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App for Ag. User-Generated Content Sharing?

Photo Credit: Next2.us

Next2 is a “geosocial” network that allows people to automatically connect around location and by common topics of interest or concern.  By sending a text message, a Next2 subscriber can signal what they have, want or would like to learn or talk about and Next2 automatically matches and then exchanges text messages between users based on similar location and overlap of sharing “circle” without revealing a user’s mobile phone number.

I believe the Ag. Sector is interested in seeing new ICT solutions (apps) that reduce or remove some of the existing bottlenecks in the process of sharing agricultural content between and among rural farmers, extension service providers, and researchers in the developing world.

So what is unique about the Next2 app? One prospect I noticed about the Next2 solution is its professed capability of connecting people with common interest. In the context of rural agriculture, I foresee the improvement in sharing of local knowledge and innovations among farmers – a kind of horizontal/intra communication among the farmers. Next2 app may contribute to the production and sharing of user-generated agricultural content among farmers. It could also increase the density of communication network between farmers and other stakeholders.

Next2 also professes to take simple feature phones without data connection and through use of SMS puts those phones on the Internet. I wonder if this could be an alternative solution to the use of smartphones in share agricultural data between and among farmers, extension service providers and researchers. By going to a Next2 subscribers web page and clicking on a link you can send the subscriber a message, the message appears on the subscribers mobile phone as a new text message, the subscriber can reply by text message, and the Next2 software routes it back to the sender as SMS or email. Of course, access to the minimum Internet service will be required.

The aims of the Next2 solution are:

  • Making the lives of people at the base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) significantly better by enabling them to discover, connect, communicate and thereby mobilize local solutions to local problems,
  • Giving under-served and over-looked populations an Internet presence and messaging identity that creates a bridge between them and Internet users,
  • Empowering local channel marketing partners to introduce Next2 to the communities they serve to quickly and aggressively drive content creation, content distribution and grow significant value to end-users,
  • Building SMS, access phone number(s) across the African continent so subscribers can conduct cross border communication and trade to foster regional markets and economic development in agricultural and other industries,
  • Enabling brands, entrepreneurs, businesses, NGOs, government agencies and researchers to reach Next2 users and/or incorporate Next2′s communication platform, features and/or data in their own applications.

 

The use of the innovation is being considered in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana for agricultural partners who can create a Nokia App for farmers. The solutions is similar to how FrontlineSMS works but instead of plugging a SIM card into a personal computer, SIM card is rather plugged  into a in-country hosting provider that then connects the SIM card to the cloud solution of Next2 on Amazon server.  Through that, Next2 is able to use a long-code to provide Next2 solution to all farmers in a given country.

Will be monitoring and looking forward to more analysis on the use of the app from the field as it is piloted.

More information here.

 

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Be Part of the Discussion on the World Bank’s “ICT in Agriculture” Sourcebook

Photo Credit: infoDev

The first in series of online forums to further develop resources for the recently launched “ICT in Agriculture” Sourcebook by the World Bank takes off on the 5th through the 16th of December at the e-Agriculture site.

These discussion forums, available to all e-Agriculture community members, will be vehicles to inform the World Bank of other projects/programs that e-Agriculture members are carrying out and that could complement the research of the World Bank.

With the profound potential of information and communication technologies in developing country agriculture, the Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) of the World Bank in collaboration with infoDev (part of the World Bank Group) embarked in an effort to explore and capture the expanding knowledge and use of ICT tools in agrarian livelihoods.  “ICT in Agriculture: Connecting Smallholders to Knowledge, Networks and Institutions”, an electronic Sourcebook (e-Sourcebook) is the product of this effort which was released in November 2011.

The Sourcebook offers practical examples and case studies from around the world. A compilation of modules related to 14 agricultural subsectors, each module covers the challenges, lessons learned, and enabling factors associated with using ICT to improve smallholder livelihoods. Its aim is to support development practitioners in exploring the use of or designing, implementing, and investing in ICT enabled agriculture interventions.

The first of these forums will look at Strengthening Agricultural Marketing with ICT.

Sourcebook module 9 begins with an overview of the need for and impact of ICTs in agricultural marketing, especially from the perspectives of producers, consumers, and traders. Specifically, the forum will look at mobile phones as a marketing tool; evidence that ICT is changing logistics and transaction costs; the use of ICTs for market research (both for acquiring immediate market information and acquiring market intelligence over time); and the use of ICTs to make input supply and use more effective.

