ITU on issues of
telecommunication.

(1) Reinforce producers in achieving economic, social and
ecological sustainability to increase productivity and improve quality;

Policies on quality standards need to be introduced through focused
extension support through industrial, academic, productive, agronomical,
social frameworks

(2) Support better terms of trade and organize access to financial
services;

Vibrant financial sector with government setting up such funds as can
promote affordable credit for smallholders and other producers

(3) Develop a range of instruments for training, quality
management financing, exchange of experience, management, efficiency and
sales;

Action research initiatives that integrate the community and private sector
need to provide the handles for this. There is a risk here of making the
government swallow more than it can chew!

(4) Increase services used by farmers and other producers;

Action research initiatives that integrate the community and private sector
need to provide the handles for this. There is a risk here of making the
government swallow more than it can chew!

(5) Link farmers with public support agencies and private sector
buyers;

Action research initiatives that integrate the community and private sector
need to provide the handles for this. There is a risk here of making the
government swallow more than it can chew!

(6) Encourage creation of producer organizations to procure
high-quality inputs in bulk to reduce costs;

Civil society and creation of farmer organizations through capacity
building of farmers themselves to create this rather than the government
doing it

(7) Enhance logistics - public distribution of commodities;

Private sector or farmer organizations’ responsibility

(8) Use producer organizations to establish marketing partnerships
with processors and retailers to promote socially beneficial products and
create brands;

Farmer organizations themselves backed by private sector or PPP initiatives

(9) Create provisions for credit in conjunction public and private
sector lender;

Savings and Credit Cooperatives do a very good job here, let the farmers do
it themselves. You risk creating dependency that will be hurtful in the
long run

(10) Enhance public R&D and production to develop socially
beneficial inputs to production

R&D in agriculture is indeed a public good and the learning and research
organizations need to be supported but they should also try and limit
over-reliance on governments. Global funds now exist that promote
innovation, let the R&D initiatives sell their innovation for supportive
initiatives

(11) Enhance extension services or technical assistance to producers
in farming practices (training, information dissemination)

This should be participatory as much as possible and be result oriented.
Too much free extension has been the cause of slow adoption of technologies
and new approaches to value chain engagement

(12) Promote infrastructure development (public infrastructure -
roads, storage facilities);

Purely government’s yes but storage is private sector business…see the
model I circulated on farmer organization modeling at VACID Africa

(13) Promote public distribution of commodities - partnerships
between public sector and producer groups/NGOs to jointly finance and
maintain roads, storage facilities;

Purely private sector business…see the model I circulated on farmer
organization modeling at VACID Africa

(14) Enhance information services development of MIS to integrate
government statistics agencies with private producer associations, use of
IT to distribute market information;

Purely private sector business…see the model I circulated on farmer
organization modeling at VACID Africa

(15) Develop and enforce public standards and regulations on food
safety inspection and monitoring to manage quality and food safety in
conjunction with government and producer groups;

Purely government through a responsive standards body with the production
infrastructure being private sector/Producer organization owned…see the
model I circulated on farmer organization modeling at VACID Africa

(16) Develop coordination mechanisms to ensure healthy
competition and market exchanges.

Let the government meddle in what should be purely market forces….there may
be exceptions depending on how organized the markets are

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 3:00 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:

