Broadening the Horizons for Use of ICT in Agricultural Extension

Willis Ochilo, Holly Wright, Cambria Finegold, Timothy Holmes,

MaryLucy Oronje & Shaun Hobbs

CAB International (CABI)

eLearning Africa 2015 Addis Ababa

Ethiopia May 20 – 22, 2015

Background

• CABI is an inter-governmental, non-profit

organization that was set up by a United Nations

treaty level agreement between its member countries

• Currently 48 member countries (16 in Africa)

• CABI activities contribute to improving food security

& protecting biodiversity

• CABI implements development & research projects

and publishes high quality scientific information

resources.

CABI Member countries

Major themes for ID work

• Commodities

• Invasive Species

• Knowledge for Development

• Knowledge Management

• Microbial services

• Plantwise

Plantwise overview

Plantwise is a global CABI-led initiative

to improve food security by reducing

crop losses due to plant health

problems

Establishing/strengthening linkages

between ag-extension research,

education, regulators in solving plant

health problems – biotic and abiotic

Use of networks of plant clinics

supported by KB as a technical

resource

Understand how mobile technologies

can improve the current clinic model

Tablets

Improve the quality and speed of data

collection and processing

Improve the quality and variety of

advice available at clinics

SMS messaging

Increase clinic attendance

Broaden reach of extension

messaging

Project Goal

Mobile

Tablets

Prescription Form

Factsheets

SMS

Clinic info

Extension messaging

What we are introducing

Kenya Pilot

Embu Market

Katoloni CBO Dagoretti

Mbogoni

Bahati

Pilot progress

60 ‘plant doctors’ trained

30 ‘e-plant clinics’

running

Electronic prescription

forms

SMS recommendation

Factsheet library App

SMS clinic invites

1. More farmers are helped

Clinics with tablets submitting significantly more prescription forms on

average than plant clinics using paper forms which means more farmers

are receiving advice.

Benefits visible so far

0 5 10 15 20 25

Paper

Tablet

Forms (per month per plant clinic)

Average number of forms submitted (p<0.01)

2. Better advice to farmers

Recommendation given to farmers via tablets are, on average 56

characters longer than on paper forms.

Recommendations include broader range of management options and

more detailed instructions

Benefits visible so far

0 50 100 150 200 250

Paper

Tablet

Recommendation character count

Average character count (p<0.01)

3. Improving data speed, accuracy and value

Data is of better quality and requires less processing

Data is available more quickly

Photos enrich the data

So far over 2,500 photos have been submitted

Assist data validators in quality checking and a source of images for

use in future extension materials

Benefits visible so far

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Paper

Tablet

Days

Average time from data collection to when data is available in POMS (p<0.01)

154 sample photos

Case study – response to new pests

Tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta) is a new pest in Kenya that can

decimate tomato crops and has major trade implications.

Records of Tuta absoluta collected on tablets are available on POMS

with minimal delay, allowing the government to identify, monitor and

respond to the threat more quickly.

Benefits visible so far

0 20 40 60 80 100

Paper

Tablet

Time (days)

Average time from collection of data on Tuta absoluta

to when that data is available on POMS (p<0.01)

4. Access to reference materials helps plant doctors give better advice

The ‘plant doctors’ are using their tablets to access a wealth of Plantwise

and non-Plantwise resources such as the Plantwise Factsheet Library,

the Plantwise Knowledge Bank

Benefits visible so far

Screenshots of the Plantwise Factsheet Library App

5. Female ‘plant doctors’ are excelling

Of the 60 ‘plant doctors’ trained on the tablets 31 are male and 29 female

The female ‘plant doctors’ have taken to the tablets exceptionally well

and on average submit 4 more forms per month than their male

counterparts.

It was hypothesised that age and education may impact tablet uptake but

no significant results have been found.

Benefits visible so far

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Men

Women

Forms (per month per clinic)

Average number of electronic forms submitted (p<0.05)

Sustainability

Value for money

E-plant clinics currently cost 35% more than paper clinics. E-plant

clinics will, however, be 21% cheaper than paper when the current

commercial data collection app is replaced by an in house app.

Paper

Tablets

Current commercial data

collection app

Future in-house data

collection app

Start up £0 £1,076 £1,076

Running £2,766 £3,168 £1,104

Total £2,766 £4,244 £2,180

Sustainability

Challenges and lessons learned

For many of the ‘plant doctors’ using tablets is a completely new skill

and some struggled initially.

For the initial stage, we’ve used a commercial data collection app as

a low-investment way of testing the tablet concept. While it has

served that purpose, it is missing key functionality the ‘plant doctors’

need.

While insights have been gleaned into what ‘plant doctors’ are using

the tablets for, further qualitative work is required to understand how

and why, and how this might vary in different contexts.

LOSE LESS, FEED MORE www.plantwise.org

Thank you

We wish to acknowledge the support of our donors, as well as our national and international partners who make Plantwise possible