Participating Subject Matter experts include:

  • Grahame Dixie, World Bank
  • Shaun Ferris, Catholic Relief Services
  • Judy Payne, USAID
  • Eija Pehu, World Bank
  • Rantej Singh, Reuters Market Light, Thompson Reuters

To participate in the forum, you must be registered on the e-Agriculture community website. All e-Agriculture forums are asynchronous conversations, and run non-stop for their two week duration. It is possible to log on at any time from anywhere to participate.

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12 Opportunities for Mobile Telecommunications in Agriculture

Photo Credit: Vodafone

In their recent report “Connected Agriculture,” Vodafone and Accenture with support from Oxfam outlined 12 opportunities that mobile telecommunication has for farmers.

The opportunities were identified as ‘the most important’ through stakeholder consultations and are grouped into four categories.

Category I: Improving Access to Financial Services through increasing access and affordability to these services tailored for agricultural purposes. The opportunities under this category include:

1. Mobile Payment Systems which offer people without access to financial services an affordable and secure way to transfer and save money using their mobile phones.

2. Micro-Insurance System that protects farmers against losses when bad weather harms their harvest, encouraging them to buy higher-quality seeds and invest in fertilizer and other inputs.

3. Micro-Lending Platforms that connect smallholders in developing countries with individuals elsewhere willing to provide finance to help the farmers to buy much-needed agricultural inputs.

Category II: Provision of Agricultural Information i.e. delivering information relevant to farmers, such as agricultural techniques, commodity prices and weather forecasts, where traditional methods of communication are limited. The opportunities under this category are:

4. Mobile Information Platforms that link farmers to receive texts with news and information that help to improve the productivity of their land and increase their incomes.

5. Farmer Helplines that connect farmers to agricultural experts who can provide quick and accurate answers to agricultural queries

Category III: Improving Data Visibility for Supply Chain Efficiency. This is done through optimizing supply chain management across the sector, and delivering efficiency improvements for transportation logistics. The opportunities here include:

6. Smart Logistics that use mobile technology to help distribution companies manage their fleets more efficiently – reducing costs for farmers and distributors, cutting fuel use and related carbon emissions and potentially preventing food losses.

7. Traceability and Tracking Systems that are use to track individual food products through the supply chain from grower to retailer.

8. Mobile Management of Supplier Networks that could use mobile phones to manage their networks of small-scale growers and help field agents collect information.

9. Mobile Management of Distribution Networks such as agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizer and crop protection products could use mobile to gather sales and stock data, improving availability for farmers and increasing sales.

Category IV: Enhancing Access to Markets i.e. by enhancing the link between commodity exchanges, traders, buyers and sellers of agricultural produce. The opportunities for mobile telecommunications are:

10. Agricultural Trading Platforms that use mobile technologies to link smallholder farmers directly with potential buyers  thereby helping them to secure the best price for their produce, as well as promoting investment in agriculture and reducing food losses.

11. Agricultural Tendering Platforms that allow mobile technologies for submitting and bidding on tenders for food distribution, processing and exporting could make the agricultural supply chain more competitive and efficient.

12. Agricultural Bartering Platforms could use mobile technologies to help agricultural workers in rural communities exchange goods and services and improve communities’ livelihoods.

Some of the benefits that could be obtained from these opportunities are monitoring resources and tracking products; unlocking productivity potential while helping to manage the impacts of increased production, such as increased water use and greenhouse gas emissions; increasing agricultural income by around US$138 billion across 26 of Vodafone’s markets in 2020; helping to meet the challenge of feeding an estimated 9.2 billion people by 2050; helping to cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 5 mega tonnes (Mt) in these markets; and reducing freshwater withdrawals for agricultural irrigation by 6%, with significant savings in water-stressed regions. These benefits assume there will  be around 549 million mobile connections to relevant services in 2020.

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The mFarmer Initiative: USAID joins hands with others for Ag. Devt.

Photo Credit: USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and GSMA have launched a global initiative to facilitate the rapid scaling of the use of mobile phone networks to provide poor farmers with valued agricultural information.

The mFarmer Initiative aims at developing a global, shared database of digital agricultural information; a challenge fund to promote innovative partnerships between operators and public or private agriculture extension service providers; technical assistance; sharing of best practices; and impact evaluation.

