Agriculture – Page 25

Power to the (rural) People!

Photo: SANGONeT

In my recent interviews with telecoms, NGOs, and governments working in Africa I’ve noticed a common theme. In a very generalized sense, Internet infrastructure is in place (or under construction) in urban centers throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Even in places where connectivity is still lacking, like in South Sudan and Somalia, initiatives are underway to light up those nations. I think it is appropriate to say that this stage of communication development, which I will call connectivity 1.0, has the necessary foundation for completion.

Connectivity 2.0, then, is focused on rural Africa. Specifically, it entails:

(1) how to bring connectivity to rural areas in financially sustainable ways

(2) how to make the Internet and mobiles useful and relevant tools for rural lifestyle

Others in the ICT4D space have recognized this need as well. Infodev’s Program Manager Valerie D’Costa recently spoke on the urgent need to use ICTs especially for rural development projects. One of the ITU’s new flagship initiatives is to bring ICTs to rural schools and villages. And USAID leaders repeatedly emphasize the power of mobile phones for agricultural development in rural areas.

SANGONeT, an umbrella NGO specializing in ICT expertise and agricultural development, is taking advantage of this momentum, and is planning an upcoming conference in South Africa on ICT4RD (ICT for rural development), slated for November 1-3, 2011. The South African Departments of Communication and Rural Development, the Gates Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, and InfoDev are sponsoring the conference. They hope to attract national USFs in Sub-Saharan Africa, NGOs, and telecom companies.

The collaboration between these entities is vital to creating sustainable solutions, SANGONeT Program Manager Matthew de Gale explains. With commitments from government USFs in Zambia, Uganda, and South Africa to attend, de Gale hopes that additional USFs and international organizations like USAID and the World Bank will also send representatives, helping African governments to make the most informed policy decisions regarding rural development. Hopefully, then, policymakers will meet the challenges posed by connectivity 2.0.

July 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Extension Service, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

eRAILS2, FARA’s push to better inform farmers

The Ghana-based Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) will form a Knowledge Management Service (KMS) in the second phase of its eRAILS platform. The technology is an information system that mobilize farming communities and farmer advisory service providers to generate questions so that agricultural experts can provide actionable responses.

The second phase of the FARA initiative, eRAILS2, will focus on content management. The research institute says this should speed-up the flow of information from agricultural experts to farmers by eliminating intermediaries.

The KMS phase of the project is widely seen as an opportunity to improve the agricultural sector in a myriad of ways, particularly through better data collection. Improved data collection processes will give scientists and policymakers a better understanding of the farming communities’ needs. This should result in better policies and programs, including early warning systems and impact assessment processes across the agricultural sector. This also bodes well for efforts to promote more targeted decision making, as agricultural management is localized.

Learn more about FARA’s effort to launch the second phase of the eRAILS project here.

eRAILS is funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

July 15, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health, Health Systems, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

MIT researchers link camera technology to healthcare

MIT researchers recently created a smartphone device designed to detect cataracts. Called Catra, the device uses “off -the-shelf components” as opposed to the highly expensive and highly space consuming technologies normally used to detect cataracts.

Using Catra device on smartphone. Photo Credit: EyeCatra

The research group is part of the MIT media lab that won the MIT Global Challenge competition back in May. Taking advantage of mobility through mobile phones and an inexpensive design, Catra was designed for use in the developing world.

The device, which attaches to the screen of a smartphone, costs about $2, whereas a slit lamp examination conventionally used to examine cataracts cost up to $5,000. And unlike conventional slit lamp examinations, Catra does not need a skilled human operator to administer the test and read the results, Catra does everything for the patient.

Catra utilizes a technique, which allows the user to respond to what they visually experience. It scans the lens of the eye section by section. The user then sees projected patterns and presses a few buttons to map the light attenuation in each section of the eye. This information is collected by the device creating an attenuation map of the entire lens. This allows individuals to monitor the progression of the severity of the cataract on their phones.

Catra vs. Slit Lamp technology. Photo Credit: MIT

This is not the MIT media lab’s first project to improve the health of the eye. They are working on a series of projects involving eye care. They developed and released Netra, an application and smartphone attachment for eye exams via mobile phone, last year.

Cataract is a condition where clouding builds up in the lens of the eye. It is the leading cause of avoidable blindness worldwide. Furthermore, ophthalmologists, doctors that specialize on the eye, are scarce in the developing world with one ophthalmologist per million people in some areas. When cataract leads to vision loss, it prevents people from being productive citizens in their community. It leads to high levels of illiteracy and poverty, and can impair a society’s economic and health sectors.

