Information and Communication Technologies for Sharing of Agriculture Information in Rural India

This project focuses on the interface between research/innovation and the local communities and other stakeholders that the research is designed to serve and support. Collaborators will work to provide "a window" for the national agricultural research system in using ICT to disseminate useful information to the farming community. Research, then, is the central approach for finding out what the people's actual needs are with regard to agriculture-related information, and then for strategising about how best to enable sharing of that information within and between rural communities and individuals.

The strategy here involves moving away from what NAARM describes as the "present top down approach towards identification of the ICT needs of farmers" to a bottom-up approach that is built on a "thorough assessment of the needs and the aspirations of the stakeholders" (the rural people themselves). The idea, then, is to use participatory research in light of the observation that "A pro-active role of the clients themselves at various stages of development of new tool like ICT would be useful in learning about the sub-systems and inculcating continuous improvement."

The project will be implemented at village level, with a focus on fostering community involvement in ICT use through the two participating NGOs. ICTs are ultimately meant to be a tool for connecting farmers and other rural dwellers to relevant institutions that can enable more effective interventions based on use of local knowledge and skills. This process is meant to improve the quality of rural life and instill a sense of self-confidence through the provision of services such as:

• Information on various aspects of agriculture and rural issues
• Information on services provided by various institutions relating to farming
• Information on resources relevant to farmers
• Information regarding crop management and practices relevant to the village
• Email services for interaction with relevant information sources
• Opportunities for diversification
• Discussion fora

Specifically, the project is being carried out in three distinct phases:

1. Information needs will be identified through consultation with key informants in the selected village. It will examine, briefly, the current situation and developments in information and knowledge systems. It will also present an initial concise framework for further action.
2. Local experiences, expectations, and information needs will be gathered, adding rich local content and concrete examples where possible. One technique being used to map the village resources is participatory rural appraisal (PRA): Farmers play active roles in PRA and help draw the village resource and information maps. A workshop will be organised with all stakeholders and contributors, in which the broad set of information will be discussed and the framework will be validated.
3. The various products and results will be written up, developed, and disseminated. A simple internet portal will be created at the users' location. Farmers, farm women, and extension staff will be trained in managing the information outlet, using email for interaction with research & development (R&D)-related institutes and also in developing content for web-based dissemination of technology. Subject matter specialists will be sensitised to the use of email for interacting with farmers.

Following this process, NAARM will evaluate the efficiency and impact of use of new ICT using specific social indicators. One research methodology being explored is conducting a survey and interviews with local villagers to acquire primary data. Based on the responses and the quantitative and qualitative information gathered, the strategy for focus group discussion (FGD) and brainstorming sessions will be formulated. The analysed data at this stage will be collated into a draft report.

Agriculture, Technology.

Organisers claim that the project "will enable testing of the use of ICT in rural situations in general, and innovation of new methods in rural communication and technology sharing related to agriculture, in particular. The experience of this project can be spread across many regions across the country and will be widely used in further networking of ATIC [Agricultural Technology Information Centre] centres using this new technology."