At a recent webinar organized by USAID to introduce the mFarmer initiative, Judy Payne, the ICT Advisor for USAID’s EGAT and Africa Bureaus reiterated the interest of USAID in supporting agriculture in the developing nations through the Feed the Future (FTF) program. She explained that the selected countries for the mFarmer initiative in Africa are priority countries for the FTF program. According to Judy Payne, USAID is a partial funder together with BMGF. She strongly encouraged USAID missions and implementing partners working in Africa to take full advantage of the opportunity given the funding from the agency and the importance of the initiative to help increase productivity and income of smallholder farmers. She cited the involvement of one of USAID’s FTF implementing projects for Africa as a partner in submitting an application during the first round of the Challenge Fund.

The mFarmer initiative has an ambitious vision of success to help about 2.2 million poor farmers in developing countries increase their productivity and incomes by receiving actionable, high quality, relevant and timely information and advice through mobile phone service networks by 2015. These services are delivered via sustainable and scalable business models without on-going donor support and reflect significant private sector investment. They complement other delivery channels, reflect feedback from farmers, and are based on a growing body of shared digital agricultural content.

The introduction to the mFarmer initiative webinar, which was the first in series of webinars to focus on the initiative, was attended by over 40 participants across the globe. Other presenters at the session include Smith Fiona, mAgri Program Director, GSMA Development Fund, and Natalia Pshenichnaya, mAgri Business Development Manager, GSMA Development Fund. Access to the recorded presentation of  this webinar could be found here.

Also, an upcoming online forum to initiate discussion around the types of partnerships that are conducive to creating sustainable and scalable mobile information and advisory services for farmers will be help between November 21st and December 1st at e-Agriculture website. Subject Matter Experts to help lead the discussion include:

  • Sharbendu Banerjee, Director of Business Development, CABI South Asia-India
  • Hillary Miller-Wise, Country Director, TechnoServe Tanzania
  • Collins Nweke, Project Manager, Tigo Tanzania
  • Judy Payne, ICT Advisor, USAID
  • Fiona Smith, Director, GSMA mAgri Program
  • S. Srinivasan, CEO, IKSL

GSMA, is an association of 800 mobile operators serving over 95 percent of the market in developing countries. It helps its members adopt new approaches to provide valued information and services to their customers. In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) made a grant to GSMA to catalyze mobile operators’ investment in these innovative mobile services, evaluate their impact, and facilitate experimentation with sustainable and scalable delivery models.

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Information Revolution Changing the Face of African Ag.

Photo Credit: ECX

A 2-day conference on African Commodity Exchanges has ended in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa with the call for an Africa wide commodity exchange as well as more exchanges in African nations.

At the heart of this conference, even though not upfront, was the key role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are playing in transforming businesses within the agricultural sector in Africa. The success stories surrounding the operation of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) system attest to the fact that ICTs can be enabling factors in almost every sector once the necessary steps are taken to integrate these technologies into the sector.

“A sleepy eyed farmer miles away from the nearest road braves the morning chill to load his donkeys with his lentil harvest. On his way to market he checks his mobile to see if the network is reaching him – because receiving a text message now from the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) could save him hundreds of birr,” said the former World Bank economist Eleni Gabre-Madhin who is the CEO of the Ethiopia’s state-owned commodity exchange.

According to Dr. Gabre-Madhin, ECX is as much an ICT revolution as it is an economic transformation. The platform is a communications technology, from the real time price tickers found across the country to the Interactive Voice Recognition mobile telephony for rural farmers, that makes the exchange work. ICT applications currently being used to facilitate exchange of commodities and make information accessible to the users include over 100 price tickers, 20 trading centers, 50 warehouses, 2000 market information kiosks, and 50 data display boards.

Dr Gabre-Madhin stated that access to price information allows farmers to maximize profits and if farmers can get the same information about the national market trends that well-established and endowed exporters and processing firms have, that changes how the game is played. She concluded that with the ECX, the share of the final export price that now goes back to the farmer has gone up from something like 38% to close to 70%.

The conference which was co-organized by ECX and UNDP brought together participants from about 14 Africa countries including Ghana, Zambia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and South Africa with market regulators, policy makers, national and international banks, the US securities and exchanges commission, development institutions, investors, farmer organizations and technology companies.

But while the ECX is being held up as a model, many other African countries disagree with the concept of states controlling the market. But the Ethiopia’s top government economist Newal Gabre Ab insisted that every country is different when it comes to economic policy and in Ethiopia, where farmers are among the poorest in Africa, the success of the ECX is the result of careful state planning.

