ict in agriculture

Ict

ORW SEMINAR On

Application of ICT in agriculture

BY JAGRITI ROHIT

20133

• Agriculture is facing new and severe challenges in its own right

• With rising food prices that have pushed over 40 million people into poverty since 2010, more effective interventions are essential in agriculture (World Bank 2011)

• The growing global population, expected to hit 9 billion by 2050, has heightened the demand for food and placed pressure on already-fragile resources. Feeding that population will require a 70 percent increase in food production (FAO 2009)

INTRODUCTION

• Given the challenges, the arrival of information communication technology (ICT) is well timed.

• ICT is one of these solutions, and has recently unleashed incredible potential to improve agriculture in developing countries specifically.

• With the booming mobile, wireless, and Internet industries, ICT has found a foothold even in poor smallholder farms and in their activities

But what exactly are ICTs?

• Is any device, tool, or application that permits the exchange or collection of data through interaction or transmission

• Umbrella term that includes anything ranging from radio to satellite imagery to mobile phones or electronic money transfers

And can they really be useful andcost-effective for poor farmers with

restricted access to capital,electricity, and infrastructure?

Gained traction even in impoverished regions

Increases in their affordability, accessibility, and adaptability

New, small devices, infrastructure , and especially applications (for example, that transfer money or track an item moving through a global supply chain) have proliferated.

• In the past, television and radio were the main electronic broadcast technologies used to reach rural communities; however, in the past two decades, Internet- and mobile-based channels have emerged.

• ICTs now include computer-based applications and such communication tools as social media, digital information repositories (online or offline), and digital photography and video, as well as mobile phones (Balaji, Meera, and Dixit 2007).

Current status of ICT in India

Indian Telecom market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

With its 926.55 million Telephone connection, it is the second largest network in the world after China.

It is also the second largest wireless network in the world.

The country is poised to achieve 1 billion telephone connections.

Wireless telephones are increasing at a faster rate. The share of wireless telephones is 96.47% of the total phones.

ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12GOI, DEPT OF TELECOMMUANICATION

The share of private sector in total telephones is 86.09%.

Overall tele-density has reached 76.86%. Urban tele-density is 167.46%, whereas rural tele-density is at 37.52% which is also steadily increasing.

Broadband connections increased to 13.30 million.

The penetration of internet and broadband has also improved with 20.99 million internet subscribers and 13.30 million broadband subscribers across the country

ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12GOI, DEPT OF TELECOMMUNICATION

%share of telephone2011

wireless

wireline

3.5%

96.47%

% share of telephone

2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

102030405060708090

100

Growing %age share of private network


• Number of telephone connection per hundred habitant

2006200720082009201005

101520253035404550

mobilelandline

• Number of internet connection per hundred inhabitant

20062007

20082009

20100

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

broadbandinternet


• During the year 2010-2011, the number of TV household in India have grown from 136 million to 143 million.

• Penetration of TV services increased from 52% to 68% in the Indian household.

year % households possessing radio

% households possessing television

rural urban Rural urban

2004-05 26.3 33.6 25.6 66.1

• The rural telephone connections increased from 47.10 million in March 2007 to 282.29 million in March, 2011 and further to 315.39 million in December'11.

• The share of rural phones in the total telephones has constantly increased, from 22.88% in 2007 to 34.04% in December'11


Tele densitynumber of telephones per 100 population

2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

50

100

150

200

250

300

urbantotalrural

The values are expressed in percentage.

ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12GOI, DEPT OF TELECOMMUANICATION

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 20100

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

subcriberColumn1Series 3

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

subscriber

1.3 2.3

3.8

6.2

8.8

13.3

Broadband subscriber in million

0.2ANNUAL REPORT 2011-12

GOI, DEPT OF TELECOMMUANICATION

Main phases in the agriculture sectorCrop cultivation and harvesting

Input management

Water management

Fertilization

Pest management

Post harvest

Transportation

Food processing

Marketing

Sowing

Pre-cultivation

Crop selection

Calendar definition

Access to credit

Land preparation

Packaging

Land selection

Information produced/neededCrop cultivation and harvesting

Input management

Water management

Fertilization

Pest management

Post harvest

Transportation

Food processing

MarketingSowing

Pre-cultivation

Crop selection

Calendar definition

Access to credit

Land preparation

Packaging

Land selection

Information for the selection of the best crop according to their land, access to input and credit,market (Cost-Benefit), etc.

