Background

 The Rural e-Services Project which has been experimented and implemented at Sironj Crop Producers Company Private Limited (SCPCL) – a cooperative formed by small and marginalised farmers since, got functional from early August 2008.

  The developed ICT solution to enhance agriculture information flows is known as KHETI. It has passed through various stages of need identification and articulation, story writing with help of cartoons, identifying requirements in the system and categorisation of system requirements in ‘Menus’ for mobile and server and defining features of the menus and their prioritisation by the farmers.

The Developed Features

  Following 5 features have been developed, rolled out and running successfully. They are as follows:

•   Feature 1 – Member Registration, Member Profile Modification, Member land Plot Details, Crop POP Profile
•   Feature 2 – SCPCL Staff, Agents, Service Provider Details, PRADAN Professional Details, SCPCL Board of Directors Details
•   Feature 10 – Construct SDS, Record SDS, Send SDS, Play SDS
•   Feature 11 – Diverting/Recording conversation (Server), Synchronize conversation of mobile with the server, Connect SDS with image
•   Feature 12 – Recording conversation (Mobile), Transfer of conversation from mobile to Server, Connect SDS with image

  The development of functionalities under above 5 features for the system to enhance Agriculture Information Flow System is capable enough to speed-up the communications amongst various stakeholders especially Agriculture Specialist, Munnas (local community youths who act a bridge between the cooperative and farmers) and the farmers. They, now with the help of mobiles, are creating SDSs (Short Dialogue Strips - An audio visual creation on the local agriculture problem, issues and knowledge with a capacity of six images and two minutes of audio recording) and sending these to Agriculture Specialist to get back responses on their queries, problems and other areas of interest. Besides these, the system is generating knowledge bank and spreading it at large for wider usage, benefits and empowerment of the poor agriculture community. The functionalities, too, have emerged easy and corresponding to the needs of the users as expressed by them.

What the System Does

  In the systems designed, the field/remote interventions are made rapid and strengthened with ICT led design solutions and communication amongst the central place (Server, Telephone/Mobile with subject matter specialist (SMS) & Agriculture Communication Specialists (ACS) and remote locations (Service Providers with Nokia N73/Nokia Navigator mobiles with especially designed programmes and farmers) are made easy with fewer resources besides knowledge generation and dissemination.

  The communication (inter and intra audio-visual exchanges) amongst farmers, service providers, SMS) and agriculture scientist and experts has been made possible remotely with the help of mobile phone and Integrated Voice Response System and Central Server. At the same time, the data is getting stored/recorded in the system by de-fault for creating knowledge bank and knowledge capsule.

Roll out of Software - Examples of Communication Flows

I have just got off the phone (well, skypeout actually) after a chat with Subodh in Secunderabad. Unfortunately, Subodh & Haider have had to reschedule their Alfa Testing. The approach we are using at present, based on XP (Extreme programming), is to operate a 3 week development cycle. Each cycle begins with user stories and a planning game to prioritise functionality. These activities take place in Sironj or Bhopal. At the end of week 2, Alfa testing is scheduled in Secunderabad (a 24 hour journey from Sironj), and members and staff from Sironj travel down to participate. Finally at the end of week 3, Beta testing is scheduled in Sironj.

Travelling in India can be complex. It is necessary to book train tickets in advance, and some journeys are best undertaken on certain weekdays, but not others. For this reason, an agile process with fixed and short delivery cycles (but with the functionality delivered being adjusted according to resources / events) can be very suitable for the Indian rural context.

In the current delivery cycle we have been developing a complex collection of functionality that includes many different components (creating stories on a mobile phone, transfering to a server, navigating and selecting recordings etc.). Unfortunately, Subodh reports that server crashes, staff personal events, and other factors meant that the software that was available for testing at the time scheduled was at a stage where components were complete, but integration and user-interfaces could not be completed to meet the schedule. At this stage, Subodh was concerned that although users who were familiar with the range of technologies, and had used similar systems, could make sense and test the ideas, the members of the co-op with much less experience, may not be able to ‘fill in the gaps’ sufficiently to make good use of this Alfa testing time.

In the end, we had to reschedule the visit at the last minute, costing a lot of time (in contacting and re-arranging the travel) and money (in rescheduling travel).

The take home lesson?

Agile development addresses a three factor competition in development between resources, time and functionality. Agile says fix time and vary functionality. But there may be a minimum point in functionality to make it ready for users who are not familiar with technology to usefully respond to the prototypes. Do we have an answer? Not yet ;-(

We have rescheduled, and Alfa testing is starting today. I do hope that the functionality that is now ready has been worth the wait!

This technical report examines levels of uptake and use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by District Central Cooperatives Banks (DCCB) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) in India. It also examines attitude to ICT and barriers to uptake.

