IT and Agriculture

Introduction

Governments in most developing nations are faced with the challenge of ensuring food security. Farmers in most of these countries still rely on traditional practices and many of them are unaware of the recent technological and varietal advancements. The problem of food insecurity is compounded by the fact that agricultural yields cannot keep pace with the ever-growing population. As such, policy makers and decision makers have to identify appropriate and practical solutions to ensure rural development and food security.

In rain dependent countries, e.g. India, concerns over food insecurity are even higher. With a burgeoning population, the biological set-up has to become more efficient. However, in most cases, the problem is not the non-availability of better crops, but the lack of information on the availability of a better crop! Revolutionizing mechanisms that help disseminate knowledge on major advancements in the prevalent technologies, methods and practices would solve most of the problems.

Rural communities require information on supply of inputs, new technologies, early warning systems (drought, pests and diseases), credit, market prices and their competitors. This is feasible only by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Different forms of media, like radio, print, television, video and audio cassettes, video conferencing, computer programs, CD-ROM and the Internet can help rural communities improve their living conditions. Rural communities can be motivated through training and dialogue with others to a level where they can take decisions for their own development.

Although media like print, radio and television can be clubbed as ICTs, the modern interpretation of this term means communication system between computer terminals and mobile devices. Ethernet, Internet, WAN, LAN, Wi-Fi, etc. fall in this sphere. Traditional media have proved quite effective in creating social awareness. These communication channels have been used successfully, but they have been monologic and do not allow much interaction with users. E.g., radio has been very effective in disseminating information to all types of audiences, but broadcasting times are sometimes not appropriate for most people. Although the populations reached are not too big in this case, linking Internet with radio in larger developing countries may show great results. In India, national radio services extend to 99.13 percent of the billion-plus population, covering 24 languages and 146 dialects (Source: All India Radio).

Convergence of ICT with agricultural development

Broad basing agricultural extension activities, developing farming system research, creating location-specific modules of research, and promoting sustainable agricultural development and marketing are some of the key areas where ICT can bring about substantial changes. Agricultural extension systems in most developing countries are under-funded and, consequently, not very effective in meeting the desired goals. Much of the extension information is outdated and irrelevant. ICT helps the extension system reorient itself towards overall agricultural development of small production systems. Strategic planning can be used to provide farmers with low-cost inputs, better storage facilities and improved interaction with buyers (B2C, B2B, G2C, G2B and G2G). Developing countries can create Traditional Knowledge Digital Libraries (TKDL) to collect and sort local agricultural information, which can be shared more widely. Thus, ICT could act as a bridge between traditional and modern knowledge systems.

ICT initiatives for agricultural development in India

India has launched some initiatives using ICT for agricultural development. In most of these projects, agriculture is only a small component. Indian experiences with IT projects are listed in table 1.




ICT concepts from around the globe

Internet Radio

Radio is the most familiar mode of communication in developing countries. In many countries, some communities have their own radio channels, with each channel occupying a separate bandwidth. Each member of such communities has access to his community’s radio. As such, the Internet can be used to provide better radio facilities. Different community radio channels can be clubbed together and made available on Internet Radio (figure 1). As a result, users will have access to a wider variety of channels and can obtain data quickly, economically and conveniently.



In Sri Lanka, a few initiatives have been implemented based on this concept. Through the Internet Radio project, community radio channels serve as an interface between the Internet and rural communities. UNESCO provides computer equipment and the required training while the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission provides Internet connectivity to the community radio, through a dedicated 64 Kbps line.

Internet-based Dissemination of Comprehensive Agricultural Data

Farmers, who are at the base of the information pyramid, do not receive adequate, timely and relevant information from existing information sources. To this end, computer information systems with Internet facilities can be used to provide access to various kinds of information pertaining to agriculture, promoting rural development and effective farmer participation. The information system should provide links to international sources and external databases from where information that is not available locally can be obtained.

Farmers can also promote their products and handle simple transactions such as orders over the web while payment transactions for the goods can later be handled offline or online, if possible. The latter has been shown to be cheaper and faster than with paper-based medium, telephone or fax. Electronic commerce (B2C, B2B, G2C, G2B and even G2G) could, therefore, enable entrepreneurs to access global market information and open up new regional and global markets that fetch better prices and increase farmers’ earnings.

The Food and Agriculture Organization devised the "Pedagogia" project to promote rural development through an improved communication system. The project was started in Chile and later extended to Peru. A computer-based information system was developed, which distributed an update with the information that farmers needed – market, technical and weather – by fax. An evaluation of this project indicated that the methodologies and ICTs used were appropriate and cost-effective. Moreover, the Internet-based project, "Comunicación para el Desarrollo en América Latina", developed communication systems in Latin America. This project proved very successful and soon spread throughout the region and beyond.

Internet and Network-based Agricultural Projects in India

eNRICH (figure 2) is a generic solution developed by the National Informatics Center (NIC) and UNESCO. Intended for use in Community Multimedia Centers (CMCs), eNRICH incorporates the following features:
· A one-stop access and delivery mechanism for communities;
· Customizable by individual CMCs, in terms of local language and content;
· Encourages local content production;
· Allows easy access to relevant and authenticated information; and
· Enables efficient interactivity within and among CMCs.



RuralBazar is a web store that allows customers to carry out complete business transactions, right from browsing products to paying for those selected. It allows a customer to scrutinize a product catalogue online or offline (by downloading the catalogue from the web site or through e-mail) and accepts orders and payments online. It also allows for customer feedback and maintains customer data – profile, preferences, bill and shipping addresses. Also, once payment is received for an order, RuralBazar offers a facility to automatically credit the earnings to the respective producer's account, thus eliminating the role of any unwanted intermediaries.