Information for the sound management of the whole cropping activities, including the resilience to natural (e.g. weather) and anthropogenic shocks

Information related topost-harvest techniques and tools, marketing and transportation infrastructures,etc.

Pre-cultivation

Crop selection

Calendar definition

Access to credit

Land selection

Application of ICT

DSS, GIS, Remote sensing, e/m-consulting, KMS, sampling devices connected to networking tools

KMS, e/m-consulting, e/m-learning, DSS, GIS

Networking tools (mobile phones, radios, wireless networks), Management Information System (MIS), e-commerce and mobile commerce

Decision Support System (DSS), modeling software, e/m-learning, e/m-consulting, Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

Application of ICT

Crop cultivation and harvesting

Input management

Water management

Fertilization

Pest management

Sowing

Land preparation

KMS, e/m-learning, e/m-consulting, GPS, GIS, computer controlled devices, machine2machine communication and sensor networks

GPS, GIS, e/m-learning, e/m-consulting, computer controlled devices, m2m communication, sensor networks

DSS, MIS, GPS/GIS, e/m-learning

DSS, GIS, MIS, sensor networks, m2m communication

DSS, GIS, MIS, sensor networks, m2m communication

DSS, GIS, management information system, sensor networks, m2m communication

Application of ICT

Post harvest

Transportation

Food processing

Marketing

Packaging

Networking tools (mobile phones, lo-fi technologies) for broadcast

GPS, GIS, MIS, tracing devices, m2m communication

Tracing devices, KMS, e/m-learning, e/m-consulting, GPS, GIS

Farm to fork tracing tools – GPS, RFID, GIS,DBMS, MIS, KMS, e/m-learning, e/m-consulting, machine2machine communication

One size does not fit all Individual needs of the farmer need to be met

Information gaps: What to grow? Farming practices to be adopted during the growth phase Pest, Disease And Nutrient Deficiency Mgt Harvesting techniques Best place to sell produce

Information overload Inputs selection Market information

Short supply of extension

agents

Less number of female extension agents

More number of farmer per extension worker

Lower level of education of Bottom level extension agents

More area to be covered by agents

Poor ratio of SMS to agents

Human Resource

Need to Provide instant expert agro advisory services

Farmers need again farm specific agro advisory

fibre

flowers

wood

grains

vegetables

commercial

fruits

pulses

oilseed

Aromatic

plants

spices

Medicinal

plants

fodder

Extension worker

Expert system

Newspapermagazinesfriends

Television Neighbour

“A computer program designed to model the problem solving ability of a human expert” (Durkin, 1994).

“A system that uses human knowledge captured in a computer to solve problems that ordinarily require human expertise”.

Three components viz., knowledge base, inference engine and user interface.

Major application areas of expert system agriculture, education, environment and medicine.

Expert system

Journal of Computer Science and Applications.

Characteristics of Agricultural Expert System

Simulates human reasoning about a problem domain, rather than simulating the domain itself.

Performs reasoning over representations of human knowledge.

Solves problems by heuristic or approximate methods.

Georgian Electronic Scientific Journal:

The experience and knowledge of a human expert is captured in the form of IF-THEN rules

Facts which are used to solve problems by answering questions typed at a keyboard attached to a computer

In India, Sarma et al. (2010) developed an expert system in order to diagnose and manage the diseases occurring in rice crop.

Integrates a structured knowledge base that contains knowledge about symptoms and remedies of diseases in the rice plant appearing during their life span.

Rice expert system

Expert systemshell

Knowledge base

Coordinatingmodule for knowledge Data base

Expert system programme for

knowledge formatting

Interactive knowledge module forKnowledge acquisition

USERINTERFACE

DOMAIN SPECIFIC

EXPERTISE AND CONTENTS

IS expert

International Journal of Artificial Intelligence, Volume(1): Issue(1)

A web based tomato crop expert information system was developed by Babu et al. (2010) in India.

contains two main parts viz., tomato information system and tomato crop expert system

Tomato expert system

Journal of Computer Science and Applications.ISSN 2231-1270 Volume 3, Number 1 (2011), pp. 59-71

Expert System of Extension

Vinod et al. (2008) developed an image based rapeseed-mustard disease expert system in India.

The diagnosis and control measures of economically important diseases like Alternaria blight, white rust and white rot , downy mildew complex, powdery mildew, white rot of rapeseed-mustard were effectively performed by using this expert system.

Rapeseed and mustard expert system

Journal of Computer Science and Applications.ISSN 2231-1270 Volume 3, Number 1 (2011),

pp. 59-71

Prasad et al. (2006) formulated an expert system viz., AMRAPALIKA for diagnosing 14 different pests including eight diseases and six insects in Indian mango variety.