Rural e-Services Technical Report on ICT in DCCBs and MFIs in India

What Differentiates Mr. Ganga Ram With Other Farmers And Makes Him Successful – A Case Study

The Background

The Rural e-Services Project is trying to develop software solution for enhancing Agriculture Information Flow System for empowerment of rural communities in Sironj block of Vidisha district of M.P. in Central India. The project focuses on farmers associated with Sironj Crops Producers Company Limited (SCPCL) – a group formed, run and managed by poor and marginalised farmers, also known as producers. The company serves its members by providing physical and academic inputs on agriculture practices i.e. from soil testing to marketing of the produce. Though the company is bring quality change in the lives of people, yet there are varied impacts on the producers. Ganga Ram is a farmer who got benefited a lot from SCPCL. An effort has been made to find what differentiates him with others.

About Ganga Ram

Mr. Ganga Ram is a poor farmer holding around 2 hectares of land. He is Chairman of Board of Directors of SCPCL. Mr. Ganga Ram found more aware, active and relatively more successful than other farmers associated with SCPCL. He, too, was as a farmer was engaged in the routine agriculture crop practices and having similar experiences and fate. But after him getting associated with PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action – the intermediary development organisation) and SCPCL, he is found to be a prosperous and knowledgeable farmer eager to learn and experiment along with SCPCL. Based on the discussions in meetings, one to one interaction with him and visit to his village and also the detailed enquiry made with him revealed several facts about him.

• What Excites Him:
  

  I am just like any other farmer in the village and community and was engaged in the routine agriculture practices. But I was always eager to have more information on the agriculture and was a regular listener of the radio programmes such as ‘Chaupal’. I found these programmes very interesting and useful because of the discussions on the agriculture issues are good and we may apply some of the methods. But this programme was not enough and I was always looking for more knowledge on innovative practices and experiments, which I could apply in my fields. I was always having a discomfort that we are not able to create any concrete ‘knowledge base’ for the next generation. Meanwhile, I got in touch with PRADAN people who besides having livelihoods intervention, were in process of organising farmer to form a producer company, also. Though little apprehensive initially I found a power in the concept and went ahead to get associated with the company.

• What He Does When He Gets New Information:
  

  Since I am knowledge thirsty person who search for new knowledge so I always wish to take new knowledge and apply the same in our setting. Generally, I am not apprehensive about the new methods and experiments and believe that these needs to be practically implemented first then we should analyse their effectiveness. Even if it is failed I try to see the efforts made at my own level and whether I was able to give my hundred percent in the desired manner or not. I think I have got risk taking capacity and that is why I go for new experimentation and use information.

• How Does He Perceive Scientific Methodologies/Information:
  

  I believe that one (in anyway) should go for new scientific information and methodologies in various spheres of life in general and in agriculture in particular. If one is not taking new knowledge, would be left behind because there wouldn’t be accumulation of new knowledge.

• His Work on Crop Rotation:
  

  Yes, I have experimented on crop and got significant success on the same. My experimentation on crop rotation was based on the training, exposure visits, interactions with agriculturists and experts organised by PRADAN/SCPCL. I have done mainly two kinds of crop rotation: one in the same field with different crops and another one in separate fields with different crop. Since I and my family is always ready for hard work so we give our best and in return get success. In such cases I always search for new information and methods and once I get it I try to implement these with instructions given to get the desired results.

• When He Feels Hapless and Helpless:
  

  Though I am not a pessimistic person, yet in certain cases I feel hapless and helpless e.g. natural catastrophes, climatic changes, undue and unexpected weather changes and not having timely information on various aspects of agriculture. The strange diseases happening in the crop and not having timely diagnosis and treatment because of no information. The havoc created by weather is becoming a big concern now. Sudden changes in weather make us very vulnerable and we are not able to cope with these.

The workshop took place in order to finalise the business and system logics for the software solution to be developed for the Sironj Crop Producers’ Company (SCPCL) producers/farmers. Prior to this workshop a series of Participatory Rural Assessment (PRA) exercises were performed with the farmers in their villages and in SCPCL in order to discuss their ICT needs and their roles in their empowerment. The meetings, discussions and PRA exercises with the farmers/producers and also with other stakeholders helped in generating stories on the role of information technologies (presence and absence) with SCPCL and outsides world and prevailing communication pattern amongst them. The interactions with the stakeholders especially with the producers/farmers helped in the realisation of importance of ICTs and their use in the lives in general and in agriculture practices in particular.

The workshop generated lots of new ideas besides finalising five stories relating to the farmer’s access to information and their use of extension agents. Due to scarcity of time some of the agendas couldn’t be dealt with. It has been decided to have a follow-up workshop soon.

The following table shows the farmer’s information needs and the agencies providing the information:

The farmers’ stories and scenarios outlined some example cases where outside knowledge input was required to help solve agricultural problems. In some cases, the Pradan extension agents and the SCPCL representatives were able to advise on solutions, though in others, further outside input was necessary.

It was concluded that there was a need for a better system to capture, store and share stories such as those highlighted in the workshop.