Using mHealth to tackle cataract is a crucial development. However, smartphones are not ubiquitous in the developing world. And it’s for a reason. Even though the Catra device may be cheap, the phones on which they operate are much more expensive. This needs to be considered when implementing Catra on a wide scale in the field. However, with the potential of this kind of technology, it is likely that MIT media lab will find a way.

July 14, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Health Systems, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Recent report highlights challenges in mHealth

Africa’s first mHealth summit was held in June, in Cape Town, South Africa. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) produced a report entitled ‘mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies’, which looked at the state of mHealth projects from 112 WHO member countries in 2009.

Photo Credit: mhealthsummit.org

According to the report, currently over 85% of the world’s population is now covered by a commercial wireless signal. Furthermore, 5 billion people own cell phones, and 3.5 billion of them are in middle to low income countries, setting the platform for increase in opportunity for mHealth growth.

The majority of member countries (83%) reported offering at least one type of mHealth service. However, many countries offered four to six programs. The report also cited the four most frequently reported mHealth initiatives as health call centers (59%), emergency toll-free telephone services (55%), managing emergencies and disasters (54%), and mobile telemedicine (49%).

Although mHealth success was lauded by officials, there was no shortage of criticisms and concerns for the future. “Although the level of mHealth activity is growing in countries, evaluation of those activities by Member States is very low (12%). Evaluation will need to be incorporated into the project management life-cycle to ensure better quality results.” said the report.

The lack of evidence prevents policymakers from supporting mHealth infrastructure and as a result funding often goes elsewhere. “In order to be considered among other priorities, mHealth programs require evaluation. This is the foundation from which mHealth (and eHealth) can be measured: solid evidence on which policy-makers, administrators, and other actors can base their decisions,” claimed the report.

mHealth report

Competing health priorities was claimed as the greatest barrier to mHealth adoption by WHO member countries. The report also points out that mHealth services are not yet integrated and are mostly small scale projects targeted for specific communities. Going forward, mHealth will need to “adopt globally accepted standards and interoperable technologies” in order to facilitate effective growth in scaling up mHealth initiatives.

The report says, “Moving towards a more strategic approach to planning, development, and evaluation of mHealth activities will greatly enhance the impact of mHealth. Increased guidance and information are needed to help align mHealth with broader health priorities in countries and integrate mHealth into overall efforts to strengthen health systems.”

In an era where mobile communication is paramount, the services of mHealth may prove to be vital in the development of many low income countries. The report did itself justice by celebrating the successes of mHealth, and then laying down the hurdles to be cleared for sustainable growth. The next mHealth summit is in December in Washington DC.

July 13, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Health, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

SMS campaign in India to reach 5.5 million people

Blood bags. Photo Credit: anemia.org

HLL Lifecare Ltd, one of the largest blood bag manufacturers in India, launched a massive SMS blood donation campaign last month, targeting to reach over 5.5 million customers belonging to the top telecommunications company, BSNL.

The campaign, launched by state Health Minister Adoor Prakash on Blood Donation Day last month in Kerala, a southern state in India, wanted to highlight the virtue of blood donation as a civil responsibility for those who are able in order to help those in need.

Prakash also created a help desk called ‘Heart Beats’ designed to assist prospective blood donors. This was funded by the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT), an organization affiliated with HLL Lifecare, in association with the Kerala State AIDS Control Society.

The purpose of the help desk is to funnel the donors to the patients. Individuals who want to donate blood voluntarily can register their details, including name, place, blood group and phone number either at the help desk or to the help desk via SMS. They are intended to be set up at local health care centers and can also assist patients during emergencies.

India has harbored SMS blood donation programs in the past. Indianblooddonors.com is a website that serves as a database listing for thousands of blood donors from over hundreds of Indian cities. It was launched in 2000 with the SMS component implemented a few years later.

It works in the opposite way of HLL Lifecare’s system. A person in need of blood sends out a text message to a special number, mentioning, in a particular format, his name, city and the blood group required. Within a few seconds, he gets a return SMS with the name and number of a donor in that city.

Photo Credit: HLL Lifecare

Despite having the capability of saving lives, this was a little known service in India. However HLL Lifecare’s current campaign seems to be aiming for much more publicity and awareness on blood donating.

India frequently engages with shortages of blood supply. India usually faces deficits of up to millions of units of blood per year.