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“Agriculture Goes High Tech” – A Decade of Digital Video!

Image of cow on laptop

Photo Credit: Penn State Extension

It is over 10 years now that the Commonwealth of Learning Media Empowerment (COLME) program hit the media with the headline “Agriculture Goes High Tech With Digital Video”. This came up as a result of the success of their pilot project that used digital technology to produce farm instructional videos in Ghana and Jamaica for extension purposes.

Ever since, agriculture has gone up from one level of “high tech” to another where we now use thousands of “apps” for agriculture, even in the remotest part of the world. But what is the progress made so far in the development and implementation of digital video technologies in agricultural extension over the years? Have we been circling around the same principle with different technologies over the years? Is there a room for improving the application of videos in agriculture? What are some of the similarities and differences between some of the models used or being used by the implementing agencies?

I believe the incorporation of high techs in agriculture is not just to “romanticize” it but to ensure the benefits of the users – mostly rural farmers who are disadvantaged by virtue of their location (see my previous post on “Rurality”). As a result, the premise for the COLME program at the time was based on a feasibility study conducted in Jamaica that showed that agricultural extension workers had access to training but the system of ‘disseminating’ the information to farmers was not effective or efficient. Ever since (late 2000), the use of videos in capturing and disseminating agricultural information has progressed with several improved models currently being used by farmers all over the world. These models could be classified into either using videos to transmit scientific knowledge and innovations to farmers or using videos to share practices and experiences between and among farmers.

Below are few models that worth mentioning as I reflect on the future of digital videos in agricultural research and extension:

1 – Commonwealth of Learning Media Empowerment (COLME) and Communication of Scientific Knowledge

Beginning from the COLME program, the use of digital video has improved extension services delivery over the traditional radio technology, which is use to support face-to-face information delivery to farmers. The COLME program acknowledged that using videos instead of radio could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural extension delivery. In collaboration with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Jamaica, COLME assisted agricultural extension workers to use low-cost video production tools to develop training materials on good farm practices. Improvement is seen in visual content for demonstration to farmers, step-by-step training methods watched by farmers, and increasing access to content by illiterate farmers who could not read.

This was an excellent innovation at the time with emphasis on scientists using video technology to improve the delivery of their innovations to farmers. Scientists capturing their own demonstrations on videos and sharing them with farmers resulted in improved farm management practices by the farmers who were invloved.

2 – PROLINNOVA (PROmoting Local INNOVAtion) and Sharing of Local Knowledge and Innovations

Around the same time as the COLME program, PROLINNOVA  an NGO-initiated multistakeholder program that promotes local innovation in ecologically oriented agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) also started using videos to capture and document farmers’ local knowledge and innovations. With the emphasis on farmers’ local innovations, PROLINNOVA went a step ahead of the COLME program to not only disseminate external content through videos but also utilize internal innovations. Approaches such as Farmer Led Documentation (FLD) and Participatory Innovation Development (PID) have been used extensively in the developing nations to demonstrate the effectiveness of user-led innovation for sustainable development, and the advantages in building strong farmer-extension-researcher partnerships.

The strength of PROLINNOVA in the use of digital videos for agricultural improvement could be attributed to their use of local knowledge and innovations of the people. This I believe is key for the future use of videos in agriculture. When local farmers from one community watch farm management practices of their colleagues from another community, it gives them a better understanding of the process than the traditional extension service delivery.

3 – Agro-Insight and the use of Socio-Technical System in Video Production

The work of Agro-Insight in the use of digital videos for improving extension services delivery cannot be overlooked. As a dynamic enterprise that merges expertise from science, communication and arts to support sustainable agriculture and equitable trade, Agro-Insight works closely with institutions and organizations to enhance their impact on rural communities through reflective research and effective video, radio and print material production. In addition to the emphasis on local farmers activities, Agro-Insight aims at contributing to a more sustainable agriculture and trade by enhancing reflection and learning among farmers, the R&D community, agribusinesses and civil society.

The combination of R&D with local practices through videos is a plus with the Agro-Insight innovation. Rural farmers do believe in their local innovations but understanding these innovations through research, and seeking farmers view on the potency of these innovations in the current technological age is needed.

