ICTs: Enabling innovation for enhancing rural livelihoods

December 3-7, 2012 will see India host an international conference on ways to that information and communication technologies are enhancing rural livelihoods.

Further details on the event website

IT, internet and extension

The December 2011 issue of JOE - the Journal of Extension takes a look at information technology and extension.

Content includes:

Extension Is Unpopular—On the Internet

Is Extension Ready to Adopt Technology for Delivering Programs and Reaching New Audiences?

Land-Grant University Employee Perceptions of eXtension: A Baseline Descriptive Study

Leveraging New Media in the Scholarship of Engagement: Opportunities and Incentives

Using Information Technology to Forge Connections in an Extension Service Project

Promoting Healthy Eating and Exercise Through Online Messages: A Pilot Study

Revising an Extension Education Website for Limited Resource Audiences Using Social Marketing Theory

Mapping Extension's Networks: Using Social Network Analysis to Explore Extension's Outreach

An Analysis of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service's Role in Bridging the Digital Divide

Social Media Use of Cooperative Extension Family Economics Educators: Online Survey Results and Implications

An Examination of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Associated with the Adoption of Moodle™ by eXtension

Positive Examples and Lessons Learned from Rural Small Business Adoption of E-Commerce Strategies

Online Nutrition Education: Enhancing Opportunities for Limited-Resource Learners

Social Network Analysis: A Tool to Improve Understanding of Collaborative Management Groups

Virtual Training for Virtual Success: Michigan State University Extension's Virtual Conference

A Successful Multi-Institutional Blog for Transferring Garden and Landscape Information to the Public

Entrepreneurial Extension Conducted via Social Media

Strengthening 4-H Program Communication Through Technology

Working in a Wiki: A Tool for Collaboration Among Virtual Teams

Web-Based Family Life Education: Spotlight on User Experience

An Automated Data Analysis Tool for Livestock Market Data

A State-Specific Online Cover Crop Decision Tool for Midwest Farmers

Connected agriculture: Mobiles help drive efficiency and sustainability in food and agriculture

A new report from Vodacom and Accenture argues that mobile communications can help to meet the challenge of feeding an estimated 9.2 billion people by 2050.

The study identifies 12 specific opportunities that could increase agricultural income by around US$138 billion by 2020. These are:

Improving access to financial services

• Mobile payment system
• Micro-insurance system
• Micro-lending platform

Provision of agricultural information

• Mobile information platform
• Farmer helpline

Improving data visibility for supply chain efficiency

• Smart logistics
• Traceability and tracking system
• Mobile management of supplier networks
• Mobile management of distribution networks

Enhancing access to markets

• Agricultural trading platform
• Agricultural tendering platform
• Agricultural bartering platform

The report aims to stimulate engagement between mobile operators, governments, NGOs and businesses to realise these opportunities and explore others.


Press release

Download full report

Fedro Zazueta on INFITA, IAALD and ICTs in Africa

Fedro Zazueta with INFITA speaks about working toward a Pan-African Federation of ICT in Agriculture, in collaboration with IAALD and others, which would bring together professionals working in ICTs.

View the video

New book: ICTs for agriculture and rural development

Our colleague Raj Saravanan has co-authored a new book 'Information and Communication Technology for Agriculture and Rural Development' with a wide range of chapters covering the e-agriculture world in India.

Get more information about this book - and his other related publications.

mFarmer Fund to bring information and advice to farmers in developing countries

The GSMA, the body that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, has launched the 'mFarmer Initiative Fund' with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Here is where the story goes.

The mFarmer Initiative Fund is designed to:

• Stimulate the development of mobile phone-enabled agriculture information and advisory services that are commercially sustainable;
• Build services that impact farmers’ income and productivity;
• Reduce the barriers for operators to launch and improve mFarmer Services;
• Test and prove models for delivering agricultural information services via mobile phones; and
• Promote a culture of knowledge sharing in the mFarmer ecosystem.

Read more ...

