Mobile Technology for Addressing Agriculture Challenges

Mridul Chowdhury Founder & CEO

mPower Social Enterprises Ltd.

Jeremy Davis Senior Program Advisor

USAID Ag Extension Project

Project Name: USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity

(Ag Extension Project)

Duration: 5 years (October 2012 – September 2017)

Implementer: Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM)

- First project awarded by USAID

Bangladesh to a national NGO under the

USAID Forward “Local Systems

Framework”

- Key part of Bangladesh Feed the Future

(FtF) initiative

Technical Partners: CARE Bangladesh and mPower

Core Approaches

Establish and Strengthen

Farmer Producer Groups

• Farmer Producer Group (FPG) formation to give small holder farmers (and women) a collective voice and provide a more attractive platform for extension agents

Improve Capacity of Ag Extension

Agents

• Capacity building of both public and private extension agents to improve technical knowledge and group facilitation skills; and enhance mobility and communications

Focus on Select Value Chains

• Farmer Producer Groups formed around select Value Chain: jute, chili, mung bean, fish, beef fattening, or dairy which represent fisheries, livestock, food and non-food crop; high % women participation

Focus on Information &

Communication Technologies

• Use of ICT as a core element for improving channels for farmers and extension agents to access ag production and technology information

Increased Farmer Access to Improved Extension Services

Access to extension agent is difficult

Farmer

Knowledge base of ag extension agent is

challenging to update

Extension Agent

GOB decision-makers have limited tools to get

information on-the-ground situation for timely actions

Decision-Maker

farmer’s Difficulty of access to Extension Agents

FARMER

EXTENSION AGENT SELF-EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEUR

PRIVATE EXTENSION AGENT (AICC, UISC)

AGRO EXPERT

No Linkage with Expert

Farmer Query

System

QUERIES ABOUT AGRI CHALLENGES

EXPERT RECOMMENDATION USING PHONE CALL, SMS, VOICE MESSEGE

FARMER AGRO EXPERT

REFERS TO EXPERT THROUGH FQS

EXTENSION AGENT

SELF-EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEUR

PRIVATE EXTENSION AGENT (AICC, UISC)

SMARTPHONE-BASED QUERY SYSTEM FOR FARMERS

Key Learnings ICT leaders are showing significant promise,

− ICT Leader: 15%

− AICC: 59%

− Input seller: 1%

1412 agro consultations

76% Farmers applied the recommendation

96.4% Farmers are satisfied with the responses

Current Status

Limitations Some issues cannot be solved through a remote

consultation.

Recognition Received mBillionth Award

2014, a regional award for

recognizing innovative

social intervention.

Centralized Web-Portal for Agricultural Knowledge base

INNOVATIVE

FARMER

EXTENSION

AGENT

SELF-EMPLOYED

ENTREPRENEUR

PRIVATE EXTENSION

AGENT (AICC, UISC)

Agro-Knowledge

Bank VIA MOBILE DEVICES

Access the portal

Increased Knowledge Base

Agro-Knowledge Centralized in a Web Portal

Agro-Knowledge Base

Constantly being updated

System Map

EXTENSION

AGENT

Crop Diagnostic

application

Agro-Knowledge Bank

TRIAGE BASED MOBILE APP MOBILE APP CONNECTS TO AGRO

KNOWLEDGE PORTAL

• Usable by a non-agriculture

expert

• Accessible through web &

mobile-phones

• Easily updatable by non-ICT

expert in the government

Insufficient Ground-Level Visibility

Govt. Extension Agent Manually Capturing Field Problems

Govt. Ag Decision-Maker Aggregate Report After 15 Days

• INFREQUENT INSTRUCTION

OFTEN > 2 MONTHS

• OFTEN NOT SPECIFIC AND

LOCALIZED ENOUGH

Mobile-Based Data Capturing

Real time Data Digitization & Reporting

Forward Instructions in Real-

Time

View Web Dash Board

Decision-Maker

System Overview

• Regional and Local data visualization

• Real time report generation

• Specific and localize instruction