> **
>
> Write above this line to reply|Escriba sobre esta línea para
> responder|Pour répondre écrivez au-dessus de cette ligne
> Dear | Estimado(a) | Cher/Chère: kiringai
>
>
> • New comment *|* Nuevo comentario *|* Nouveau commentaire: *Role of
> Public Sector*
>
> • Published on *| *Publicado el *|* Publié le: *19/11/2012 - 00:54*
>
> • *fatimalorine *wrote *| *escribió *|* a écrit:
>
> * *
>
> * *
> *
>
> The losses incurred in developing countries are largely due to
> infrastructural constraints related to poor transport, storage, processing
> and packaging facilities, in addition to capacity gaps that result in
> inefficient production, harvesting, processing and transport of food.
>
> There should be strong government commitment and support for ICT
> development in the form of policy incentives, increasing levels of
> investment in ICT R&D projects, accelerated investment in ICT
> infrastructure and telecommunication facilities, increase manpower
> development and skills training in ICT.
>
> Public sectors should support ICT to:
>
> (1) Reinforce producers in achieving economic, social and ecological
> sustainability to increase productivity and improve quality;
>
> (2) Support better terms of trade and organize access to financial
> services;
>
> (3) Develop a range of instruments for training, quality management
> financing, exchange of experience, management, efficiency and sales;
>
> (4) Increase services used by farmers and other producers;
>
> (5) Link farmers with public support agencies and private sector buyers;
>
> (6) Encourage creation of producer organizations to procure high-quality
> inputs in bulk to reduce costs;
>
> (7) Enhance logistics - public distribution of commodities;
>
> (8) Use producer organizations to establish marketing partnerships with
> processors and retailers to promote socially beneficial products and create
> brands;
>
> (9) Create provisions for credit in conjunction public and private sector
> lender;
>
> (10) Enhance public R&D and production to develop socially beneficial
> inputs to production
>
> (11) Enhance extension services or technical assistance to producers in
> farming practices (training, information dissemination)
>
> (12) Promote infrastructure development (public infrastructure - roads,
> storage facilities);
>
> (13) Promote public distribution of commodities - partnerships between
> public sector and producer groups/NGOs to jointly finance and maintain
> roads, storage facilities;
>
> (14) Enhance information services development of MIS to integrate
> government statistics agencies with private producer associations, use of
> IT to distribute market information;
>
> (15) Develop and enforce public standards and regulations on food safety
> inspection and monitoring to manage quality and food safety in conjunction
> with government and producer groups;
>
> (16) Develop coordination mechanisms to ensure healthy competition and
> market exchanges.
>
> *
>
> • Read more *|* Leer más *| *Lire la suite:
> http://www.e-agriculture.org/forumtopics/question-3-opens-19-nov#comment...
>
>
>
>
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>

--
_____________________________________________________________________
Kiringai Kamau
*WillPower Enterprise Development Limited
*Development Consultant - Founder, Knowledge Specialist & Value Chain
Analyst
PO Box 35046 00200
Nairobi-Kenya
Tel: +25420-2719733/2728708
Fax: +25420-2724389
Cell: +254-722800986/733375505
Websites:www.willpower.co.ke <http://www.vacidafrica.or.ke>,
http://rural-agriculture.wikispaces.com
Office Email: [email protected]

Ben Hur VirayUP Open UniversityPhilippines

21.11.2012

Let me speak for the small time farmers. They are generally dependent on producer organizations, so they need all the help they can get outside, and that includes the public sector. The latter can help them reach wider markets through various ICT channels such as websites, forums, geocaching, and social media. At first the public can do this, but once the ICT infrastructure of the PO has been set up they can work hand-in-hand.

Regards,
Harv

Raquel LaquioresPhilippines

21.11.2012

I agree, Harv! As these farmers only need the driving force to be efficient in their work. The support through ICT, infrastructures, trainings, etc. could be well welcomed provided that they would be supplied with the much assistance that they need in order to sustain the projects designed for them and for the agriculture.

Kelly

Raquel LaquioresPhilippines

21.11.2012

Hi, Fatima!

Your recommendations are good inputs for lawmakers especially to those under the agriculture and food committee of the lower house and of the senate. Though I think some of those are enacted already into laws though we have problems in the implementation stage. We also need to increase the will power to support endeavors that will benefit this agriculture sector.

Kelly

Kiringai KamauVACID AfricaKenya

20.05.2013

I have already responded in an earlier mail to most of the issues I would have loved to comment on....<div></div><div>I however read this and felt provoked to respond to some of the issues:</div><div>
The
losses incurred in developing countries are largely due to infrastructural
constraints related to poor transport, storage, processing and packaging
facilities, in addition to capacity gaps that result in inefficient production,
harvesting, processing and transport of food.

These
are standard value chain functions. Value chain mapping and identification has
been touted as the panacea to all sorts of sustainable development models/perspectives
in agriculture. Our experience is that there is need for a physical space to
support the introduction of a facility that would engage with actors at
commodity or service provision level to address these issues. Where investment
is needed, the organizational framework needs to be considered keenly. Read by
earlier post

There
should be strong government commitment and support for ICT development in the
form of policy incentives, increasing levels of investment in ICT R&D
projects, accelerated investment in ICT infrastructure and telecommunication
facilities, increase manpower development and skills training in ICT.