ICT and Agriculture Sourcebook

The forthcoming World Bank 'Information and Communication Technologies for Agriculture e-Sourcebook' is being designed as an e-publication to maximize its outreach, with the intent of maintaining it as a “living” updatable document following its release in November 2011.

The Sourcebook describes a wide variety of ICT innovations and discusses the potential they carry for stakeholders engaged in agricultural development.

More information and introduction to the sourcebook

Empowering the poor through sustainable technology solutions

In March 2011,Catholic relief Services organized its third ICT4D event (following conferences in Nairobi in March 2010 and Washington, DC, in September 2010).

The first part of the program was a series of presentations (all online!) that exemplfy the ways that ICTs are being used to reach poor people (including in agriculture).

Some of the presentations include:

• Mobile Money Transactions and Automating Vouchers for Food Delivery
  
• Regional Agricultural Input Market Information Service
• Market on Your Mobile
• Last Mile Mobile Solution
• Agricultural MIS Value Chain Tool for Smallholders

The second part examined ways that CRSA uses ICTs in its operations, with experiences shared ranging from GIS to flip cameras.

Visit the event web site

ICT in Agriculture: Perspectives of Technological Innovation

Ehud Gelb reports on the fifth year of the free, public domain e-Book: "ICT in Agriculture: Perspectives of Technological Innovation":

During 2010 our book was accessed 38% more times than in 2009 (311287 vs. 225168).
(You may recall that during all of our first year the book was accessed a total of only 38927 times.....).

The e-Book is geared to provide insights to ICT developers and decision makers - assisting to avoid repeating past non optimal decisions. Hopefully this goal was attained by the 93 countries which averaged more than 10 accesses a month.

This opportunity to share the results with you and others will hopefully elicit ideas, comments, updates and maybe even new chapters for 2011. A detailed summary presentation of the e-Book's five year results is planned for the EFITA 2011 Conference in Prague.

Visit the book: http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/gelb-main.html

Mobile applications focus of ICT Update

The December 2010 issue of ICT Update looks at various mobile applications in agriculture.

New e-Agricuture platform launched: New look, same mission!

The e-Agriculture Community is launching a totally new online platform today, 16 December 2010. The launch is in conjunction with the ICTD2010 conference, where a special half day session on enhancing the impact of
ICT in rural development has been organized by FAO and other partners in the e-Agriculture Community.

After three years of exciting growth, collaboration and knowledge sharing around ICT for rural development, this new platform has been developed to keep pace with the needs of your e-Agriculture Community in the coming years. This totally new platform is the result of the Community's suggestions and input, the combined effort of many
individuals, and takes advantage of appropriate new tools including Drupal and social media applications.

The result is not only a new website, but a new way for the Community of more than 7,000 members from 150 countries to interact, collaborate, share experiences, and
expand their collective understanding of key issues in the ICT4D field.

Visit the new website.

Do ICTs enhance rural livelihoods?: Research findings from a study in Asia

IDRC with IFAD–ENRAP have been researching and generating evidence for the influence or change-making potential of ICTs on rural livelihoods in Asia - in a rigorous way.

Seven research proposals – a combination of action-research pilots and ex-post evaluations - were supported (one is still on-going) over 2009-2010 after an initial scoping study and subsequent consultation with a set of researchers and practitioners. While six research pieces look at farmers and farmer livelihoods, one also looks at improving access to jobs for rural casual wage labor by better matching of skills and job requirements.

Six of the seven research studies have recently reached an important milestone. Researchers have put together their findings. And even though in case of action research pilots, the research is ongoing, they have some interesting results to share. Briefs on each of the research studies and full papers are available at: http://www.enrap.org/research/icts-for-livelihoods-research/icts-for-livelihoods-research-papers/.

