India is experimenting with information and communication technology (ICT) projects in different sectors and circumstances. ICTs are being used in agricultural development to provide market information, extension advice, information about rural development programmes and other information from government and private sources.

Research carried out at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute studied three different ICT projects. The study aimed to develop insights about how ICTs are being used and what needs to be done to better utilise them in agricultural development. One project is managed by the state government of Madhya Pradesh as part of an exploration of e-governance. A second project is run by sugar cooperatives (with some government support) in Maharashtra attempting to expand services to growers. The third project is an experiment by a large private agricultural input supplier to provide information to farmers in Andhra Pradesh.

The research suggests that there are benefits to incorporating ICTs in all endeavours related to agricultural development. Organisations and departments concerned with agricultural development need to realise the potential of ICT to quickly disseminate information to farmers. To take full advantage of the opportunities, governments at national and state level should reorient agricultural policies and create a strategy to exploit ICTs’ potential for supporting agricultural development. Policymakers need to learn about the advantages of these projects and understand how they work:

• The ICT projects provided external and on-the-job training for personnel, although experiences varied as to whether there was sufficient orientation towards ICT for agricultural extension.
• All projects reviewed had younger, better educated, male farmers as their primary users, but a government project in a marginal area was fairly effective at reaching poorer and illiterate clientele
• In the state government project users most valued access to market information, land records and information on rural development programmes.
• In the cooperative project question-and-answer services, accounting, and farm management information were valued most.
• In the private company experiment participating farmers valued various types of information on practices, management of pests and diseases, and rural development programmes.

Efficient administration and good communication are central to successful projects.

For these projects to work, farmers need to understand how to use the services being made available and feel confident about using them. More information for small, resource-poor farmers and more user-friendly software is needed to enable them to access appropriate information. There are also a number of overall policy implications for future projects:

• Project staff use ICTs to share information, but rarely to gather it, which should be corrected in future.
• ICT projects require qualified and well-motivated staff to serve as intermediaries between the farmers and the computer systems. ICT staff for these projects should have adequate training in agriculture.
• Efforts should be made to ensure that farmers have confidence in the ICT project staff and that the staff are committed to the goals of the project.
• Before ICT projects are established in a region, rapid rural appraisals should be done to assess the type of information most in demand.

The task of understanding farmers’ information needs should never be overshadowed by the technological enthusiasm that prevails in the developing world.

Governments should reorient their policies in evolving ICT based extension systems rather than focussing on isolated project approaches.

Source(s):
‘Information and Communication Technology in Agricultural Development: A comparative analysis of three projects from India’, Overseas Development Institute (ODI),  Agren Network Paper No.135, by Shaik N. Meera, Anita Jhamtani, and D.U.M. Rao, January 2004 Full document.

Funded by: Indian Council of Agricultural Research

id21 Research Highlight: 28 September 2005

Further Information:
Shaik N. Meera
Scientist, Division of Extension, Communication and Training
Central Rice Research Institute
Cuttack, India-753006
India

Tel: 91 671 2367768-77 ext 216,516
Fax: 91 671 2367663
Contact the contributor: mir_shaik@rediffmail.com; mir_shaik@yahoo.com

Central Rice Research Institute, India

Anita Jhamtani and D.U.M. Rao
Division of Agricultural Extension
Indian Agricultural Research Institute
New Delhi-110012
India

Contact the contributor: agexten@iari.ernet.in

Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

AGREN Network Administrator
ODI
111 Westminster Bridge Road
London, SW1 7JD
UK

Tel: +44 20 7922 0300
Fax: +44 20 7922 0399
Contact the contributor: agren@odi.org.uk

Overseas Development Institute - Agricultural Research and extension Network, UK

Other related links:
'Communicating information for rural development'

'Overcoming rural India's lack of communication infrastructure'

'Accessing agricultural information online: filling in the gaps'

'The right tools for the job? Policymakers get to grips with new technology'

'Women, ICTs and rural development'