Important diseases like Powdery mildew, Black spot, Anthracnose, Red rust, Die back, Bacterial spot, Sooty mould and Malformation and insects like Shoot-borer, Red ants, White ants, Mealy bug, Mites and Fruit fly.

Mango expert system


pp. 59-71

Launched by Secretary, DARE and DG, ICAR Agri Daksh and Expert System on Seed Spices on February 24,2011

It enables domain experts to build online expert system in their crops with minimal intervention of knowledge engineers and programmers

This in turn will reduce losses due to diseases and pests infestation, improve productivity with proper variety selection and increase in income of the farmer.

Maize Agri Daksh is the first system developed by IASRI in collaboration with Directorate of Maize Research, New Delhi.

Advantages of Expert System• Extension personnel, researchers and farmers to identify crop

diseases and enable to proceed their management.

• User can easily identify the disease on the basis of photographs of symptoms and text descriptions of disease.

• The user friendly software developed using windowing environment, thus provides enough facilities to identify the disease and to suggest the remedy conveniently

Journal of Computer Science and Applications.

Reduce employee training costs.

Centralize the decision making process.

Create efficiencies and reduce the time needed to solve problems.

Combine multiple human expert intelligences.

Reduce the amount of human errors.

Review transactions that human experts may overlook.

Provide consistent answers for repetitive decisions, processes and tasks.

Hold and maintain significant levels of information.

Limitations of Expert System• Many farmers in the country are illiterate and knowledge of

computers in rural areas is still unreached.

• It needs to be expanded and updated to accommodate new diseases and ailments of important crops in the locality.

• There is a need to include other disease diagnosis techniques such as, laboratory tests, soil test report, tissue test, plant analysis report, etc.

• The integration of nutrient deficiency module with the knowledge base needs to be included


pp. 59-71

The picture quality is required to be enriched.

The complexities arising in managing rules for large knowledge base.

Since the computer is lack of common sense, the programmer should develop the expert system in efficient way. If he or she does mistake, everything will be collapsed.


pp. 59-71

Bridging the gap in the agri supply chain and offering a communication platform to link farmers to the markets

Both computer-based as well as mobile-based models

E choupal Warana, Grameeen Sanchar Society , REUTERS MARKET LIGHT , AGMARKNET and LIFELINES

Amongst the promoters are public sector, not-for-profit sector and private sector companies who are targeting the major stakeholder i.e. the farmer, with their unique information delivery systems.

ICT in Agricultural Supply Chains

Mobile companies are also targeting rural areas with their specific products and services.

nokia life tool project Airtel and Reuters Market Light project

Agricultural supply chain

Applications for whole chain• Specialized, low-cost solutions;may not be useable elsewhere• Special focus on smallholders• Sustainability unclear

Applications for own suppliers only• Commercial applications,generalizable usage• No special focus on smallholders• Sustainable model

Private sectordriven

Public sectordriven

ICTapplicationsand servicesfor smallholderinclusion insupply chain

Ict in agriculture :e source2011

Reuters Market Light (RML)

October 2007

Agricultural market price information, weather as well as crop advisory information via the mobile phone.

Localized information .

Tracks prices for 250 commodities across 1,000 mandis (with 195 in Maharashtra) The mode of delivery is via SMS but they expect to include other modes such as voice and/or WAP in the future

ICT-Enabled Kiosks in Rural India Can Help to Inform Rice Farmers ICT applications can improve linkages

between procurers and smallholders in indirect ways as well.

These centers (sometimes simple kiosks;) offer ICT-based access to information and extension services to attract farmers to the centers.

Farmers are consumers of household items and agricultural inputs sold in these places, but they are also suppliers of agricultural produce.

farmers have the option of visiting multiple centers nearby, or a company that procures the major crop grown in a place might have the sole collection center in the area


companies build farmers’ trust and loyalty.

Come harvest time, farmers familiar with the center are likelyto sell their produce at the distribution center, which reducesthe company’s cost of procuring raw material.

In exchange, farmers have access to information that improves the productivity and quality of their crops.


The example cited most often is that of ITC’s e-Choupal service, an extensive network of kiosks—6,500, in 40,000 villages reaching approximately 4 million farmers—where farmers access an extensive array of information (prices, weather, expert advice) for free. ITC’s revenues come from its commodity transactions and input sales at the kiosks. ITC plans to deepen its relationship with farmers by offering information services via mobile phone (Kumar n.d.).