The papers include:

Connecting to Work: Non-agricultural livelihood opportunities for Rural Labour: Sri Lanka (wage labour)

Livelihood Solutions through Mobile Technology: An Assessment of LifeLines in India by IRRAD

Crop Nutrient Management Decision Support System: India

Impact Assessment of the e-AGRIKultura Project: Philippines

Evaluation of Rural Information Project for the Promotion of Agricultural Livelihood in Rural Community in Ningxia of China by AII

Price Transparency in Agricultural Produce Markets: Sri Lanka

Beyond Technology: Making Information Work for Livelihoods

Beyond Projects: Making Sense of the Evidence

Esoko receives funding to help sustain support for farmers

Ghanaian technology firm, ESOKO, has received a $1.25 million equity investment from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and the Soros Economic Development Fund.

The investment in Esoko will give smallholder farmers and businesses in Ghana and other African countries timely crop information that can be shared via text messaging, enabling farmers to increase their incomes.

Here is where the story goes. Try to enter a link Read more ...

Gender, ICTs and rural livelihoods forum at e-agriculture.org

From 5-16 July 2010, join e-Agriculture in a virtual forum that will explore some of the challenges that people and projects face when implementing projects aimed at empowering women in ICT in relation to rural livelihoods.

Led by e-Agriculture Community members and The Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) , the online forum will discuss issues including looking at what has worked, what has not worked, and the ways in which we can learn from good practices. The critical area of capacity building will also be covered during this special event which will attract participants from around the globe. To be part of the discussion, make sure you are registered on the e-Agriculture Platform and just log in on 5 July! Subject Matter Experts will be available during the forum to share their insight.

Join the discussion

Exploring voice-driven web for the developing world

Accessing the Web has become so easy for so many that it's startling to learn that less than a quarter of the global population can connect to the Internet External Link, according to Internet World Stats. Meanwhile, the penetration of mobile phones — especially in developing countries — is much larger.

Which is why IBM Research India in New Dehli has launched what it calls the Spoken Web, a network designed to use phones, not computers, to bring information on the Web to mainly under-served populations that cannot readily experience the Web's benefits.

Read more ...

Agrocom – QnA Service meets Rural India

IIT Bombay startup 'Agrocom' is building up a QnA service for rural India - the company has a pool of experts who answer queries from farmers.

The company’s flagship product, aaQUA (stands for Almost All Questions Answered) was started as a student project (networking site for farmers) and saw some initial traction which led the team to focus more on bringing experts to answer these questions (related to agriculture produce, legal issues regarding land titles, crop management and dealing with Pests & insects).

Read more ...

USDA/NIFA/eXtension webinar on ICTs for Development

On Thursday, May 13, USDA/NIFA and eXtension collaboratively hosted a webinar on “Information and Communications Technologies for International Development”. The purpose was to share U.S. Land-Grant (LGU) institution experiences in using ICTs to serve the needs of smallholder farmers in developing countries. This session included a variety of presentations:

(1) Deanna Behring, Director of International Programs at Penn State, outlined the importance of global engagement and suggested LGUs have particular advantages for maintaining long-term sustainable programs.

(2) Mike McGirr, National Program Leader for NIFA’s international programs office, provided an overview of their activities and said that they were working to “catch the ICT wave”. Several examples of ICT use around the world were mentioned: (a) LifeLines (www.lifelines-india.net); (b) AppLab (www.grameenfoundation.applab.org); (c) Zambia National Farmers Union (www.znfu.org/zm) ; and (d) I4D Magazine (www.e-agriculture.org).

(3) Charles Steinfield, Michigan State University, Director of Telecommunication, Information Studies & Media, presented several MSU projects including the inaugural “ICT Global Corps” program that involves students in a service learning experience to bring the benefits of modern communication technology to people in developing countries (http://cas.msu.edu/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1507).

(4) UC Davis was represented by Nick Madden and Mark Bell who spoke about the “Global Horticulture Knowledge Bank” project which seeks to serve rural intermediaries serving farmers with a simple web interface to quality tools pulled from other sources, such as the Arizona Master Gardner Manual tool for diagnosing diseases available in their Hort Hospital section (http://ip.ucdavis.edu/Knowledge-Bank).