Furthermore, isolated populations usually have difficulties reaching out to blood donors and suppliers and often don’t get the blood they desperately need. India’s telecommunications industry is the fastest growing in the world. Nearly 75% of the population, about 900 million people, has mobile phones. Hopefully, this SMS campaign will bring light to the issue of blood donations and help curb the burden by taking advantage of mobile phone prevalence and growth in the country.

July 12, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Development, Areas of Expertise, Climate Change, Environment, Environment, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Global alliance to reduce agricultural greenhouse gasses

Agriculture is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and this makes finding a balance between increasing food production and limiting greenhouse gas emissions a major challenge.

In fact, there are few global research projects with a focus on reducing agricultural greenhouse gases, compared to the energy and transport sectors. But this could all change for the better.

Over a year and a half ago New Zealand launched the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, and this year its membership grew to 30 countries. The Alliance aims to coordinate the research of the world’s top scientists in agricultural emissions in a bid to find ways of increasing food production and ensuring food security without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Alliance has successfully increased international cooperation and investment in research for livestock, paddy rice production systems and technologies to limit the loss of carbon and nitrogen from crops and soils.

July 11, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Civil Society, Democracy & Governance, Mobile, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Mobile Khabar to Bring News & Empower via Mobile

Manin turban next to a bus stop featuring a mobile advertisement

Photo Credit: Jan Chipchase

On August 11, Afghans will be able to receive free access to radio news broadcasts, cricket scores, and other informational audio content through their mobile phones.

The USAID project—named Mobile Khabar, roughly translated to “News” in Dari and Pashtu”—is made to improve Afghans’ access to information and empower local journalists.

With 28 percent illiteracy, and an estimated 60 percent of Afghans using mobiles, cellular phones are a widely used technology more accessible than radio and have a much wider reach.

Troy Etulain, the project’s architect and a senior advisor for media development in USAID’s Office of Democracy and Governance, says that when the system is up and running in a month, users will be subscribe to local radio reports by dialing a four-digit code on their cellphones.

Troy Etulain in Afghanistan wearing army fatigues with soldier on right

Troy Etulain in Afghanistan Photo Credit: World Learning

The information will include everything from national cricket scores to English lessons offered through the Afghan foreign ministry. Additionally, audio bloggers will contribute to commentaries through a system similar to voicemail.

The system uses interactive voice response, or IVR and provides free, customizable menus of news and public information via mobile, making a variety of topics for the caller to choose from.

For example, a user could listen to a requested cricket update then hear a story about HIV/AIDS in her hometown, followed by the option to leave a message. The system can also be programmed to tell the user the number of AIDS patients nearby, letting her know that she’s not alone and creating a virtual community similar to other social media sites.

“If the technology connects, empowers or protects them or helps make other people who are not part of the community aware of them and their potential, then it’s doing profoundly new things,” Etulain declares.

USAID funding for the project runs on a $7 million grant that may increase to $16 million if option years on the main contract are fulfilled.

Mobile Khabar is just one part of USAID’s media development program in Afghanistan—the largest the agency has ever funded using new technologies, and regional journalism training centers, to seek and fill information not covered in newsrooms.

Within the centers, professional Afghan journalists and citizen bloggers are being trained in everything from Internet media skills and business management, to the reporting basics, such as ethical objectivity and story selection, Etulain says.

One of the common ways USAID utilizes these journalistic skills on the ground, is supporting community radio stations with the goal of making their operations solvent and the programming relevant to their audience, which encourages civil society participation.

For example, a call-in show that allows citizens to question their elected officials or covers topics that might not otherwise get airplay, like domestic violence or school dropout rates.

Mobile Khabar is a platform that allows local radio stations to become available on mobile phones, an innovative approach that extends the reach of information while encouraging sustainable economic development.

“From a media development perspective, this says to a local radio station in Mazari Sharif: ‘OK, now you have a national audience,” Etulain explains, “Wherever people have access to mobile phones, they can listen to you. And you get paid more the more people that listen to you.”

USAID funding for the project’s programs and bloggers are distributed based on their popularity: the more listeners they attract, the more money those programs and bloggers will earn, he says.

The Mobile Khabar project is a complement between old journalism and new technologies, providing an accessible avenue to inform Afghan civil society on relevant content. All while empowering local journalists to speak up and contribute information on what they see to their people.

July 11, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Environment, Land Management, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

South Sudan: Millions trek home to a delicate environment

With a greater sense of collective security and a fast-growing economy fueled by its budding oil industry, most of The Republic of South Sudan is poised for recovery and development at the onset of nationhood.

