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development projects

Agriculture is hugely important in South Asia, generating money for the economy and income for smallholder farming families.

so what’s the problem?Many smallholder farmers in the region are not making as much income as they could and a lot of produce is being wasted along the supply chain. Although nearly half of its population is employed in agriculture, Pakistan is still a net importer of food. The same is true of Bangladesh, where most farmers grind out a living, unable to move to a more commercialized way of farming to lift them out of poverty.

If rural farmers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are to succeed in today’s market, they need immediate access to the latest information. Governments and development agencies recognize the potential for ICT and mobile technology to provide this, but although 45 per cent of South Asians now have a home PC and some villages have internet access, critical data on the weather and market prices are still not reaching the smallholder famers.

Farmers’ inability to access news about new agricultural technologies that improve productivity has been cited as the single largest barrier to the uptake of technology.

what is this project doing?Funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the CABI team is carrying out research and developing ICT solutions for farmers in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

locationPakistan

datesOctober 2010 – March 2013

project teamMahrukh Siraj

developing and establishing ICT solutions for South Asia’s farmers

Building a picture of the gaps and fault lines in the current system of ICT provision will enable us to pinpoint the problems. We are exploring the possibility of working with local partners to deliver the necessary information services and, by using our decades of experience and expertise in implementing similar grassroots schemes, will ensure that people have access to the vital information they need.

Our research has identified the information required and the best means of disseminating it. The most frequently requested information is area/crop specific. Solutions tailored to farmer’s budgets are needed and, in addition, a requirement for advice on a yearly cropping plan to improve return on investment has been identified.

The project has also established that extension workers are under-resourced, inadequately trained and lack the infrastructure to communicate with farmers effectively. High transportation costs and lack of budget mean insufficient visits by field extension staff to the farmers in their area. Although a helpline has been established, it needs further development.

As most of the smallholder farmers have mobile phones, mobile applications are particularly well suited for communication between farmers and extension service providers, as well as for disseminating and collecting information to and from the field via voice and text massages in Urdu. Mobile phone operators have recognized that this could be a huge untapped market and are therefore keen to get involved.

results so farIn addition to the fieldwork, the CABI team has attended conferences and exhibitions showcasing developments in IT provision for farmers.

Discussions with a variety of people from government ministries and NGOs have enabled the team to establish what the issues are and future requirements for agricultural ICT provision. Informed by this research, a model has been proposed which focuses on providing self-sustaining, customized information through mobile phone technology in the field plus a web-based interface for institutional users. The model is currently being piloted in Pakistan.

contactCABI, Opposite 1-A, Data Gunj Baksh Road, Satellite Town P.O. Box 8, Rawalpindi, Pakistan T: +92 (0)51 9290132 F: +92 (0)51 9290131 E: cabi.cwa@cabi.org www.cabi.org/cwasia

www.cabi.org/ictsasiaID

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Mahrukh Siraj, Project Manager

sponsor

Department for International Development (DFID), UK