(5) Mary Holz-Clause, Iowa State University, said that ISU is only recently putting an emphasis on developing ICT in Agriculture programs. They have now instituted a “Global Academy for Extension Practice” program that focuses on youth, women, and extension workers.

(6) Royal Colle, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University described his projects in working with universities in India and Vietnam to set up and maintain rural Telecenters.

(7) Barry Pittendrigh, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, discussed an approach UIUC is taking to build web resources based on capturing field knowledge of Peace Corps workers and others that is translated into different formats and languages to provide information to low-literate learners. The first phase of the system will be available in 2-3 months.

(8) Dan Cotton, representing eXtension, outlined the capabilities of eXtension and suggested it could be used as a resource and a potential Global Community of Practice in the area of ICTs (www.extension.org).

(9) Anne Tutwiler, USDA's coordinator for the Global Food Security Initiative Coordinator, spoke about the Obama Administration’s new focus on agriculture as the primary route out of poverty for smallholder farmers. She described a country-led approach involving multiple government agencies and the private sector. Twenty countries have been designated as the targets for the program. Additionally there is a focus on aggregation (bringing small farmers together to improve production to marketing strategies) and information systems/new delivery options ( including market prices, nutrition, value-chain management ( www.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity/).

The entire webinar will be available for viewing at: http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/p20396494.

Next Steps discussed include: continue discussions, conduct additional webinars, APLU/ICOP to include on agenda for next meeting.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

Nokia launches rural information service in China

Nokia is bringing Ovi Life Tools, a set of informational services for rural areas in developing countries, to China, the company said on Friday.

The SMS-based service will be in simplified Chinese, the written form of the language used in mainland China. The services are split into four categories: healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment.

More:

Ovi Life Tools lands in China

Rural Calling: Can Nokia Sustain Its First-mover Advantage?

Integrating agricultural information : Issues and challenges

At the IAALD 2010 Congress, Ajit Maru from GFAR chaired the discussions around the theme of Integrated Information Systems. On the iNARS discussion list and IAALD blog, he shares some thoughts after the event:

'Integration' is a very loaded word. We have to consider what we mean by 'integration' and 'integrated information systems' around agriculture very carefully.

At the 'hard' ware level, we already have very integrated systems in computing and communicating devices but for the agricultural information specialist it could also mean integrating sensors, for example on moisture or solar radiation, with agricultural and farm databases for automated data collection and collation.

At the software level, it could mean integrating tools and applications, as was amply demonstrated by examples presented at the Congress. At the Congress we did hear about many ICTs, especially mobile, wireless and cellular, that hold new promises. However, we did not hear too much about how we integrate across media or offer useable information through mixed media, for example through internet radio using 2/3G devices which will allow us on demand audio that could provide guides to step wise process for extension workers or farmers. Or even how, we can connect postcards with farming queries to radio stations that are connected to the Internet to find answers and can broadcast them over radio.

We all know that the web helps integrate 'information' or more specifically 'data' sets of different formats. However, to me, integration of agricultural information goes beyond bringing information from different sources together. To me this integration should also contribute in some ways to make the information more available, accessible, applicable, especially to other applications, affordable, useable and relevant. Integration is about adding more value and 'integrated information systems' about making information more useable for a targeted group of users who may be diverse even across countries and cultures but have common needs.

There are many challenges when we use the above understanding of 'integration' as related to agricultural information. To me, a major issue is how we integrate work processes in agricultural research and innovation systems so that they are integrated with information and communication management in these systems at an organizational level.

A further challenge in the same lines is of integrating information and communication flows across organizations, many who may not belong to the same research and innovation system. We need to change many structures that define information flows in these organizations, so other collaborations and partnerships that are essential for integrating information systems emerge more rapidly and with vigour.