Although South Sudan’s slate of challenges are not easily enumerable, issues relating to the environment, including land degradation, deforestation and the impact of climate change, must be addressed with urgency. This constellation of challenges threaten the newly independent nation’s long-term peace and stability, food security and sustainable development.

But an effective response requires copious, accurate and reliable data that isn’t readily available. This paucity of information about South Sudan’s environmental landscape is due to unique factors brought about by the more than two decades long civil war with its now northern neighbor. The war, which ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, displaced nearly a half of the population of 8 million and claimed nearly 2 million lives.

Throughout the years of displacement, previously overgrazed lands and wildlife were naturally replenished to some degree. But as an estimated 4 million people return to their ancestral lands on the cusp of independence in a resource rich but ecologically unsound and economically stagnant society, the natural gains made in restoring the environment is in jeopardy. It would be illogical to suggest that the return of a displaced people is within and of itself the cause of this crisis, rather, it is the lack of information about where people will settle and the state of the environment in those places that is at the core of the problem.

To respond to this challenge, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) ought to make more coordinated use of the 2005 post-conflict environmental assessment it commissioned UNEP

Photo Credit: Frank Langfitt/NPR

to conduct. The finding from the UNEP study may be transformed into a resource akin to Virtual Kenya, an online interactive web platform for charting human environmental health with related material for those with no access to the internet. This is one tangible way in which ICTs, including GIS technologies may be used to tackle South Sudan’s environmental challenges.

As I’ve noted in previous blogs focused on South Sudan and the role of ICTs, there is limited scope for the use of high tech ICTs at this point, due to systemic and structural impediments, including literacy, connectivity, access and market environment. However, traditional technologies such as radio ought to be used to provide timely, accurate and contextually appropriate information about environmental conservation. It is important that the farming community, the largest economically active block in the country, be sensitized about this. Land degradation, for instance, is heightened by population pressure, intensification of agriculture, water-logging and salinity, among other things. Both water-logging and salinity are caused by poor irrigation and drainage, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and poverty.

So, as South Sudan claims nationhood, it is imperative that the environment be a priority for the GoSS and its people. A clear ICT strategy with medium to long-term goals is needed. It ought to emphasize how ICTs will be leveraged to improve basic farm extension services to reduce poor soil management, and other agricultural related causes of land degradation. The wider thrust to sensitize the nation about environmental issues ought to also prioritize the well-being of wildlife, much of which was devastated during the war. There is clear economic, environmental and social benefits to be reaped from this.

As with so many nations on the cusp of self-determination, South Sudan can take a path that will secure the fortunes of its people. The preservation of the environment is central to achieving this, and that is only possible if there is national buy-in. Too few governments have been proactive in informing their citizens.

July 8, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Humanitarian Assistance, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Last Mile Mobile Solutions: An Efficient Aid Distribution Tool

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Last month, food assistance from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) reached more 26,500 people fleeing fighting in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. Not even close to a tenth of the 400,000 Southern Sudanese they fed before the latest outbreak of violence.

In humanitarian assistance missions, delivering aid to displaced people, at the right time, in sufficient quantities is extremely challenging, especially in inaccessible rural areas.

Lack of infrastructure prevents transportation, erupting violence hinders efforts, and overall allocation is inefficient and ineffective.

The Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) is a mobile technology aiming to change the aid distribution process.

LMMS bypasses the challenges that remote data collection typically faces in the last mile. With the swipe of a photo ID card, families receive the right amount of food, without waiting in line or conducting paper work

The beneficiaries of aid are directly registered in the field, and then immediately integrated into a humanitarian assistance project database, strengthening inventory control during aid distribution.

Ben Tshin of World Vision explains how the digitalization and automation of the aid distribution makes, “digital records of what we serve and how we serve them.” While the time to collect, stock, allocate, and report a humanitarian aid necessities is cut in half.

This is an illustration of how the LMMS system works:

Screen shot of the Last Mile Mobile Solutions steps on how their tool is used

Photo Credit: Last Mile Mobile Solutions

Initially working with World Vision, a partner of the UN’s World Food Program, LMMS was piloted in Kenya and Lesotho in 2008 to assist with general food aid distributions.

Success of the pilot led to an extension of LMMS being used in all of World Vision’s feeding programs. In 2009, LMMS was adapted for feeding programs targeted for vulnerable populations to improve World Vision’s distribution and reach.

