Digital technologies for agricultural and rural development in the global south

166 Pages·2018·3.304 MB·English

by  Duncombe, Richard

Digital Technologies for Agricultural and Rural Development
in the Global South
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Digital Technologies for
Agricultural and Rural Development
in the Global South
Edited by
Richard Duncombe
Centre for Development Informatics (CDI),
University of Manchester, UK
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Duncombe, Richard, editor.
Title: Digital technologies for agricultural and rural development in the global south /
edited by Richard Duncombe.
Description: Boston, MA : CABI, [2018] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017047041 (print) | LCCN 2017049627 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781786393340 (pdf) | ISBN 9781786393357 (ePub) | ISBN 9781786393364
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781786394804 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Agriculture--Data processing. | Information technology.
Classification: LCC S494.5.D3 (ebook) | LCC S494.5.D3 D54 2018 (print) | DDC 338.10285--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017047041
ISBN-13: 9781786393364 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 9781786393340 (pdf)
ISBN-13: 9781786393357 (ePub)
Commissioning editor: David Hemming
Editorial assistant: Alexandra Lainsbury
Production editor: Shankari Wilford
Typeset by AMA DataSet, Preston, UK.
Printed and bound in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY.
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables and Box viii
Contributors ix
Abbreviations xiv
Introduction and Overview xvii
Richard Duncombe
Part 1: Creating and Sharing Knowledge
1 Mobile Phone Applications for Weather and Climate Information for
Smallholder Farmer Decision Making 1
Amanda Caine, Chris Clarke, Graham Clarkson and Peter Dorward
2 Smartphones Supporting Monitoring Functions: Experiences from Sweet
Potato Vine Distribution in sub-Saharan Africa 14
Luka M. Wanjohi and Christopher A. Moturi
3 Customized Information Delivery for Dryland Farmers 25
Amit Chakravarty, V.V. Sumanthkumar and Mukund D. Patil
4 mNutrition: Experiences and Lessons Learned in Content Development 34
Charlotte Day

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vi Contents
Part 2: information and Knowledge intermediarieS
5 Introducting a Technology Stewardship Model to Encourage ICT Adoption in
Agricultural Communities of Practice: Reflections on a Canada/Sri Lanka
Partnership Project 43
Gordon A. Gow
6 Reducing Transaction Costs in Contract Farming Arrangements: the Case of
Farmforce 54
Fritz Brugger
7 Adoption of ICT Products and Services among Rice Farmers in the Northern
Province of Sierra Leone 68
Simone Sala, Andrea Porro, Alberto Lubatti and Stefano Bocchi
8 The Effect of ICTs on Agricultural Distribution Channels in Mexico 77
Luis Emilo Lastra-Gil
Part 3: faCilitating Change in agriCultural SyStemS
9 Towards Alternate Theories of Change for M4ARD 92
Linus Kendall and Andrew Dearden
10 Mobile for Agriculture (m4Agric) Services: Evidence from East Africa 104
Richard Duncombe
11 Understanding the Impacts of Mobile Technology on Smallholder Agriculture 111
Stan Karanasios and Mira Slavova
12 Farmerline: a For-profit Agtech Company with a Social Mission 123
Worlali Senyo
13 Best Practice Lessons and Sources of Further Information 127
Richard Duncombe
Index 135
Figures
1.1 Screenshot from the historical climate PICSA app 7
1.2 Screenshot of the participatory budget PICSA app 8
1.3 Farmer groups using and engaging with the PICSA apps 9
1.4 Two women who were keen to be actively involved in learning to use the apps 10
2.1 Pen-and-paper data collection overview 18
3.1 Schematic of the KGS system 28
3.2 Screen shot of farmer registration module in the KGS app 29
3.3 Soil fertility map displayed in the KGS app 30
3.4 Crop- and location-specific fertilizer recommendation for each farmer 30
3.5 Crop-specific package of agronomic practices available in the local language 31
3.6 Flow diagram of field operation of KGS app 32
4.1 Schematic of content production process and use by mobile operators 37
4.2 Simplified content creation process flow 38
6.1 Farmforce features 60
6.2 Near real-time management information 62
7.1 Reference information model for farmers 69
7.2 Area of investigation 70
7.3 Number of mobile phones per household 73
7.4 Frequency of availability of local agricultural stakeholders’ phone number in
farmers’ phone books 74
8.1 Agricultural business decision process 78
8.2 Agricultural sector distribution channels 79
8.3 Theoretical framework 82
11.1 Smallholder and value chain logics 114
11.2 Blending logics through mobile 119
12.1 Screenshot of MERGDATA messaging application dashboard 124
12.2 Screenshot of MERGDATA survey responses map visualization 125