4 – Video Viewing Club (VVC) and Farmer Involvement in Production and Analysis of Videos

Another specific project that is using videos to improve agricultural production is the Video Viewing Club (VVC) of the Sustainable Tree Crop Production (STCP) program of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Using farmer training activities such as Video Viewing Clubs, local farmers are trained to collect data on their own farming activities, write scripts, edit and produce short videos/clips that cover a number of farm practices. The project, which started mainly within the cocoa sector, is expected to cover some other food crops such as cassava in the near future. Cocoa farmers in clubs are trained to document farm management practices in topics such pruning, black pod disease control, harvesting/pod breaking and fermentation techniques. These clips are viewed with experts and discussions take place for further explanation of issues arising from the videos.

VVC innovation is also unique by putting local farmers into small groups and training them to be in charge of the research process – observing issues in their communities, gathering data through interviews with their colleagues, writing scripts and producing videos. The most positive part of this innovation, I think, is the discussion that takes place between the club members, other community members and the scientists during the viewing of the clips. This will lead to greater understanding of the process and activities that have been documented.

5 – Digital Green and the Combination of Science and Technology in Videos

Digital Green is a newer approach to the use of digital videos in agricultural extension services delivery. It emphasizes a socio-technical system approach by combining the technologies with existing people-based extension systems to amplify their effectiveness. It taps into local social networks to connect farmers with experts to minimize the distance between teacher and learner. Videos are produced by farmers; of farmers; and for farmers across the field locations. The video production process is participatory, human-mediated instruction model for video dissemination and training, a hardware and software technology platform for exchanging data in areas with limited Internet and electrical grid connectivity, and an iterative model to progressively better address the needs and interests of the community with analytical tools and interactive phone-based feedback channels.

Digital Green is also utilizing farmers as a key resource in the documentation process. Also acknowledged by this innovation is the importance of the social processes rather than the technology. If the technology is to have impact, the social processes need to be well organized.

So what is the future of Digital Videos in Agricultural Research and Extension?

I believe there are a great number of projects and programs out there that are currently using videos in agricultural extension service delivery. These other programs as well as those mentioned above do all have one common goal – to improve knowledge sharing through digital technologies for increased agricultural productivity. These approaches are seen in agricultural experts developing scientific methods of farming through videos for farmers’ use; training farmers to use videos to document their farm management practices (not necessarily their local knowledge and innovations); and then training farmers to document their own local knowledge and innovations that could be shared with other farmers.

In addition to the use of videos in extension services delivery, videos are also being used in agricultural research work. The Power of Video in Research by ICT-KM at CGIAR argue that videos and the Internet have revolutionized the way in which an increasing number of scientists are now communicating ideas and the results of their research. There are easier ways now to use videos to record scientific results and then use them in farmer education. Videos are being used to efficiently convey large amounts of information and depict scientific procedures that would otherwise require pages upon pages of written text to achieve the same level of understanding; show things that take place over time as if they are face-to-face events; raise awareness of issues; document science and share new scientific methodologies that can help build capacity; and generate new applications and innovation.

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Farmer Innovations – The Case of Tanzanian Farmers & Smartphones

Tanzanian Farmers Using Smartphone

Photo Credit: Sauti ya wakulima

Through a collaborative knowledge base, farmers from the Chambezi region of the Bagamoyo District in Tanzania are using smartphones equipped with GPS modules and an application that makes it easy to send pictures and sounds to the Internet. The smartphones are used to document their daily practices, make reports about their observations regarding changes in climate and related issues, and also to interview other farmers, expanding thus their network of social relationships and engaging in a process of mutual learning.

This is just one of the stories of local people innovating through the challenges they face on the field. Over the years, local people are known to innovate due to necessity, changing conditions, and curiosity, doing informal experiments on new ideas either from their own ingenuity or learned from other farmers, researchers, extensionists and other information sources like the mass media. But over and over again, scientists have learnt very little about these innovations in order to take advantage of them to improve their scientific research work.

The farmers at Chambezi not only struggle because of insufficient infrastructure and unreliable markets for their products, but they are also facing the challenges of a changing local climate. Less rains, less underground water and unprecedented threats caused by pests and plant diseases are some of the pressing issues that they have to deal with. However, they know that by sharing their knowledge on how to cope with these problems, they can become stronger and find ways to overcome them. They hope that, by communicating their observations to extension officers and scientific researchers, who can be in remote locations, they can participate in the design of new strategies for adaptation.

