Sharing of information by farmers made easier:Google!

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Are you an organic farmer? Meet other organic farmers on facebook and exchange ideas.

The organic farmer magazine and radio enthusiasts now have a platform where they can virtually meet and exchange ideas, share experiences and learn from the same.

Social media is attractive and interactive – be the next fan of TOF on facebook and get solutions to your farm related issues online through learning from others in similar situations. See more information and join here.  
While you agree with me that resources such as land and capital paramount for any agribusiness venture, it will be suicidal for any entrepreneural venture to neglect the role of information. Social media has a role to play here.

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GIS for Agribusiness

For agricultural Tech-savvy this is going to be interesting; ESRI produces a newsletter on GIS for Agribusiness semi annually. The newsletter has articles on how people working in the agriculture industry gain advantages from geospatial technologies – people working in the field of agribusiness are applying GIS to improve crop management, business strategies, and communications.For the latest on GIS news, visit; www.esri.com/agriculture

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The use of mobile to access solutions to agricultural problems

A farmers' info hub

Just like there are many formulas of making a rat past tense, there are many ways mobile phones can be used for the benefit of farmers. One of such ways and which am going to focus on is provision of Farmer helpline services. This provides an opportunity for farmers to get quick and accurate answers to agricultural queries much faster and economically than information centers.

Using their mobile phone, farmers can call a helpline staffed by agricultural experts to ask about problems they are facing, such as the appearance of new pests, emergence of new diseases or the use of chemicals. They could also send photos via their mobile to get more specific advice, particularly on identification and treatment of pests and disease. Experts answer their queries immediately if possible, or call back when they have found an answer.

Potential barriers and recommendations:
Obtaining locally relevant agricultural information as per the demand: To address this, partnerships are needed between helplines and agents including agricultural extension workers with local knowledge to facilitate expeditious provision of solutions.
Managing operating costs of staffing helplines with agricultural experts: There is need for governments, NGOs and private enterprises such as agricultural input distributors and call centres need to work together to find the most cost-effective solutions.
Providing required communications infrastructure: Partnerships between mobile service providers and call centres are needed to provide the infrastructure.

This kind of service can also help experts and researchers by using information on the issues raised to improve their understanding of agricultural trends and the challenges facing farmers.
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Hudson's Interview with Christoph Hess on the use of mobile phone

Hudson Shiraku works for Biovision’s Farmer Communication Programme (FCP) in Nairobi. As part of his job he keeps an eye on technological aspects of the programme activities. In our interview he explains the importance of the mobile phone in general and particularily M-Pesa, an SMS-based payment system with more than 17 million users in Kenya.
 
Why is M-Pesa so popular in Kenya?
Banks are seen by many as expensive to operate in terms of fees: They charge their customers for the storage and withdrawal services. Their services can only be accessed in major towns or even only in Nairobi. M-Pesa is cheap, convenient and you only need to go to one of these M-Pesa kiosks and agents.

(Photo: Simon Kihiko Kimani)

For many Kenyans it is uneconomical to save 500 shillings in a bank when the bank’s minimum balance is 200 shillings and it costs 50 shillings to withdraw it. A phone can cost from as little as 999 to over 50,000 shillings depending on the type of phone and the person who is buying it. So the affordability of phones and the fact that they all have the same M-Pesa features have contributed to the popularity of M-Pesa.

Do Kenyans think that it’s expensive or complicated to use a mobile phone?
It is a yes and a no depending on the type of phone and the person who is using it. Some illiterate and old people who are not technologically savvy have just mustered the art of calling and receiving calls – the green and red buttons and they don’t bother about other applications. In this context, it’s not complicated but when they think of other applications it is. Expensive or not? It depends on the person who is buying it and the type of phone also.

What might happen if more and more people have mobile phones with internet connection?
I can do emailing and even search for information from the internet anytime and from anywhere. This is the kind of empowerment that people will get by this and I’m sure that they will accrue all benefits that come with it. It is usually said here that information is power.

Video-mediated farmer-to-farmer learning for sustainable agriculture

Interesting article by The Global Horticulture Initiative about the use of video for knowledge sharing and training in the field in research for development.

"From June to September 2011, Agro-Insight conducted a scoping study for SDC, GFRAS and SAI Platform on the production, dissemination and use of farmer training videos in developing countries, with a focus on sustainable agriculture. Literature was consulted, the internet screened, experts and users consulted and a global on-line survey launched in English, French and Spanish. Continue.....: You can as well find the associated report here

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Time to Use ICTs to Strengthen Farm Extension Services

In this time when a lot of emphasis is being laid upon addressing food security and agricultural related problems, there is need to take Farm Extension Services (FES) to the digital level in order to cope with this pressure. FES is fundamental in that it helps farmers to know what and when to plant, how to care for their plants from seed to post-harvest, how to handle fertilizers, pests, and much more. As a result to extension service work, smallholder farmers’ productivity increases.

However, there exists a 2-Pronged Problem whereby too few farmers have access to the extension services they need and on the other hand extension workers cannot easily tap all the information available to help farmers. 