Most
developing countries lack the financial wherewithal to support basic
necessities. On a priotized ranking, ICT will come very low. The challenge is
not to expect much from the government but p[ropose a PPP that supports the infusion
of what the government can supply with what the communities are able to do on their
own including mobilizing investment.

Public sectors should support ICT to:

I would propose that these functions be
dealt by PPPs rather than the Public Sector (Government) with the government playing
the role that they can be encouraged to play with the most critical being the
provision of infrastructure or to link with global partners such as ITU on
issues of telecommunication.

(1)
Reinforce
producers in achieving economic, social and ecological sustainability to
increase productivity and improve quality;

Policies on quality standards need to be
introduced through focused extension support through industrial, academic, productive,
agronomical, social frameworks

(2)
Support better
terms of trade and organize access to financial services;

Vibrant financial sector with government
setting up such funds as can promote affordable credit for smallholders and
other producers

(3)
Develop a
range of instruments for training, quality management financing, exchange of
experience, management, efficiency and sales;

Action research initiatives that
integrate the community and private sector need to provide the handles for this.
There is a risk here of making the government swallow more than it can chew!

(4)
Increase
services used by farmers and other producers;

(5)
Link farmers
with public support agencies and private sector buyers;

(6)
Encourage
creation of producer organizations to procure high-quality inputs in bulk to
reduce costs;

Civil
society and creation of farmer organizations through capacity building of
farmers themselves to create this rather than the government doing it

(7)
Enhance
logistics - public distribution of commodities;

Private sector or farmer organizations’
responsibility

(8)
Use producer
organizations to establish marketing partnerships with processors and retailers
to promote socially beneficial products and create brands;

Farmer organizations themselves backed by
private sector or PPP initiatives

(9)
Create
provisions for credit in conjunction public and private sector lender;

Savings
and Credit Cooperatives do a very good job here, let the farmers do it
themselves. You risk creating dependency that will be hurtful in the long run

(10)
Enhance public
R&D and production to develop socially beneficial inputs to production

R&D in agriculture is indeed a public
good and the learning and research organizations need to be supported but they
should also try and limit over-reliance on governments. Global funds now exist
that promote innovation, let the R&D initiatives sell their innovation for
supportive initiatives

(11)
Enhance
extension services or technical assistance to producers in farming practices
(training, information dissemination)

This
should be participatory as much as possible and be result oriented. Too much
free extension has been the cause of slow adoption of technologies and new
approaches to value chain engagement

(12)
Promote
infrastructure development (public infrastructure - roads, storage facilities);

Purely government’s yes but storage is
private sector business…see the model I circulated on farmer organization
modeling at VACID Africa

(13)
Promote public
distribution of commodities - partnerships between public sector and producer
groups/NGOs to jointly finance and maintain roads, storage facilities;

Purely private sector business…see the
model I circulated on farmer organization modeling at VACID Africa

(14)
Enhance
information services development of MIS to integrate government statistics
agencies with private producer associations, use of IT to distribute market
information;

(15)
Develop and enforce public standards
and regulations on food safety inspection and monitoring to manage quality and
food safety in conjunction with government and producer groups;

Purely government through a responsive
standards body with the production infrastructure being private sector/Producer
organization owned…see the model I circulated on farmer organization modeling
at VACID Africa

(16)
Develop coordination mechanisms to
ensure healthy competition and market exchanges.

Let the government meddle in what should
be purely market forces….there may be exceptions depending on how organized the
markets are

</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"> <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 3:00 AM, <<a href="mailto:[email protected]" target="_blank">[email protected]</a>> wro

Raquel LaquioresPhilippines

19.11.2012

In the case of Tanzania, they consider it as the main pillar in agriculture sector, as it is its national priority sector, and they give high regards in the development of knowledge to generally improve food production and its logistics.

