Mobile phones alone can’t empower rural women in Pakistan

An article in The News reports that the "availability of network coverage and mobile phones alone cannot ensure that the potential of ICTs would reach female users in rural areas and contribute to their empowerment."

These findings are part of a study on ‘The Gender Digital Divide in Rural Pakistan’ by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

The presentation by Karin Astrid Siegmann concludes:

• Revised IT Policy/interventions for women’s empowerment to stress role of ‘old’ ICTs such as radio, TV for development & women’s empowerment in particular: accessible & potentially empowering
• Implies (public) investment in related infrastructure & (localised) contents
• Social norms crucial factors determining women & girls’ access to & use of ICTs, to be addressed if universal access to ICTs is policy objective
• ICTs not silver bullet for development: Basic development issues, e.g. livelihood insecurity, physical infrastructure, to be addressed first.

Media, ICTs, extension to accelerate agriculture in South Asia

This week, the SAARC Agriculture Centre held a workshop to discuss ways to strengthen linkages among research, extension, farmer and marketing through improved use print and electronic media in SAARC Member States.

The discussions were picked up in regional media:

• The News (Pakistan) reported that the experts "stressed the need for the establishment of the first agriculture e-chamber, besides utilising information and communication technologies to promote the agriculture sector in the region." Dr Qadir Bux Baloch, Agriculture Development Commissioner of Pakistan's Ministry of Food and Agriculture referred to a series of websites to be set up - see www.agroleadclub.com. He further "called for extending all kinds of support to the media to facilitate transfer of technology from research institutes to farmers."
  
  
• South Asia Media Net reported interventions by agricultural experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India. Md.Nazrul Islam from Bangladesh suggested to develop agricultural technology related farmers friendly contents for disseminating through ICT facilities and community based information centers; he also recommended the use of tools like mobile, CD, and Web to transfer technology at the village level - ensuring that agriculture technologies and information will be available at the "door-step of the farmers."
  

Download workshop paper - PDF

Mass media to disseminate agricultural technologies in Pakistan

A study was conducted to determine the role of mass media in the dissemination of agricultural technologies among farmers. The data were gathered by administering a pre-tested interview schedule to 120 farmers from Lahore district, Pakistan. Results showed that 97.5, 91.7, 64.2 and 51.7% farmers regarded their fellow farmers, pesticide agencies, television, and extension field staff, respectively, as their major sources of agricultural information. Among the mass media, the farmers ranked television, radio and print media as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively, in terms of effectiveness. Majority of the farmers did not listen/watch agricultural shows on radio/television regularly. It is suggested that majority of the respondents do not get much information through television and radio.

Source: Role of mass media in the dissemination of agricultural technologies among farmers. / Muhammad Irfan , Sher Muhammad , Khan, G. A. , Muhammad Asif. [Department of Agricultural Extension, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan.] / International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 2006, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 417-419.

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This information is extracted from the CAB Abstracts database, available on many platforms including CAB Direct. It is provided by CABI to IAALD members and readers to enhance knowledge sharing and exchange on different aspects of information and communication in agriculture and related disciplines. Copyright CAB International, reproduced with permission.

Tags: agricultural information pakistan cabi extension media