ICT – A GATEWAY FOR EXTENSION DELIVERY, Mr. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas, 2013

1
Dr. Allan Thomas
Assistant Professor and Major Advisor
College of Agriculture (KAU), Vellayani- 695 522
Thiruvananthapuram, KeralaSri. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas-
Credit Seminar-05/01/2013

2
Sri. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas-

Sixth sense… a breakthrough in ICT
3

4

5

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
• ICT and Agriculture
• Global Perspective
• National Initiatives
• Regional initiatives
• ICT transforming Agricultural
Extension
• Constraints
• Future of ICT in Agriculture
• Conclusion
6

Contents
• Introduction
–ICT ?
7

ICT includes 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)
8

ICT (Information and
Communications Technology)
Any communication device or application
– Radio
– Television
– cellular phones
– computer and network hardware and
software
– satellite systems video conferencing and
distance learning
9

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
–ICT and Agriculture
10

Farmers require access to more varied, multisource, and context-specific
information, related not only to best practices and technologies for crop
production and weather but also to information about postharvest
aspects, including processing, marketing, storage, and handling.
(van den Ban 1998)
Even if every farmer does not
have a computer terminal, these
could become readily available at
local information resource
centers, with computers carrying
expert systems to help farmers to
make decisions.
11

Mansell and When
1998
ICT has become instrumental for
networking and rapid problem solving, and
it conveys new information for decision-
making and entrepreneurial activity
Batchelor, 2002. Facilitate the creation, management,
storage, retrieval, and dissemination of any
relevant data, knowledge, and information
Chapman and
Slaymaker, 2002.
Help farmers make informed decisions
about their farming enterprise to increase
agricultural productivity and income
ICT and Agriculture
12

ICT and Agriculture (cont’d…)
Gupta and
Singh, 2007.
Reduce transaction costs related to information
searching and reduce knowledge and
information asymmetries, particularly related to
market price information.
De Silva and
Ratnadiwakara,
2008.
Information delivered through ICTs can be
timelier and can reach a greater number of
farmers directly.
13

Generalizing ICT and Agriculture
• Augment, the reach and two-way interaction among the
key stakeholders in a big way.
• New technology offers new opportunities.
• Add more speed and interactivity.
• Add to wider age and also more in-depth messaging.
• Subtract costs and reduce time
• Improve quality
14

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
–Global Perspective
15

• First case: Introduction of Farm forums which began in Canada in
the 1940s.
• CGLRC (www.knowledgebank.irri.org/cglrc) provides CGIAR
learning resources in standardized electronic format to the
agricultural and natural resources management community.
• ISNAR (www.isnar.cgiar.org) (archived site) was one of the 16
Future Harvest Centers supported by the CGIAR.
ICT and Agriculture: Global Scenario
16

• IRRI Rice Web (www.riceweb.org) is a compendium of the
history of rice, where and how it is grown, its processing and
trade, recipes, research issues, terminology and literature.
• Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) has
been developed by the World Bank and FAO link farmers,
agricultural educators, researchers and extension workers.
• WAICNET (World Agricultural Information Centre) of FAO
is a corporate framework for agricultural information management
and dissemination.
ICT and Agriculture: Global Scenario- cont’d…
17

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
–National initiatives
18

In the era of
communication
revolution
Diverse
efforts
Public
sector
Private
sectors
enhancing the
rural livelihoods
improving the status of
agriculture in the country. 19

ITC e-choupal,
Warana Model,
i-Kisan, Tata
Kisan Kendras
are some models
that are offering
informational,
transactional and
extension services
to farmers.
EARLY ICT
INITIATIVES
AND
SUCCESSFUL
CONTINUANCE…
20

• aAqua is a free, online,
multilingual, multimedia
agricultural portal.
• It provides agricultural and
weather information and
advisories to farmers via the
aAqua knowledge bank.
After access USERS post
questions to experts via the
different spaces provided by the
portal. Answers are provided
within 24–72 hours 21