In order for their voices to be heard, the farmers gather audiovisual evidence of their practices using smartphones and publish images and voice recordings on the Internet.  The project, which started early this year, is currently being sponsored by the North South Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, with the support of the Department of Botany of the University of Dar es Salaam and the Zurich Node of the Planetary Collegium (Z-Node). The participants of Sauti ya wakulima, a group of five men and five women, who gather every Monday at the agricultural station in Chambezi, use a laptop computer and a 3G Internet connection to view the images and hear the voice recordings that they posted during the week. They also pass the two available smartphones on to other participants, turning the phones into shared tools for communication.

For more information about this innovation, visit the Sauti ya wakulima blog and site.

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Reforming Ag. Extension, One ICT at a Time!

M-Kilimo Immage

Photo Credit: M-Kilimo Project

Two recent case studies on some ICTs for agricultural development projects supported through the GSMA Development Fund – mAgri Program reveal an emerging trend within the broader Agricultural Extension Services (AES) and specifically in the developing nations, that worth commenting on. The revealing trend I’ve noticed, is that, either drastic policies and actions be taken to restructure the current  educational systems of agricultural extension agents/officers or nations be prepared to seed-off their agricultural advisory services to the private sector (full privatization).

The projects are M-Kilimo in Kenya which has been developed as a result of cooperation between Rockefeller Foundation and KenCall the largest BPO Company in East Africa. The second project is IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), which is also a tri-lateral venture between Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Airtel, and Star Global Resources Ltd.

The following two stories tell the kind of impact these two ICT4Ag projects are having on the lives of rural farmers in the respective countries.

Sanjay Mondal, a farmer from India had his cucumber farm infested with necrotic leaf lesions. After discussing his problem with IKSL staff remotely, the disease was diagnosed and a topical spray of Sectin fungicide in the ratio of 2mg per litre of water was prescribed. The total cost of the treatment was 500 Indian rupees. The yield increased by 50% as a result, and income also went up by 50% (India – IKSL).

Nahomi, a chicken farmer in Kenya had problem with thin weak egg shells that did not allow her to sell or store the eggs in that quality. She called M-Kilimo and the livestock expert on the other end of the line suggested that she gives the chicken a feed rich in calcium. By using a calcium rich poultry feed or adding fishmeal to the feeds will increase the calcium content of her feed, the expert explained. Now, Nahomi’s chickens are laying good quality eggs and she can sell more eggs as a result of the advice and availability of M-Kilimo experts (Kenya – M-Kilimo).

A closer look at the design and operational models of IKSL and M-Kilimo predicts the future demise of most National Agricultural Extension Services (NAES) if the necessary reforms of the current educational systems delay. I will attempt to explain my argument from two perspectives – the human resources level of extension staffs and the medium of delivery of the information to the end users (which is also a factor of ICT human resource development).

Human Resource – Agricultural Extension and Education

The traditional agricultural extension service as the main platform for delivery of new innovations, technologies and information to farmers, has its strength in the extension staffs. The extension agent/officer/worker is seen as a “Change Agent”. These officers are mostly public servants trained and equipped to be, most of the time, in direct contact with their clients, the farmers. Even though the service has been engulfed with a host of problems, its human interaction capability is still strong which helps not only to deliver new innovations but also train users how to use these technologies through field demonstrations. However, my personal experience tells me of the poor quality of extension staffs currently on the field in most developing countries due to a number of issues.

A recent study I conducted with over 30 agricultural extension officers from three agricultural districts in Ghana shows that only 39% did receive some form of undergraduate degree in agriculture. The remaining 61% is made up of either certificate in agriculture or diploma in agriculture obtained in the late 70s and early 80s.

The IKSL and M-Kilimo projects have tended to improve upon this traditional human resource development in extension. For example the IKSL project acknowledged that the quality of its experts is critical for their success since these experts decide the content of the messages that are being delivered to the users. As a result, they have a minimum qualification of first degree in agriculture for their first line of staffs that are in direct contact with the users; highly experienced academics and specialists in agriculture for second line experts; and the third line of 10 specialists who regularly convene to vet and validate contents being delivered to the users.

M-Kilimo also has similar model with emphasis on trustworthy and effective system to deliver appropriate information to the end user. The project also requires the experts to have a minimum of bachelor’s degree in agriculture and at least 2 years of relevant field experience. This first line of experts is supported by Subject Matter Experts (SME) to help provide quality assurance service for content and delivery. Also the contents are obtained from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Weather Station, and other Research Institutes within and outside the country.