LMMS was designed for food allocation, but “is not specific to World Vision,” Tshin states, its framework is flexible enough to be used by other organizations working in humanitarian assistance.

LMMS streamlines the distribution process, but digitalization also makes the donor money more transparent—allowing donors to see who, what, and where their funds are going. Information on aid delivery activities is stored, aggregated and can be sent to donor organizations in a PDF format.

This new communication tool makes organizations on the ground more accountable to their donors, encouraging fair distribution and preventing redundancy between projects.

The LMMS also has a long-term goal in mind for how organizations can use this resource in its full capacity.

Potentially, the mobile technology could be a, “cloud online solution,” where donors in Washington will be able to view what is happening in humanitarian assistance missions abroad, in real time.

LMMS can conceivably be a central and secure point for data collection to improve efficiency in program planning and effectiveness, a very useful tool in the newly emerging, conflict prone regions of South Sudan.

This mobile technology can also help the current humanitarian assistance in South Sudan identify those in need of emergency food assistance and reduce food allocation time, which provides more people with food in less time—before more violence erupts.

July 8, 2011/by actualize

Agriculture, Agriculture Markets, Extension Service, Food Security, Forestry, Irrigation and Water, Livestock, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

South Sudan: In search of a food policy?

Credit: Farm Africa

After two decades of civil war and amid a tense truce, the world recently welcomed its newest nation, The Republic of South Sudan. But like many of its Sub-Saharan neighbors did 50 years ago, South Sudan joins the rank of nationhood with a raft of intractable developmental challenges– and the high expectations of 8 million people adds importance to each.

While the slate of challenges at hand are all important for sustained socio-economic development, achieving national food security will be key to the success of the nation. It is a vital part of national security and nationhood. But achieving self-sufficiency in food production and food security will require full transformation of the embryonic nation’s agricultural sector.

Although the sector accounts for the majority of economic activity—33% of the rural population lives on agriculture, whereas 45 % and 12 % are agro-pastoralists and fishermen respectively—the industry is stuck in a pre-industrial form. This is particularly bothersome as new nations must effectively manage their citizens’ expectations–for basic services, jobs and food–to thrive.

However, the country has been unable to provide enough food for the people of South Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. More than a fifth of the population depends on food aid, and the majority of the country’s food is imported from neighbouring countries, many of which are unstable. This doesn’t bode well for the country, and begs the question: where is the national food policy that would foster sustained food production and security? What should a national food policy for South Sudan entail?

A map showing the 10 states of South Sudan in various colours

Credit: South Sudan Forum For Public Policy

As I noted earlier, at the heart of any food policy must be the repositioning of the agricultural sector. South Sudan’s agriculture is characterized by subsistence farmers and disproportionate involvement in agriculture and forestry, compared to livestock and fisheries. There ought to be a concerted campaign to educate farmers about the importance of diversifying their crops and exploring opportunities in the livestock and fisheries sector.

This will require the bridging of the information divide. In other words, South Sudanese farmers ought to have improved access to better extension services and information that will sensitize and inform them about markets. ICTs will be useful tools for enabling this and should therefore form a central part of the overall food security strategy for South Sudan. However, the full incorporation of ICTs will depend on improvements in connectivity and access– mobile subscription, broadband access and total internet users are all less than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nonetheless, traditional ICTs such as radio, which is relatively ubiquitous in South Sudan, may be used as a key first step to offer extension services that tackle issues, including irrigation cycles, pest control, access to seeds, fertilizer, transportation and prices. These services may be provided via a series of regularly aired radio programs and features that capture the voices and interests of the farmers. The use of traditional ICTs and other less advanced but newer technologies are likely to be more contextually relevant and appropriate, compared to high end ICTs. The latest technology is not always suitable. In the long-term, many opportunities to use the latest ICTs will mature. That is to say, they exist now, but the infrastructure in not in place to facilitate their effective implementation for the benefit of the majority.

Here are a few of the ICT opportunities:

The provision of access to financial services via mobile money
Improve irrigation and water management services using remote sensing technologies and GIS
Establishment of legible rural and agricultural markets through market information systems
Reduction of waste through proper storage and transportation facilities enabled by logistics technology
Text and other mobile-based extension services to create access to better agriculture and livestock inputs

Despite the immense scope for growth in South Sudan’s agriculture sector, much depends on the development of indigenous agricultural and livestock research, animal health services, infrastructure (including roads and bridges), and the stability of the regulatory and political environment.

July 8, 2011/by actualize

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