Opportunities

In view of using ICTs to tackle these problems, there exists opportunities worth taking advantage of. In the field of Agricultural development we have;

·        Most AG development projects (including FTF) include some farm extension services.

·        Donors are providing funds to improve FES.

·        Some governments are modernizing their FES.

·        Large buyers, processors know value of providing FES.

Opportunities related to ICT include the following;

• Access to mobile networks especiallyis expanding dramatically in developing countries –and the poor use cell phones.
• Mobile networks now handle voice and data applications.
• Mobile network operators (MNOs) are competing hard for market share, to reduce churn.

Some of the ICT Options available for tapping include; mobile networks, radio, video (stand-alone), GIS, digital cameras and the internet all working in complimentarity with more traditional ones such as:

• Face to face training
• Demo plots, more 

Challenges

For successful use of these ICT tools, there are key challenges calling for consideration, there is need to look at;

·        How to match “channel” with best learning?

·        How best to combine?

·        How to time for greatest impact?

·        Reaching right information fast

·        Digitizing so much information

·        Localizing

·        Scaling: getting beyond “success story”

·        The lure of “cool” devices

·        Using or adapting available platforms, applications, service providers

·        Leveraging governments’ FES

·        Affordable access: telecom enabling environment, use of telecom universal service funds

However, despite the above challenges, there are some encouraging success stories. For the purpose of this post, I’ll mention just two; Uganda’s Grameen Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) and India’s Digital Green

The Grameen Community Knowledge Workers

How it works: Trusted (paid) CKWs disseminate AG advice (as well as weather, prices) and collect AG-related info via Android phones.

Who Pays: Grants to Grameen AppLab from MTN-Uganda; Gates Foundation; Earns fees for data collection by same CKWs; experimenting with fees from farmers.

Scale: Some 200 CKWs each serving 500-750 households

Impact: Pilot study showed farmers increased productivity, incomes; plans call for impact assessment over next 12-18 months.

Digital Green

How it works: NGO helps farmers produce modularized videos of farmers demonstrating improved farming practices; videos shown in villages in gathering places via TV/DVD. Feedback loop via IVR (phone).

Who Pays: Developed with funding from Microsoft; Gates Foundation providing 3 year grant. Farmers subscribe as a part of membership in farmer orgs. Not sustainable based on subscription fees alone.

Scale: so far 600 villages with 42,000 farmers

Impact: Microsoft study showed 10 times more cost effective than traditional approaches with AG extension workers; adoption of better practices increased 7 fold. Larger scale control trial now under way.

NB: India (exploring options in sub-Saharan Africa)

     In view of all these, the possibilities are inexhaustible.

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Youths and agriculture; Mutisya's take on this

Question; What Reasons Hinder Active Involvement of Youth in Agriculture?

1. Lack of their rights to land ownership since most of the land is owned by their parents.

2. Ignorance/lack of commitment.

3. Lack of ability to raise funds for their Agricultural activities since majority are jobless.

4. High rate of land sub-division and fragmentation resulting to small pieces of land which cannot contribute to reasonable production and returns.

5. A lot of risks and uncertainties associated with Agriculture scare the youth from investing in enterprises .eg climate change, poor infrastructure and poor market.

6. Negative attitude towards Agriculture alternatively preferring to search for white color jobs in urban areas.

Question; How can they be Solved?

1. Campaign and educate on the importance of Agriculture in the modern life to convince them.

2. Assist them with information on farming skills, help them create Agricultural opportunities and link them to markets.

3. Give them freedom to express themselves and rights to ownership of land.

4.  Making them informed on the available local resources/inputs in order to reduce the cost of production thus keep them in farming.

Question;How do you Relate Youth and ICT in this Context?

This is an opportunity which goes down well with many youths thus they can access Agricultural information easily.               

What I think about the use mobile phones and M-Pesa in kenya as asked by Chriss Hess

Why is M-Pesa so popular in Kenya?

M-Pesa's popularity is attributed to the following;

1. Banks are seen by many as expensive to operate in terms of fees they charge their customers for the storage and withdrawal services, Their services can only be accessed in major towns or even only in Nairobi for some. Given that through M-Pesa one can cheaply have these services and conveniently withdraw or deposit cash from that village M-Pesa kiosk, the service has become so popular.
2. A higher percentage of Kenyans are poor and these are the people to whom it will be uneconomical to save 500 shillings in a bank when the bank's minimum balance is 200 shillings and it cost 50 shillings to withdraw it. This popularity is therefore attributed to the high numbers of people in this class.
3. A phone can cost from as little as 999 to over 50, 000 shillings depending on the type of phone and who's buying. This affordability of phones and the fact that they all have the same M-Pesa features has contributed to the popularity of M-Pesa too.
4. It is easy to open and operate an M-Pesa account  

 Do Kenyans think that it’s expensive or complicated to use a mobile phone?

It is a yes and a no depending on the type of phone and who's using it. Some illiterate and old people who are not technologically savvy have just mustered to art of calling and receiving calls - the green and red buttons and they don't bother about other applications. In this context, it's not complicated but when they think of other applications it is. Expensive or not? It depends on the person buying and the type of phone also.