IKSL

Photo Credit: IKSL

Medium of Delivery – Timely and Remote Access to Information

Even though the traditional medium for agricultural extension has improved over the years including the mass communication technologies such as radios and televisions; and recently with mobile phones, the face-to-face interaction still dominates most NAES. Extension officers are expected to visit individual farmers’ field and other farmers groups to deliver new information. This continues in the wake of high extension officer-farmer ratios (1:3000 and over), one of the primary indicators used to measure the intensity of extension coverage in a country. Ironically, most of the public extension officers who have access to the new ICT facilities through public telecenters, and other community information centers are not well trained and equipped to use them to facilitate their work.

The result is the deplorable condition of information or knowledge gap as seen in the stories of the two farmers above prior to the intervention of M-Kilimo and IKSL in Kenya and India respectively. But how many rural farmers have access to M-Kilimo and IKSL and similar projects across the developing nations?

With the IKSL and M-Kilimo projects, a critical part as seen in the stories above is ‘remote delivery of information to users’ – either through their mobile phones or SMS messages. The use of these tools facilitates timely delivery of information to users. Apart from the information communication systems that are put in place, ICT human resources development of the helpline experts is important. These features of the emerging information communication systems are helping to ensure more accurate, appropriate, timely and remotely accessible information to end users such as rural farmers whose farming success are previously determined by extension agents/officers.

Implications for National Agricultural Extension Services (NAES)

ICTs are not here to replace the rich human interactions between rural agricultural farmers and extension agents. It should be recognized that the social capital created through face-to-face interactions during extension visits are irreplaceable. ICTs are “technologies” that can enable social behaviors. But without some drastic reforms of the existing extension system, especially the educational standard of the extension staffs, I see the gradual downfall of the public agricultural extension system in most developing countries. Could this be a journey towards a kind of partnership/collaboration in the future where research and development will remain in the public domain while extension and advisory services go to the private sector? With the general acceptance of “Agribusiness Models” across the world within smallholder agricultural production, I do expect to see changes within agricultural extension and advisory services in the next few years – I do expect to see more private sector involvement in extension delivery.

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Africa’s Agribusiness Dream: How can ICTs Help?

Logo of Agro-Hub

Photo Credit: Timbuktu Chronicles

Earlier this month, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) held its 8th Biennial US-Africa Business Summit in Washington DC. One of the key focus areas at the summit was the agribusiness sector in Africa with sessions and workshops covering topics such as “Winning for Farmer Entrepreneurs and Investors”; “Partnering to Build an Integrated Agribusiness Sector”; “Financing a Dynamic African Agribusiness Sector”; “Removing Barriers to Create Opportunities in Regional and Global Trade”; and “Leveraging Development Assistance to Support Private Enterprise”. Stories and experiences from a number of participants who are already in the market in certain parts of Africa clearly show the increasing interest in changing Africa’s agricultural sector from an “AID Recipient” to a “BUSINESS Partner”. This of course, calls for a number of changes including the perception of agriculture by the smallholder farmers that need to be undertaken in Africa’s bid to revamp its agricultural sector.

As an agricultural information specialist, I followed with keen interest the proceedings at the said US-Africa Business Summit with special concern for agricultural development in the continent. What I saw and heard at the summit during the discussions on issues such as farmer entrepreneurship, partnership, financing, removing barriers for regional trade, and leveraging development assistance within the agricultural sector, seemed to be missing a major component – information and communication technologies (ICTs). In fact, one would have expected most of these discussions to have some element of  ICTs as enabler or catalyst for the entire agricultural value chain. Especially given the Information Economy Report 2011: ICTs as an Enabler for Private Sector Development (PSD), published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that pointed out clearly that the potential of leveraging ICTs to develop the private sector is far from fully exploited.

Access to information by smallholder farmers is key for producing high quality products to meet market specifications both locally and international. ICTs are key in gathering and delivering timely and accurate agricultural information for farmers to be able to do just that. Smallholder farmers are currently using ICTs in pre-production and production activities across the world that the business sector needs to exploit and leverage upon in Africa.  This is being achieved through the reformed and modernized Agricultural Advisory Service (AAS), which connects local farmers to research, market, and policy. Popular applications that should interest companies and institutions interested in Africa’s agribusiness include Grameen AppLab Community Knowledge Workers; Farmer Voice Radio Project; M-Powering Farmers, and other radio services across the developing world.