BhuLekhSoft is a software template for managing land records, including agricultural lands, through computers (figure 3). It provides a quick and efficient delivery mechanism by issuance of timely and accurate copies of the Record of Rights (ROR) to land owners in the local language. Additionally, it promotes of e-governance at the grassroots level.




Mobile phone-based Agricultural ICTs

A popular communication medium in urban cities can also be put to good use in rural areas (figure 4). In Bangladesh, women have started small-scale enterprises through small loans from the Grameen Bank; mobile cell phones are being used to avail telephone services and earn a good income.

Much of the voice traffic over cell phones is commerce directed, providing access to agricultural market prices, agricultural trade information and information on work opportunities. This reduces travel costs substantially. Grameen Bank has lent $5 billion in loans to nearly four million borrowers, 96 percent of them are women. Borrowers meet periodically to discuss loan repayment as well as health and other development issues.



Amalgamation of Existing ICT Networks

Available networks can be efficiently clubbed and used in a concerted fashion to facilitate smooth data dissemination. In many developing countries, peer information organizations have a deluge of data waiting to be processed and dispensed. A careful examination of these information systems reveals that they fit into the models described and easily complement them (table II).

Table II

Sustainable Local Enterprise Networks (Worldwide) 

(Source: Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies)

High-end ICTs

ICT models illustrated till now have been implemented at the lower rungs of the agriculture information grid and cater to the needs of the farmers. However, as one moves higher on the information grid, the complexity of the data increases. To effectively tackle this issue, it is imperative to have sophisticated and efficient information systems that can be used by both farmers and scientists.

Firstly, considering the hardware aspects, we need to have a system composed of a network of computer terminals. Individual terminals already in use can be connected to each other to form an extensive network. Such networks will help in faster and economical propagation of requisite data. The size of such a network would depend directly on the complexity and geographical coverage of the information system. Agricultural information systems can extend from the village-level to the national-level as well as serve various people, right from farmers to scientists and policy makers.


High-end Software

At the state or national level, scientists and policy makers would be interested in analyzing agricultural data in order to study trends and patterns in different areas related to agriculture and then make decisions and find solutions to existing problems, depending upon these analyses and studies. Such studies and decisions can encompass various areas like types of soil, agricultural growth and production, seeds, pesticides, genetic response and pattern of plants. Moreover, other allied areas – like finance, loans and labor – can also be incorporated.

Thus, a comprehensive study and analysis of all areas related to agriculture can help arrive at a holistic decision that would take care of all the areas mentioned above. However, such a comprehensive, broad-based decision is not possible without applying latest software techniques, which leverage the numerous advantages and facilities provided by the latest hardware techniques mentioned above. Two such tools that can be used are:

Data Warehouses: are repositories of integrated information from any number of sources with analysis and querying functions. Using these, researchers would be able to identify potential problems in various geographic locations, plan programs, track progress, evaluate programs and complete an overall financial analysis. Successful implementation of a data warehouse requires planning, designing and maintaining the data. Two main types of data warehouses are:

· Operational data stores or data marts; and
· Enterprise data warehouses.

Enterprise data warehouses contain data from all areas of the information grid and can be used by all users within the entity. A typical data warehouse may compile data from various sources such as farmers, governments, businessmen and scientists. The spin-off data warehouses, known as data marts or operational data stores, are available to users with a querying and decision support tool.

Data Mining and Analysis: Data mining techniques like on-line analytical processing tool (OLAP) and on-line transactional processing (OLTP) are used to analyze databases and data warehouses. Refer figure 5.



Decision-Making Assistance through Decision Support Systems

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are software applications that can support any agriculture-specific decision-making and comprise a set of knowledge-based tools that can be fully integrated with the agriculture workflow and the repository of complete, accurate, agriculture-specific data, covering every possible aspect of agriculture. DDS capabilities are useful in all phases of any agricultural project and include:

· Assessment;
· Planning;
· Intervention; and
· Evaluation.

Genomic and proteomic databases

Data from various sources can be utilized by researchers from plant genetic databases and databases of genetically improved cultivars. These are available on the Internet and can be downloaded. These databases may not be of direct interest to the farmer. However, at the apex of data flow hierarchy they can be used by scientists for investigating new crops and cultivars of plants. For any species, the construction of a genetic database is structured around four main studies:

· Analysis of the genome structure;
· Genetic studies on agronomic traits;
· Genetic studies on quality of plant products; and
· Genetic studies on disease resistance.

Conclusion

Though ICTs are widely used today, the lack of proper integration has led to inefficiency in the flow and usage of agricultural data. High-end software applications like data mining, data warehousing and DSS are not in place. Thus, the end user (farmer) is not able to receive the latest data. Moreover, the data flow is extremely sluggish, which adds to the inefficiencies in the dissemination of data. There is also a need to integrate genomic and proteomic databases to facilitate research at the top of the dataflow hierarchy. Data generated at the research level can then be used by farmers to raise crop productivity. This should hopefully alleviate food security problems.

Dr. R. Chakravarthy is a faculty member at the Dept. of Biotechnology, ICFAI Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad. He is available at r_chakravarthy@indiatimes.com. Mr. Chintan V Shinde is with the Dept. of Biotechnology, ICFAI Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad. He can be reached at chintan_shinde@yahoo.com. Mr. Ashish Mangalampalli is with the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, ICFAI Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad. He can be reached at amangalampalli2@yahoo.com.

References:

1. Misra et al. - Ideas of today for a better tomorrow.
2. Dutta et al. - Application of Information Technology in Rural Development. Yojana.
3. CRISP Group - An Indian Case Study.