Digital Green is a nonprofit organization that
partners with NGOs, and also government
agencies, that disseminates agricultural practices
using video as a medium.
Developed from the idea that
farmers prefer interpersonal
methods of receiving
information on new and
innovative farming practices
over receiving that information
through mass media methods
(Gandhi et al. 2009)
22

To date 1,918 videos have been produced, and screened
68,988 times and involving 75,107 farmers
(www.digitalgreen.org, accessed January 13, 2012)
23

Photographs are captured every 15
days by a local coordinator employed
by e-Sagu; these photos are then sent
to the main center in Hyderabad,
where they are examined by experts
who provide advice. The advice is
provided on a regular basis from
sowing to harvesting
(Reddy, Ramaraju, and Reddy 2009)
uses the medium of digital
photos of farmers fields to
provide expert advice.
24

ITC
• Link rural farmers directly for
the procurement of
agricultural / aquaculture
produce like soya, coffee, and
prawns.
• To eliminate the role of
middleman.
• ITC is adding 7 new e-Choupals
a day and plans to scale up to
20,000 e-Choupals by end of
2012 covering 1,00,000 villages
in 15 states, servicing 15 million
farmers.
There are 6,500
e-Choupals today
25

Other ICT initiatives for agricultural
development in India
• Gyandoot project (Madhya Pradesh)
• Warana Wired Village project (Maharashtra)
• Information Village project of the M S Swaminathan
Research Foundation (MSSRF) (Pondicherry)
• iKisan project of the Nagarjuna group of companies
(Andhra Pradesh)
• Automated Milk Collection Centres of Amul dairy
cooperatives (Gujarat)
• Land Record Computerisation (Bhoomi) (Karnataka)
26

ICT initiatives for
agricultural
development in India
• Online Marketing and CAD in
Northern Karnataka (Karnataka)
• Knowledge Network for Grass
Root Innovations – Society for
Research and Initiatives
(SRISTI) (Gujarat)
• Application of Satellite
Communication for Training
Field Extension Workers in
Rural Areas (ISRO)
27

Other ICT initiatives for agricultural
development in India. Cont’d…
A few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have
initiated ICT projects such as:
• Tarahaat.com by Development Alternatives
(Uttar Pradesh and Punjab)
• Mahitiz-samuha (Karnataka)
• VOICES – Madhyam Communications (Karnataka)
• Centre for Alternative Agriculture Media (CAAM)
28

ICT initiatives for agricultural
development in India- Portals
Some exclusive agricultural portals are also available, such as:
• www.TOEHOLDINDIA.com
• www.haritgyan.com
• www.krishiworld.net
• www.agriwatch.com
• www.acquachoupal.com
• www.plantersnet.com
• www. soyachoupal.com
29

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
–Kerala initiatives
30

ICT And Kerala Agriculture
• In Kerala a bi lingual Agro-tech portal has been launched by
KAU. The portal, a shelf of Agricultural Knowledge
Information Systems designed by the Centre for e learning
• It includes ICT enabled services such as krishi jaalakam, an
illustrated e-window for farmers, easy to use expert systems on
crop nutrient management, Crop protection and other cyber
extension packages.
The portal is available in
Malayalam and English versions.
31

32

• Akshaya project is a market driven Agricultural Initiative
through IT enabled Agri Business Centres in Kerala State.
• Establishes a connected farmers community throughout Kerala
who have access to information on Market Demand, Prices,
Good Agricultural practices and Quality Agricultural Inputs
AKSHAYA
Gateway of opportunities
33

ICT And Kerala
Agriculture
• Touch screen kiosks
developed by the
Directorate of Extension of
the Kerala Agricultural
University (KAU)
• The kiosks provide
information on agriculture,
animal husbandry and
health.
• Madakkathara, Nadathara,
Panancherry and Puthur.
Similar kioks will be
installed in all grama
panchayats in the State.
34

