ict and agriculture benefitting the poor
TRANSCRIPT
ICT and Agriculture : Benefiting the Poor
Presented by
Md. Asad-Ur-Rahman NileSenior Business Consultant
Swisscontact, KatalystGeneva, Switzerland
May 2012
A real life storyMoharaja HossainA 32 year old farmer, from Pantapara village, Sharsha of Jessore District, with little formal education.On average his yearly earning is BDT 50,000 (≈USD 595)Last season, Moharaj observed that the leaves of his bitter gourds were curling up. This disease was gradually spreading and diminishing his gourds. Within 15 days, approximately 160 Kgs of what could have been his produces got damaged.He was unable to find solutions from regular sources.
Finally after 15days he took the solution from one of the telecentre’s known as Grameenphone Community Information Centre (GPCIC) and managed to save his produces. At the end of the season he earned BDT 18000 (USD 214)
Content
• Katalyst at a Glance• ICT & Bangladesh• ‘The Constraint” and Katalyst Strategy• Innovations with private sector
– Grameenphone CIC experience– Banglalink Agri-helpline experience– Impact
• Lessons Learned• Way Forward
Katalyst at a GlancePhase I Phase II
Donors • DFID• SDC• SIDA
• DFID• SDC• CIDA• The Embassy of Netherlands
Implementers Swisscontact, GTZ-IS
Swisscontact, GTZ-IS
Duration • Oct ’02 –15 Mar ’08 • 16 Mar ’08 – 15 Mar ’13
Budget • US$ 20 million • US$ 45 million
Line Ministry Ministry of Commerce Ministry of Commerce
Katalyst Approach
Demand SupplyCore
Govt.
Informal network
Private Sector
Business Membership Organizations
Infrastructure
CoordinationR&D Information
Supporting Functions Skills &
Capacity Related Support Services
Regulations
LawsRulesStandards
Informal Rules & Norms
Informing & Communication
Setting & Enforcing Rules
Source: The Springfield Centre
The Constraints
Lack of relevant
servicesAccess
Policy
Awar
enes
s
Service Delivery
ADVANCED MARKETING PROCESS
Lack of appropriate policy support for growth of ICT based services
Limited access to ICT tools and technology
Low awareness and usage of among rural people
Lack of appropriate ICT-based service offers targeting rural sectors
Lack of adequate skill set among service providers
Katalyst Strategy
Constraints of using
ICT in agriculture
Market based
solution
Engage private sector
Develop an ecosystem
Build partnerships
Policy advocacy
Partnership with Grameenphone (GP)
• To develop a delivery channel • To create a sustainable mechanism
for access to technology and information
• To develop a private sector led & commercially viable ecosystem for accessing agriculture information
• To create a strong rural presence• To develop potential touch-points for
products and services• To develop the rural segments with
bundle of Value Added Services (VAS)• To promote data usage in rural areas
Katalyst Grameenphone
Partnership formed
Grameenphone Community Information Centre’s (GPCIC)
The CIC’s• Grameenphone (GP) branded rural
telecentre• Franchise model
– GP provides technology, branding material, training
– Entrepreneur invests in equipments & establishments
• Standardized• Bundle of services
– Information services– IT-enabled services– Top-up, photography, telco-products
• Commercially motivated entrepreneurs• Without any subsidy
The Ecosystem• Developing commercial
content provider• Capacity building of the
service providersKatalyst
• Promotion• Service integration• Monitoring and adviceGP
• Commercial content providers developed
• The channels became efficient in delivery
• Awareness increased• Number of services increased• Business case strengthened
A sustainable delivery channel to deliver agriculture information with nationwide outreach
Deepening the Impact
• “Now What?”• More than 18 million farmers• High & growing tele-density• High latent demand of information• Interested private sector partners• Ecosystem of commercial content providers
needed more opportunities
Partnership with Banglalink
Katalyst
Banglalink
Improved performance of farmers & rural entrepreneurs
Value added services for more market
share in rural markets
Kata
lyst
Bang
lalin
kMarket assessment Capacity building Content/Service development Promotion
Branded Value added service for targeted customers Capacity building of the Call Center service provider Demand stimulation and promotion of VAS
The Outcome: Bangallink Agri-helpline 7676
• A call-centre offering only agriculture related solution
• Commercially operated• Branded by the second large mobile phone
operator Banglalink• Commercial content provider, commercial call-
centre • Human interface not IVR based• Affordable for the farmers (0.06 USD / Min)
Service Delivery Model
Customers dial a short code 7676
Agents take notes of queries
If the information is not available in the database
Routed to a call center
Agents browse the database and finds the
solution
Call center agents receive customers call
Support team gathers info
Database is updated
Customer is called back
Agents provide the info over phone
The Impact
• There are more than 500 CIC’s in rural areas of Bangladesh– The average footfall in each CIC is 100 per day– Cumulative access outreach from March 2008 - June 2011 is 1.5
million+ only from the Grameenphone– Cumulative benefit outreach from March 2008 - June 2011 is 600,000+
• Impact of Banglalink Agriculture helpline from Jan’11 to Dec’11– Relevant calls 32,904– Repeat calls 22% (7,219)– Asia Mobile Awards 2009, organized by the GSM Association– Nomination in The World Communication Award 2009 and The Global
Mobile Award 2010.
Source: Katalyst Annual Report 2011, Banglalink & Grameenphone
Agriculture Information
• The demand of agriculture information services is low compare to other services but its growing slowly
• Specialized Agriculture information like online based Fertilizer Recommendation System has been integrated in both the platforms
• The reasons behind the growing demand of agriculture information services– Easily accessible through the operators/entrepreneurs– Quick service delivery (very crucial in case of disease)– Possible to take print of the solution– A wide variety of solutions (crops, fisheries, livestock, poultry, fruits )
• Slow adoption among the intended Target group• Latent demand• New technology• Reliability factor
• Revisiting the business case for different key actors• Harmonization between different projects for optimum
impact at beneficiary level– Reduce cannibalization– Increased Synergy
Challenges Ahead
Lessons
• Partnering with right large Private Sector (PS) partners with right commercial incentive
• High Volume-Low margin business model• Effective service development and delivery process
– Demand led– Conveniently accessible
• Multi-stakeholder partnership for:– Taking ride on the core expertise of different actors– Reduction in cost of doing business and associated risk– Time efficient implementation
Lessons (contd.):
• Role of Government• Creating conducive policy environment for PS to
perform– Extend cooperation to PS for developing and
delivering need based services– Service quality and standardization– Endorsement and mass promotion of private
sector lead initiatives• Shift from “service provider” role to “facilitator” role
Way Forward
• Changing the “mindset”• Increase participation of women in availing ICT based
services• Developing strong role based partnerships with
government organizations• Advocacy for conducive environment• Deepening the impact by developing ecosystems
Way Forward (contd.)
• Widening the impact by developing right partnerships
• Increasing specialized agricultural services like fertilizer recommendation, irrigation recommendation, soil testing, weather forecasting etc.
• Introducing mobile fund transfer for benefitting the farmers
• Facilitating direct market access of the farmers
Thank You