In the Philippines, Senator Ernesto Angara called to develop ICT applications in agriculture, as he said, "We need more of these innovative, ICT-driven and highly collaborative initiatives for our agricultural sector to boom," he added. Taken from news:

Angara said the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), which he also chairs, has lobbied for the deployment of an innovation cluster—a public-private partnership (PPP) in S&T—on precision farming and smart agriculture.

Some P90 million of the 2012 national budget is pending release from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for this project.

“It is only through the synergy of these players can we provide meaningful technical support and extension services to our farmers,” he said

Allocating appropriate budget in the agriculture sector is always a priority, more so to increase its productivity with ICT in order to “increase its crop yields and make them more disaster-resilient, especially amid the growing population and an erratic climate”, Angara stressed.

There are exemplary practices outside the country in the developing the agriculture industry but as Flor says, “Development policies should not be imposed from the outside but conceptualized and formulated from the inside. No country has the right to dictate upon another country its “terms” for development. “

Readings from:

http://www.tzonline.org/pdf/ictsandnationalagriculturalresearchsystems.pdf

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/263707/scitech/science/develop-ict-applications-for-agriculture-phl-senator-says

Kelly

Corazon ReborosoUniversity of the Philippines Open UniversityPhilippines

19.11.2012

The public sector can effectively and efficiently carry out certain functions in supporting poducer organizations' uptake of ICT. First, it can provide Extension. Extension is a nonformal educational function that disseminates information and advice with the intention of promoting knowledge, attitudes, skills amd aspirations. Extension is the transfer and exchange of practical information. Second, the public sector can also help the PO by contracting with private sector organizations to provide ICT services necessary for an integrated approach to agricultural education, research and extension. Third, the public sector can also help the PO in its capacity building as it requires funding to widen and ensure strong links with and modernization of the various componens of the formal and non-formal agricultural education on ICT. Fourth, the public sector can also tap the help of various media to assist the agricultural producers with information and advice as to agricultural innovations, market prices, pest infestations and weather alerts.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/Y5061E/y5061e06.htm

Myla BorresPhilippines

19.11.2012

I agree with Peter and Koy that the Civil Society Organization (NGOs/POs), Private Sector as well as the media should be tapped in the provision, information and education of farmers on ICT. With the limited government resources (sometimes no sound planning and budgeting at that) extension workers can not be adequately provided. Most of agricultural municipalities (4th to 6th class) covering more than 30 barangays/villages have only 4 or less agricultural extension workers. Budget for traveling expenses are not also well provided as well as capacity development of agricultural technologists.

Private Sectors or the business sectors can also play a vital role in the provision of ICT facilities which the government could not afford. Media can air out agricultural technology updates to farmers.

Information to farmers can be dessiminated through sms at lower cost which I am sure is within the budget range of the government.

susana codotcoPhilippines

20.11.2012

Hi Koy,

i just wanted to add, if this is possible, for the extension program you mentioned, that since the government introduced to the education section (in high school and elementary levels) the adoption of XO laptops, and the teachers were trained on the use of this new technology that is to be adopted in schools, why not do the same in the agricultural industry as part of the extension program?

The provision of XO laptops to selected school children is a product of a public and private partneship in the promotion of ICT education in schools.

I'm just wondering if this could also be possible for adult classes, specifically, members of the producer organizations? Sure, it would entail a lot of effort to teach/introduce ICT to farmers, as the saying goes, "it is not impossible to acquire learning when the mind and spirit are open to learning new things".

Corazon ReborosoUniversity of the Philippines Open UniversityPhilippines

20.11.2012

Hello Sansu,

We have to check on that. While this subnotebook computer is distributed to provide the children with access to knowledge, opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves, the design of the XO Laptop intentionally omits all motor-driven moving parts; it has no hard-drive and instead use flash memory and come with a distribution of Linux.

Perhaps, the public-private partnership can facilitate and coordinate considering that its upgrade process is easy especially if you upgrade off a USB memory stick. The producer organizations can upgrade as a group. The content can also be expanded and by covering the basics, the PO can show what can be done to help the farmers learn even when they are offline. There are also User Guides and complete XO manuals to show new users the XO's tricks. It is also self-powered equipment as its power options include batteries, solar power panels, and human-powered generators which is very handy to the PO and the farmers.