Farmers also lack access to credit for their production and there are a host of financial services using the new ICTs to facilitate the flow of financial services to smallholder farmers in the developing world. Mobile payments, mobile money, or mobile banking applications are being used to make financial transactions more accessible, faster, and safer for rural farmers. These services also link farmers to financial services and make it easier for them to save money obtained from their farm activities for other social services. These are great opportunities for entrepreneurs and the business community interested in investing in Africa’s agribusiness to explore. Examples include the M-PESA currently operating in countries like Kenya and Tanzania; Mobile Money in Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and others.

Also worth exploring is ICTs for market. When one talks about business, the first thing that comes to mind is “market” and markets affect smallholder agriculture production from inputs supply such as seed, agrochemicals, farm machinery to the outputs or products delivery to the final consumer either in the local, regional or international market. Access to market information helps farmers find out about market prices, make decisions regarding when to harvest, how to negotiate with intermediaries, etc. ICTs models such as esoko in a number of Sub-Saharan Africa countries, e-Choupal and Reuters Market Light in India, Manobi in Senegal, Infotrade in Uganda, and Zambian National Farmers Union MIS are just the tip of the iceberg.

The traditional agricultural extension service, which has been a public platform over the decades, is undergoing a lot of reforms to create an enabling environment for the private sector to heavily invest in the ICTs sector. With the new models of agricultural extension reforms such as decentralization, privatization, commercialization, pluralism, and partnerships, there should not be any barrier for the private sector in using ICTs to enhance their agribusiness in Africa. American and European businessmen and companies interested in Africa’s agriculture should not make mistake by ignoring the importance of “information” in their business – ICTs can help when recognized and incorporated into the agribusiness plan!

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ICT4Ag ShareFair Next Week!

An image from past share fair

Credit: ShareFair

Agriculture professionals will converge at the Headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) next week in Rome for the 2nd Global Agricultural Knowledge Share Fair.

As I write this, it is days away from kick-off of the 4-day event in Rome from the 26-29 September. With all the excitements that ShareFair brings, participants will be expecting to discover and share new creative and innovative learning and sharing opportunities; and equipping themselves with tools to better influence future agricultural development activities. With the advent of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs), the approach to agricultural knowledge sharing has evolved enabling people of all background to participate and contribute. ShareFairs present unique opportunity for participants to share and discuss the ways in which they have applied new methods of communication and knowledge sharing to improve the effectiveness and impact of their work.

Being the fourth ShareFair and the second of its kind with global focus, participants are expected from all regions of the world with over 160 presenters. This includes farmers, students, academicians, researchers, practitioners, journalists, entrepreneurs, politicians, and policy makers. They will be sharing their knowledge on a variety of rural development and agriculture related topics such as food security, climate change and green innovations, gender, ICTs, mobile technology and social media, new technologies and innovative agricultural and farming practices, markets and private sector, water, livestock, young people, networks and communities of practice. These presentations will take forms such as TedTalks, market place, world café, chat shows, peer assist, fish bowls, and open space.

Knowledge fairs are face-to-face events in which participants set up displays to share their undertakings. Share fairs are interactive events that employ various knowledge sharing formats such as market stalls and booths, and workshops and presentations designed to encourage discussions. They are “free-flowing,” open, flexible, and non-hierarchical. The aims of knowledge share fairs are to provide opportunities for multiple parties to broadcast their achievements, exhibit their products, and market new programs to donors, policymakers, other institutes and potential partners; facilitate face-to-face networking and promote South-North exchange on common agendas; help people benefit from each other’s experiences; and stimulate interest in future collaboration and the development of new programs. ShareFairs can be internal to an organization or open to partners and the public.

Since 2009, the ICT-KM Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has helped organize three Share Fairs: ShareFair 09, Rome; ShareFair Cali, Colombia in May 2010; and AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia October 2010. This fair is being jointly organized by Bioversity International, FAO, IFAD, WFP, CGIAR, and CTA.

To follow events:

Live webcast of the keynote addresses, plenary sessions and sessions to be held in the Italian Conference room and Oval room via: http://sharefair.ifad.org/

Other social media channels include:

Conference hashtag: #sfrome

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sharefairs, http://twitter.com/ifadnews, http://twitter.com/faonews

Blog: http://blog.sharefair.net/ and http://ifad-un.blogspot.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/sharefair

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sharefair09/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KnowledgeShareFair

“Daily Corriere” – the Share Fair daily newspaper – will feature blogposts, tweets and stories from the event.

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