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Tables and Box
1.1 List of case studies 4
4.1 mNutrition countries by wave of implementation 35
4.2 QA methodologies used to assess mNutrition content 39
4.3 Quality principles and QA assessment 39
5.1 Inclusive innovation ladder 47
5.2 Summary of communication campaigns conducted in Sri Lanka for the pilot study 49
7.1 Demographic attributes of interviewed farmers 70
7.2 Relative proportion of information searched by farmers 71
7.3 Sources of information searched by farmers 72
7.4 Communication channels 72
7.5 Information searched by mobile phone users and non-users 73
7.6 Awareness of the possibility to write messages in local languages, by gender 74
8.1 Research design and time plan 83
8.2 Distribution channels for a banana cluster 84
8.3 Distribution channels for Organicos del Tropico 86
10.1 Stakeholders in the agricultural value chain 106
11.1 Study sites 115
11.2 Access to agricultural information 116
11.3 Trust towards agricultural information sources 117
11.4 Development stakeholders’ use of mixed impact approaches to mobile 118
Box 6.1 Countries with Farmforce deployments (January 2017) 63

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Contributors
Stefano Bocchi holds a PhD in Crop Science from the State University of Milan, where he is a Pro-
fessor in Agronomy and Cropping Systems. As a Visiting Scientist at the Agronomy Department,
University of California, Davis, at IRRI-Philippines, and Wageningen University, he developed
research projects on cereals, forage crops, agro-food systems analysis and management. Bocchi is
author of more than 180 scientific papers and a Board Member of various scientific societies. He has
been involved in several projects for international cooperation in Albania, Brazil, China, Ecuador,
Egypt, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. He was the scientific curator
of the Biodiversity Park in EXPO 2015.
E-mail: [email protected]
Fritz Brugger, whose PhD is in Development Studies, was a founder of Farmforce and was respon-
sible for its overall strategy, conceptual development, project management, piloting and testing from
2010 until market introduction in summer 2013. Subsequently, he has moved to academia and is
now a Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich, NADEL Center for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland.
Since then, he has had no involvement in Farmforce.
E-mail: [email protected]
Amanda Caine completed a Masters in Development Policy, Process and Practice at the School of
Agriculture, Policy and Development at the University of Reading, where she has recently started a
PhD researching into the potential of the internet to empower women in the majority world. She has
worked for the last 20 years for a variety of British iNGOs in a finance and strategic planning capac-
ity. She was the Finance Director for several smaller iNGOs (e.g. FARM-Africa) and Head of Planning
and Reporting for Oxfam GB. She helped set up GALVmed (Global Alliance for Livestock and Veteri-
nary medicine) and is now a trustee of several iNGOs.
E-mail: [email protected]
Amit Chakravarty is an ICT4D (Information and Communication Technologies for Development)
practitioner currently involved in ICT solutions for agriculture with ICRISAT (International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) working with smallholder farmers in the drylands trop-
ics across Asia and Africa. Prior to this he led a pan-India ICT4D project funded by UNDP in the
domains of rural livelihoods, women empowerment, improving governance and providing citizen
services.
E-mail: [email protected]

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