Indian Farmer’s Fertilizer Co-Operative Limited (IFFCO) Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL),

DSCL—Haryali Kisan Bazar, Tata Kisan Sanchar

Gojred Adhar,

Bharti FieldFresh

and Reliance Fresh.


INNOVATIVE PRACTICE SUMMARYEID Parry’s Indiagriline Services Improve

Sugarcane Production and Sourcing

Indiagriline is a web-based portal

Supply-chain information comes to farmers through EID Parry’s Cane Management Software..


Primary Rural Wholesale Markets Capitalize on NewRoads, Increased Vegetable Production, and Mobile

Phone Coverage in Assam

Produce for Sale at an Assamese “Superhaat.”

These markets were booming

The trucker/traders described the benefits of these larger markets:

They offered sufficient product for sale to provide choice, they offered a variety of products, and the turnaround times were quick, but the critical change was the extension of the mobile phone network. .

Role of mass mediaMass Media Support to Agriculture Extension”.

The scheme utilizes infrastructure of Doordarshan and All India Radio to broadcast 30 minutes programme on Agriculture five/six days a week from the following Stations/Kendras:

(a) 96 FM Stations of All India Radio(b) 180 High/Low power transmitters of Doordarshan(c) 18 Regional Kendras of Doordarshan(d) Programme on DD National

Kisan Vani from 15th February, 2004 in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture to inform local farmers the daily market rates, weather reports and day-to-day activities in their area at a micro level.

Presently ‘Kisan Vani’ is being broadcast and relayed from AIR 96 FM Stations.

Kisanvani : a initiative towards Rural Development

Women empowerment through Kisanvani

In the year 2006-07 Audience Research Unit of DG,AIR has conducted Radio Audience.

Farmers in most of the states listened to the programmes related to integrated pest management, cultivation of export oriented cash crops and about modern agricultural implements.

Subjects the farmers wanted to include in the programme were about irrigation methods, loans and subsidy scheme of the government, and farm seeds and seed production etc.

Kissan Krishideepam

A weekly Agriculture Television program - in Malayalam language that provides select information on best practices, success stories, departmental news, news on various farming related public programs, market analysis, cultivation methods, and analysis of current issues, etc.

IIITMK by agricultural and media experts.

Weekly television program (30 minutes duration) over a leading satellite channel (Asianet) in Kerala.

More than five million regular viewers across the State and beyond.

Completed the production and telecast of 370 unbroken weekly episodes during the last 8 years

.

IMPACT OF TELEVISION ON CAPACITY BUILDING OF FARMERS

• The study was conducted during 2005 to examine the level of farm televiewing behaviour of the farmers and it’s impact on various capacities of farmers in Anand District of Gujarat.

• The respondent farmers with favourable farm televiewing behaviour were observed significantly better than the respondents with unfavourable farm televiewing behaviour in characteristics like role taking empathy, non fatalism ,cosmopoliteness economic, motivation, risk orientation, scientific orientation market orientation, credit orientation, innovation proneness, attitude towards modern agricultural practices, knowledge regarding improved animal husbandry practices and overall modernization.

Agric. Sci. Digest, 28 (4) : 301 - 303, 2008

Critical Success Factors for Implementation of ICT Projects

Revenue-cost stream

Infrastructural constraints

Need based quality informational inputs

Mode of delivery

Commitment of stakeholders

Awareness and communication

Conclusion and Policy Implications

Information technologies can be the best way for farmers to update themselves on information related to agri inputs, credit, markets, weather, extension advisory and other e-governance services, etc. Both mobile as well as Internet based models can gain popularity among farmer folk as each of these offer advantages.

Internet can provide a range of services through an interactive, web-based interface and multimedia to a large number of beneficiaries at a minimal cost; however Internet connectivity, electricity availability and capacity building are some of the challenges before it.

Mobiles, on the other hand are capable of providing customized services and ensure speedy and timely delivery of information

Hence the challenge is how both types of communication technologies can be used based on region, crop, type of infrastructure availability, and cost of infrastructure development.

For empowering the farmers through ICTs, there is a need to first have infrastructural and operational modules, user friendly mode of delivery and right product-service mix.

However, the most important strategic issue before these models is

how these can be made sustainable on their own?

Whether to charge farmers or have alternate source of income generation for sustainability remains the important question?

Whether farmers are willing to pay and for what services also needs to be answered through further research studies in this area.

Thank you

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