4 Challenges in ICT Application in Agriculture

Hello friends. In our last interaction, we discussed about information needs of the farming community. The differences between data, information and knowledge, and various issues associated with it. In today’s discussion we will be discussing about the challenges in ICT application in agriculture.

Digital Literacy

When we look into the challenges, the first and foremost challenge we come across is digital literacy. To what extent the stakeholders of this ICT application in agriculture are digitally literate. The digital literacy as defined by Wikipedia as

•  “It refers to an individual’s ability to find, evaluate and compose clear information through writing and other medium on various digital platforms”.

It is indicating towards the ability of the extension professional to develop the content which is suitable for the digital platforms. So enough information is available. But based on the needs of our end-user, how can I design the content that is suitable to the digital platform; as well as it can meet the demands of the receiver. So this is what is the biggest challenge before the extension professionals which we call it as the digital literacy.

Availability of Location Specific Content

India being a vast country, starting from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Gujarat to Arunachal. The number of languages that are being spoken, and the number of agro-climatic situations the country has. Earlier we were talking of the National Agriculture Research Project. We divided the country into different agro-climatic zones and agro-climatic regions. And we used to develop the technologies based on the agro-climatic zones. But now the mechanism has shifted from development of technology based on these agro-climatic zones to situation specific agricultural extension services.

The situation based extension services. Under such circumstances the development of content which is suitable to the locality is one issue. Then the second issue is that content should be in the regional language. And to move one step ahead, we should think of development of the content in regional dialects also. There is one beautiful experiment that we will be discussing under the heading of ‘Digital Green’ which has done lot of work in this direction. But how many such institutions and institutionalized efforts are there in this direction is a major issue.

If you look into the current content that is available on the Web, English is the dominating factor. But how many of the Indian farmers are compatible with the contents that are available in the English language. So this is what is the major issue. So the local languages as well as the dialects should be given emphasis, which is the major challenge before the extension professionals in using the ICT applications in agriculture. The vernacular language or the regional language development of the content is one of the issue, I have already said. And the content should be in such a way that it should satisfy the needs of the end-users or the client system.

When I talk of client system, it is not only the farmers. It is the service providers are also coming into the picture. So how can we satisfy the needs of these people as far as content in the regional as well as vernacular language is considered.

Traditional Use Behavior of Farmers

The traditional use behavior of farmers. As on date more than 120 crore people in India are using mobile telephones. About having said this it means almost every individual in the country is having an access to the mobile. But how are they using this mobile. One small survey that is conducted in the district Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, which in the 2019 reveals that every farmer is having a mobile, but they are using, only 28 farmers out of 150. These 28 farmers are using the mobile for the purpose of getting agricultural information by making use of Internet. It means they are using the mobile but the purpose is traditional. Maybe for making the calls or maybe for the entertainment purpose. There are a number of other purposes that they are using, but for getting the agricultural information they are not that familiar with. If you look into the behavior of these 28 farmers.

So maximum farmers are getting the weather forecast through this mobile. So number of agencies are there which are providing the weather forecast, and what kind of weather will be there in the coming 2 to 3 days. So that kind of alerts that they are getting through their mobile. And about 23 farmers are getting the news related to agriculture. And 24 farmers are getting the market related information. So this is what is the small survey just I am trying to put before you is. So this what shows the traditional use behavior of the farmers. And similar results that we find in different parts of the country. So this is one of the biggest challenge before making use of the ICT applications in agriculture.

Unidirectional Mode of Information and Delivery

Then the unidirectional mode of information and delivery.

• Majority of the websites are unidirectional in nature. It means you can get the information, but there is no provision for asking the questions and getting the response from the source. But such provisions are there in case of Web Portals. But the number of Web Portals are yet to be developed. There are certain examples that I will be discussing in our subsequent contents. But the number of such efforts are very less and this is what is one of the important challenge.
• Two way interaction is essential for understanding of the end-users. So that is why they are emphasizing on the interaction with the scientist or the concerned professional, so that they can get their doubts clarified.

Trained Extension Professionals

Trained extension professionals for providing the services related to the farmers, making use of information and communication technologies.

• So this training of the extension educationists is a different issue.
• And at the same time training of extension service providers is another issue.

When we are talking of training the extension educationist. It means that they should be well versed with the concepts of communication. The concepts of development of the content in the regional language. And making use of those contents by the end-users are the various issues. The content analyses of the content, that is what the scientists are providing. So these are number of issues that extension educationists are focusing. And the content what we are delivering; number of such issues. But when it comes to the extension service providers, who are developing these processes, who are looking into their own specific subject matter area.

They are providing the content to the extension educationists, and designing and modifying the content as per the needs of the farmer. So that is why both these groups of professionals need the training. This is what is another challenge before the inculcation of ICT applications in agriculture.

Social Factors

• A number of social factors like technophobia, there are many farmers, who are not using this technology just because of the phobic factors. We don’t want to use such type of things. So these type of feelings that the farmers are having.
• Negative attitude towards the technology. Specially forgetting appropriate information related to the agriculture and allied sciences.
• The demographic factors such as the age. The old age farmers doesn’t believe in getting the right information from using the sources. Then the less educated people are not that conversant with understanding the technology through e-mediation, so these are some of the social factors.

Other Key Factors

• Some other key factors which influence the process of delivery of information, and ultimately are posing as a challenge for making use of these ICT’s in agriculture. That is what is the scaling up of ICT in extension services. Number of efforts are being made as I have already said. 1.5 million websites are there but how many of them are really focusing on agriculture, that is in the regional language, that is in the local dialect. This is what is one of the issue. This is how the scaling up of extension services is another issue.
• Finding sustainable business models is one of the issue. Number of institutions are working on this but none of the mechanisms are yet to emerge out of these activities.
• Then integrating traditional media with new ICT’s in extending the reach of this extension is one of the issue, because when we talk of ICT the farmers are already familiar with the traditional ICT’s like maybe radio or TV. But when it comes to the use of Internet for the purpose of getting agriculture related information is one of the challenging factor. So that is how the integration needs to be taken up there.
• Capacities of farmers to search the information. Then how to get the needed information. For which what kind of keywords that I should use, and what are the different browsers that I can think of and what are the different destinations that I can think of. So this is another important challenge that the farmers are facing.
• Even if the information is simple and the message is fast and timely. Reception depends on the farmer’s understanding of the phone, computer or any other medium that is used. So what kind of personal digital assistants that I am using in accessing this information and how familiar I am with these PDA’s, and what kind of information that I can digest from these different sources. So this is another important issue.
• Customization is the key requirement for sustainability. So the customization depends on my receivers. How I am customizing the content according to the needs of my receivers is another important challenge before the extension professionals in integrating these ICT applications in agriculture.

Conclusion

To conclude we can say that ICT’s can offer opportunities to improve the quality ofe-extension advisory services. It has both positive as well as negative aspects. But if you look into the advantages, so definitely they outweigh the disadvantages. But the only thing is the involvement of the farmers and the other stakeholders into this particular effort, so that we can make efficient use of the information and communication technologies in providing the extension services in particular and agricultural development in general. With this we will be concluding this discussion. In the next discussion we will be talking of market led extension.

Thank You.