For example, we will need to change reward systems that equally recognize publishing papers in scientific journals with producing a radio, video, a blog or contributing to a database. We need to change how we institutionally recognize belonging to social networks and our contributions to them as they lead to 'learning'. We need to look at issues of accountability and hierarchy in how information is today generated and communicated in agricultural organizations. We need Institutional change where rules, regulations and norms enable rather than obstruct information flows, coherence and what follows both, integration.

Another major issue that we need to consider is that of ownership or in more straight to the point way, intellectual property rights (IPR) issues, when we consider integration of agricultural information. This becomes very complex when we consider our experiences around the IPR issues in agricultural technologies and products such as seeds.

To me the seed was something more tangible and thus more easily understood when IPR was considered but a genomics database with associated data of the environment in which the gene expresses itself can be very complex in this respect. We must remember that the environment data may be generated, collected or collated by someone who may not have the wherewithal to analyse and interpret genomics data and can easily loose out to those who have these capacities.

And maybe, this is the cause already now being echoed in reluctance to share information globally. But then how do we solve, without tackling this issue head on, global challenges such as of adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, managing trans-boundary disease or even trade in agricultural commodities?

Similarly, we have the issue of sustainability and security of integrated information systems. If they are of use to agricultural communities across geographic, economic, political and social boundaries, the core issue emerges, who pays for them both for generating the systems and maintaining them. We need a more global understanding of this issue. And, as someone at the Congress pointed out, what happened if a constituent of an integrated system turns itself off or moves out of the collaboration. How secure will such an information system be? We have seen many such initiatives die and its contents, developed with huge costs, lost.

We also need to consider the issue of capacities, building and nurturing them. Even within the agricultural information specialists community, the capacities to develop and manage these systems are inadequate. We need to develop capacities in many more actors not only in those who specialize information management but all in agricultural communities.

I hope we solve these issues as we progress in future in information and communications management related to agriculture.

M-agriculture session at IAALD Congress

Next week in Montpellier, CTA's Kevin Painting will organise a session entitled: 'm-agriculture: how mobile devices transform information and communication.'

• How do you use mobile phones in your work with agricultural communities?
  
• What are the most significant new developments in services and technologies in this, the fastest changing sector of ICTs?
  
• How are we engaging with the continually increasing numbers of people in agricultural economies who, for the first time, are connected and reachable?
  
• How can we exploit the opportunities and meet the challenges presented by the convergence of technology, media and information services?

Billions of people use mobile phones to communicate and the number of unconnected people is plummeting. This connectivity, the mobile phone economy and the convergence of different media and technologies onto mobile digital devices have transformed the ICT landscape and are transforming the entertainment and information service economies.

m-agriculture refers to refers to agricultural services, technology dissemination, and communication using mobile devices such as mobile phones, laptops, netbooks, PDAs and other wireless enabled devices. Many, including the International Development sector, were surprised by the rapid emergence of connected populations across the globe using mobile devices. Although there are many innovative applications and services being tested and implemented, it is clear that we are only beginning to recognise the tremendous opportunities being presented and the need to reap the benefits of the technology for all.

This is an area which has excited much interest and featured in sessions at previous IAALD events, such as the IAALD/AFITA/WCCA Congress in Tokyo, Japan (2008) and the Second IAALD Africa Chapter Conference in Accra, Ghana (2009). More recently, CTA held its 2009 Observatory on ICTs on mobile services where participants explored issues relating to the development of sustainable mobile-services, how best to engage the commercial sector and how to embed good practice in slow moving government and other agencies. The research paper and report are contained in the Observatory wiki http://observatory2009.cta.int/.

This participatory workshop aims to connect people working in this area with those who wish to learn more and those who wish to increase their use of mobile services. We shall be looking at three areas:

1. What are the features of mobile phones, and their attendant economy, that might have the most transformative impact on agricultural information services?

2. What do we need to change in how we segment, format and deliver information to best exploit the potential of mobile devices?

3. How is the relationship between paid-for and public good changed by this most commercially driven of innovations?

More postings on mobile devices in agriculture

IAALD 2010 Congress