ICT-mediated knowledge services for farmers and agricultural extension Case study from India Gerard Sylvester Knowledge Management and Sharing ICRISAT

www.icrisat.org 09/05/09

A Triple Helix Model for Knowledge System for Food Security Strand 1: Sources of Agricultural Information Strand 2: ICT4D models Strand 3: Open & Distance Learning Methodologies Source : vasat.icrisat.org

Strand 1: Sources of Agricultural Information

Strand 2: ICT4D models

Strand 3: Open & Distance Learning Methodologies

ICT-infused Extension Support Projects In India : What do we learn from them? Analysis of 6 select projects in India (out of 144) by an MIT-India joint study group in 2005-06 prevalence of top down approaches with few attempts to reflect the end users preferences and needs; production advisory services and market access do not go together;

Analysis of 6 select projects in India (out of 144) by an MIT-India joint study group in 2005-06

prevalence of top down approaches with few attempts to reflect the end users preferences and needs;

production advisory services and market access do not go together;

ICT-infused Extension Support Projects In India : What do we learn from them? Lack of quality & quantity of digital agricultural extension material participation of agricultural education and research institutions is marginal ; Localization and customizability of content are still not practiced on a significant scale.

Lack of quality & quantity of digital agricultural extension material

participation of agricultural education and research institutions is marginal ;

Localization and customizability of content are still not practiced on a significant scale.

Re-designing the farmer-extension-agricultural research/education continuum in India with ICT-mediated Knowledge Management ICRISAT, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Bombay, GBPUAT, UAS-D, IIITM-K, NAARM

K Org in Indian Agriculture Wiki-like Content Management System + Ontology (Agropedia) ICAR Intl. agencies Other NARS agencies Commodity Markets Weather / Meteorology Dynamic Data SAUs K-Base Imagery/ Maps KVKs NGOs DoA Q&A; activities Log (aAQUA)

Novel Content Creation & Delivery Services in Indian Agriculture Special Workflows Interfaces Knowledge Organization Partners Virtual Organization Users Collaboration and Capacity Building processes act as the glue to various components here Smart interfaces VKCs Call centers Print Fixed / mobile Phones T.V / Radio Stakeholders

Agricultural Content Content generated for all 9 mandate crops; ( content for 5 crops contributed by ICRISAT) Contributed to collaborative development of 9 crop knowledge models Digital versions of Topic Maps and Concept Maps for 5 crops published Significant infusion of Semantic techniques into the content repository Led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics

Content generated for all 9 mandate crops; ( content for 5 crops contributed by ICRISAT)

Contributed to collaborative development of 9 crop knowledge models

Digital versions of Topic Maps and Concept Maps for 5 crops published

Significant infusion of Semantic techniques into the content repository

Sample Content : Developed by ICRISAT BOTH Quality and Quantity stressed

BOTH Quality and Quantity stressed

Collaborative Development of Knowledge Models

AGROPEDIA http://agropedia.net Agropedia launched ; semantic search interface developed. Content tagged onto Crop Knowledge Models for nine crops Global first in the agricultural sector Capacity Strengthening workshops across India ~ 500 PhD and Masters level professionals Led by Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur (IIT-K)

Agropedia launched ; semantic search interface developed.

Content tagged onto Crop Knowledge Models for nine crops

Global first in the agricultural sector

Capacity Strengthening workshops across India ~ 500 PhD and Masters level professionals

aAQUA http://www.aaqua.org/ Almost All Questions Answered ( aAQUA ) Offline installations at State Agricultural Universities Agri Advisory through aAQUA SMS: 100,000 per month SMS transactions Voice aAQUA: enables farmers to ask questions, and files will be "played" to the farmer Led by Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay (IIT-B)

Almost All Questions Answered ( aAQUA )

Offline installations at State Agricultural Universities

Agri Advisory through aAQUA SMS: 100,000 per month SMS transactions

Voice aAQUA: enables farmers to ask questions, and files will be "played" to the farmer

Open WebGIS based advisories WebGIS-based weather advisory system: prototype ready for two states: Kerala and Karnataka (almost 1000 locations) Fertilizer recommendation system deployed and under test at one State Agricultural University Nutrient and micro-nutrient data gathered from 12000 locations; basis for fertilizer use recommendations by farmers in Karnataka Channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/akmindia Led by the Indian Institute for IT and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K)

WebGIS-based weather advisory system: prototype ready for two states: Kerala and Karnataka (almost 1000 locations)

Fertilizer recommendation system deployed and under test at one State Agricultural University

Nutrient and micro-nutrient data gathered from 12000 locations; basis for fertilizer use recommendations by farmers in Karnataka

Channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/akmindia

Novel Content Creation & Delivery Services in Indian Agriculture Special Workflows Interfaces Knowledge Organization Partners Virtual Organization Users Smart interfaces VKCs Call centers Print Fixed / mobile Phones T.V / Radio Stakeholders

Looking forward in this consortium Dialogue and exchanges among NARES scientists and ICT resources on a sound footing Rice KM project in India now includes KM from here More AU’s keen on adding content New tech deployed successfully on a larger scale than envisaged: aAQUA-SMS WebGIS activities coming into their own

Dialogue and exchanges among NARES scientists and ICT resources on a sound footing

Rice KM project in India now includes KM from here

More AU’s keen on adding content

New tech deployed successfully on a larger scale than envisaged: aAQUA-SMS

WebGIS activities coming into their own

GIS tools for village-level drought vulnerability assessment Micro-Level Drought Vulnerability Maps Use of two-way video conferencing provided by ISRO is used as a medium to assess communication effectiveness Led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

We will build new human capabilities at every level in Indian Agriculture Thank you!

Presented at http://vasat.icrisat.org/

http://agropedia.net/ http://test2.icrisat.org/

http://agropedia.net/

http://www.aaqua.org/

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Open WebGIS based advisories Led by the Indian Institute for IT and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K)