 What might happen if more and more people have mobile phones with internet connection?

I can do emailing and even search for information from the internet anytime from anywhere. This' the kind of empowerment people will get by this and accrue all benefits that come with it. It is usually said here information is power.

Mobile Communications to Transform Smallholding Farmers' Livelihoods in Emerging Markets

On 10th of October 2011 Vodafone and Accenture announced the findings of a ground-breaking new research programme intended to measure the impact of mobile communications on the lives and prosperity of farming communities in some of the world's poorest countries.
The research, which has been welcomed by Oxfam, assesses the potential benefits of new mobile data services such as weather forecasts, commodity market information and mobile banking for smallholding farmers operating in marginal circumstances.

The role of mobile communications in driving efficiency and sustainability in the food and agriculture value chain

I was checking out on this report by WBCSD-SNV Alliance: Inclusive business and I cannot help but wonder what is keeping us from progressing with such research and technological innovations?

What is the impact of mobile communications on the lives and prosperity of farming communities in some of the world's poorest countries? A new report published this week, Connected Agriculture (click to download) assesses the potential benefits of new mobile data services such as weather forecasts, commodity market information and mobile banking for smallholding farmers operating in marginal circumstances.

The report, produced by Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies, and Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, highlights a potential US$ 138 billion uplift in emerging market farmers' incomes, which will mostly be derived from the growth of

Understanding this could easen the incorporation of the use of ICTs in Agriculture;

MobileYouth Report 2012: Generation O

View more presentations from Graham Brown (mobileYouth)

extension re-defined

Farmer Communication Programme in Africa

Linking key players in agriculture's vital and ICTs has arole to play

NETWORKING is the single most powerful marketing tactic to accelerate and sustain success for any individual or organization!
Adam Small

Whoever started up this platform must have read these words before me. This online platform facilitates exchange between Agri-ProFocus professionals participating in the APF Kenya Agri-Hub, their Kenyan partners and other stakeholders. Agri-ProFocus Kenya is a growing network of farmers' organisations, NGOs, financial insititutes, research institutes, private and public sector actors and Dutch and other international development agencies. It strives to stimulate the enhancement of farmer entrepreneurship in Kenya.

Just what we need to know about; click on this photo to learn more.

ICTs value in Agriculture

ICTs and food security

“My people are perishing for lack of knowledge” goes a biblical verse. Today, the same is true and hence the need for concerted efforts to reverse the trend especially with regards to food security. Community information resource centers should be put in place.

These would help in providing information about different aspects of food production ranging from cultivation, crop management and harvesting, storage mechanisms all the way to marketing strategies. To many people, when you talk about food storage they think of different stuff – some see grass thatched granaries only when there exists different storage mechanism which are not known by the populace. I trust that community resource centers equipped with the necessary ICT gadgets and information officers can be of great help in demystifying some of these technologies.

African universities and other learning institutions should also adopt Web 2.0 technologies and use social media for teaching as they these institutions can reduce running costs, mobilise learning resources and expand research capacity with social media.

Mobile apps for extension

There is a growing realization that many of the urgently needed reforms in addressing food security, market development, and climate change will only be effective if strong advisory institutions are in place to provide support to rural populations. Such may consist of all the different activities that provide the information and services needed and demanded by farmers and other actors in rural settings to assist them in developing their own technical, organizational, and management skills and practices so as to improve their livelihoods and well-being.

In this regard, courtesy of Apps4Africa Challenge, we can now talk about iCOW. A voice based mobile application that will help farmers to track the estrus stages of their cows helping them to manage their breeding as well as cow nutrition leading up to calving day. This is done via a series of voice prompts and SMS messages that will be sent to the farmer in the course of the 365 days cycle. What a way of providing extension services? With such innovations, we‘re going to take agricultural extension to the next level and make the sector more rewarding

$80 Android Phone Sells Like Hotcakes in Kenya, the World Next?

It seems just like yesterday when only the slickest kid on the block had a smartphone, but now, this revolutionary gadget is selling like hotcakes in the developing world and Kenya is a good example. I bet this’ worth reading

Using ICTs in Agriculture

“A story of an African woman working in the agricultural sector, who has used ICTs in her professional businesses”

By Hudson Wereh

Somehow, despite all our hopes, dreams and efforts, life becomes a train wreck. We may or may not have had an inkling of the impeding doom. Perhaps we were in denial or maybe completely oblivious of what was swirling around just out of sight. We may have seen it coming but did not realize its speed or hoped against hope it wouldn’t happen. But here we are, we can’t undo the mess or change a few details to lessen the severity of the impacts. Somehow though, we need to move on, but how? Regarding the Kenya’s infamous 2007-8 post election violence in Kenya,

ICTs improving youth opportunities in rural areas

Kamau communicating with his customers

“I simply take my mobile phone, notify my customers on available vegetables via SMS and there I go, orders start streaming in.” Said Kamau.

What an easy way of selling your agricultural produce?