• Creative Extension uses art forms for agricultural
communication
• Creative Extension is the brainchild of Dr. K. Abdul Kareem,
of KVK Kannur
• In an attempt to preserve the rural song tradition, the KVK has
brought out an audio cassette with 10 songs and an audio CD
with 11 songs that draw on the folk songs that used to
reverberate in the paddy fields in the State.
35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
– ICT transforming Agricultural
Extension-
Pros and Cons
44

Pros… ICT can help in
1. Broad basing agricultural extension activities
2. Development and extension of cultivation system, location-
specific modules of research and extension
3. Promote market extension
4. Participatory research
5. Re-orienting the extension system towards the overall
agricultural development of small production systems.
7. Play a role in documenting the traditional agricultural
practices that it can be shared more widely.
8. Enable rural communities to address the concomitants of
poverty, lack of access to education and health services, lack
of productive opportunities, and isolation and lack of
information.
9. Sustainable agricultural development.
10. Helps in educating farmers in using ICT tools for the future45

Cons…
Accessibility &
46

• Haphazard development , duplication of efforts
• Lack of User friendliness
• Local languages
• Government Restrictions threaten optimal utilisation
• Connectivity requires to be improved
• Bandwidth
• Dissemination Points
• Who should take up the task ?
47

48

Application of ICT not only in extension…
…But also in Agricultural Research
49

Contents
• Introduction
• ICT ?
• ICT transforming Agricultural
Extension- Pros and Cons
–Future of ICT in
Agriculture
50

51

• Mobile applications (m-apps)
in general and for agricultural
and rural development (m-
ARD apps) in particular hold
significant potential for
advancing development.
• They could provide the most
affordable ways for millions of
people to access information,
markets, finance, and
governance systems previously
unavailable to them.
52

m-ARD apps focus on improving agriculture
supply chain integration and have a wide
range of functions, such as:
• providing market information,
• increasing access to extension services,
• facilitates market links,
• advice on agricultural production, food
security, and nutrition
• timely access to extension advisory services
53

Video chat function of Facebook ( + Skype), simplest and cheapest form on
web conferencing.
54
Sri. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas- Credit
Seminar-05/01/2013

Future of ICT in Agriculture
Application of satellite
images in agriculture
• It is possible to effectively
monitor agricultural
performance using remote
sensing and GIS
applications.
• Satellite imagery data
may help to resolve both
major and specific
agricultural management
tasks.
55

Virtual Classroom Extension for Effective
Distance Education
The latest report from the National Center for Educational Statistics indicates
that more than half of the higher education institutions in the United States offer
distance education services, with enrollment doubling every three years
[NCES 2002].
56

57

Reality…
Farming simulator-educational
Prospero
58

• The ongoing robotics revolution is leaving its mark on
agriculture already, as self-driving, GPS-equipped tractors now
tilt land autonomously and other existing farm machinery
becomes increasingly computerized and automated.
• A single human farmer can now maintain well more than 1,000
acres of farmland each year, using bigger and better farm
equipment to increase productivity.
• Prospero is just one of what will eventually become a swarm of
planting, tending, and harvesting robots running game theory
and swarm behavior algorithms to help optimize every inch of
arable space in a given field.
59

60

61

• LUCKY means who get
the opportunity!
• BRILLIANT means who
create the opportunity!
• WINNER means who use
the opportunity!
BE A WINNER – All the Best
62

63

ICT – A GATEWAY FOR EXTENSION DELIVERY, Mr. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas, 2013

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to ICT – A GATEWAY FOR EXTENSION DELIVERY, Mr. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas, 2013

Similar to ICT – A GATEWAY FOR EXTENSION DELIVERY, Mr. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas, 2013 (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (12)

ICT – A GATEWAY FOR EXTENSION DELIVERY, Mr. Rahul Krishnan and Dr. Allan Thomas, 2013

Editor's Notes