Beyond Market Prices: Improving Productivity and Proftability of Small Farmers
Available from people.ischool.berkeley.edu
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Beyond Market Prices: Improving Productivity and Proftability of Small Farmers
Beyond Market Prices:
Improving Productivity and Profitability of Small Farmers
Tapan S. Parikh • parikh@berkeley.edu
Improving Productivity and Profitability of Small Farmers
Tapan S. Parikh • parikh@berkeley.edu
Page 2
Agriculture and Development
•
The majority of the world’s poor make
their living from agriculture
•
Improving productivity and profitability is
the main pathway for development of the
poorest countries (WDR 2008)
•
Doing so more efficiently can reduce
natural resource consumption and impact
•
The majority of the world’s poor make
their living from agriculture
•
Improving productivity and profitability is
the main pathway for development of the
poorest countries (WDR 2008)
•
Doing so more efficiently can reduce
natural resource consumption and impact
Page 3
Page 4
Beyond Market Prices
•
Most work using and evaluating ICTs has
focused on providing market prices
•
While important, this ignores important
aspects:
•
Trust and Relationships
•
Quality and Productivity
•
Transportation and Logistics
•
Institutions (ex. cooperatives)
•
Most work using and evaluating ICTs has
focused on providing market prices
•
While important, this ignores important
aspects:
•
Trust and Relationships
•
Quality and Productivity
•
Transportation and Logistics
•
Institutions (ex. cooperatives)
Page 5
Two Projects
•
Digital ICS - Quality Control,
Certification and Marketing for
Cooperatives
•
Avaaj Otalo - Farmer to Farmer
Knowledge and Experience Sharing
•
Digital ICS - Quality Control,
Certification and Marketing for
Cooperatives
•
Avaaj Otalo - Farmer to Farmer
Knowledge and Experience Sharing
Page 6
Yael
Schwartzman
Schwartzman
Page 7
Internal Control
•
Certification (organic, etc.) and improved
quality allow small farmers to differentiate
their products and earn premiums
•
Cooperatives use Internal Control Systems to
ensure farmers are following best practices
•
Internal control and certification are both
labor and data-intensive
•
Certification (organic, etc.) and improved
quality allow small farmers to differentiate
their products and earn premiums
•
Cooperatives use Internal Control Systems to
ensure farmers are following best practices
•
Internal control and certification are both
labor and data-intensive
Page 8
Page 9
Digital ICS
Internal Inspectors
use mobile phones
to monitor
•
Growing practices
•
Parcels
•
Equipment
•
Neighboring crops
•
Substances used
•
Personal records
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
w/ Yael Schwartzman, CEPCO
Internal Inspectors
use mobile phones
to monitor
•
Growing practices
•
Parcels
•
Equipment
•
Neighboring crops
•
Substances used
•
Personal records
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
w/ Yael Schwartzman, CEPCO
Page 10
Page 11
Evaluators use
web application
for feedback and to
decide outcome
•
Approved
•
Sanctioned
•
Expelled
Digital ICS
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
web application
for feedback and to
decide outcome
•
Approved
•
Sanctioned
•
Expelled
Digital ICS
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
Page 12
Automatically
generates reports
•
External Certifiers
•
Internal Records
•
Producer Records
•
Extension Follow-up
Digital ICS
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
generates reports
•
External Certifiers
•
Internal Records
•
Producer Records
•
Extension Follow-up
Digital ICS
Inspection Evaluation Report Generation
Page 13
Page 14
Current Results
•
Deployed with 900 farmers
•
38% reduction in inspection time
•
69% reduction in evaluation time
•
$10,000 yearly savings for cooperative
•
Feedback from farmers used to inform
decision-making and governance
•
Service contract and interest from coops
•
Deployed with 900 farmers
•
38% reduction in inspection time
•
69% reduction in evaluation time
•
$10,000 yearly savings for cooperative
•
Feedback from farmers used to inform
decision-making and governance
•
Service contract and interest from coops
Page 15
• Trace coffee to parcel
•
Growing history
•
Farmer’s stories
•
Two-way communications
Digital ICS: Producer-2-Consumer
•
Growing history
•
Farmer’s stories
•
Two-way communications
Digital ICS: Producer-2-Consumer
Page 16
Research Questions
•
Data-driven form design
•
Organizing, understanding and acting upon
qualitative feedback
•
Open source business models
•
Impact on cooperative, farmer profits
•
Impact on consumer behavior
•
Data-driven form design
•
Organizing, understanding and acting upon
qualitative feedback
•
Open source business models
•
Impact on cooperative, farmer profits
•
Impact on consumer behavior
Page 17
•Farmers have many questions
•
Treating specific pests?
•
Fertilizer and chemicals to use?
•
Government and university extension
programs are costly, and still don’t reach
many farmers or address their concerns
•
Only accessible resource is local input dealer
•
No mechanism for contextualizing knowledge
Agricultural Extension
•
Treating specific pests?
•
Fertilizer and chemicals to use?
•
Government and university extension
programs are costly, and still don’t reach
many farmers or address their concerns
•
Only accessible resource is local input dealer
•
No mechanism for contextualizing knowledge
Agricultural Extension
Page 18
Neil Patel
Page 19
Avaaj Otalo
announcements
question &
answer
radio
broadcast
Sketches courtesy of Bill Verplank
announcements
question &
answer
radio
broadcast
Sketches courtesy of Bill Verplank
Page 20
Avaaj Otalo
•
Farmers call an IVR-based voice system to:
•
record and tag questions
•
review news, questions and answers
•
provide answers
•
popular questions are broadcast on radio
w/ Neil Patel, IBM, DSC
•
Farmers call an IVR-based voice system to:
•
record and tag questions
•
review news, questions and answers
•
provide answers
•
popular questions are broadcast on radio
w/ Neil Patel, IBM, DSC
Page 21
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Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Current Results
•
Pilot with 50 users since January 2009
•
Over 3500 calls per month (more then 2
calls per user per day!)
•
Three times as many questions answered
by other farmers, as by NGO experts
•
Pilot with 50 users since January 2009
•
Over 3500 calls per month (more then 2
calls per user per day!)
•
Three times as many questions answered
by other farmers, as by NGO experts
Page 26
Research Questions
•
Voice-based UI design
•
Tagging and searching audio content
•
Making voice-based systems easier to
design and deploy
•
Impact on technology / knowledge diffusion
•
Cost-benefit analysis
•
Voice-based UI design
•
Tagging and searching audio content
•
Making voice-based systems easier to
design and deploy
•
Impact on technology / knowledge diffusion
•
Cost-benefit analysis
Page 27
Conclusions
•
Providing farmers tools to help themselves
•
Empowering institutions
•
Cooperatives, NGOs, networks
•
Models can be transferred
•
Improving Feedback Loops
•
Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing
•
Sustainable replication is hard!
•
Providing farmers tools to help themselves
•
Empowering institutions
•
Cooperatives, NGOs, networks
•
Models can be transferred
•
Improving Feedback Loops
•
Peer-to-Peer Knowledge Sharing
•
Sustainable replication is hard!
Page 28
Thanks!
•
Yaw Anokwa, Kuang Chen, Brian DeRenzi,
Kurtis Heimerl, Neha Kumar, Neil Patel and
Yael Schwartzman
•
Asobagri, CEPCO, DSC and IBM
•
Nokia Research, Intel Research, Microsoft
Research, Unamesa and Transfair
•
UC Berkeley School of Information
•
Yaw Anokwa, Kuang Chen, Brian DeRenzi,
Kurtis Heimerl, Neha Kumar, Neil Patel and
Yael Schwartzman
•
Asobagri, CEPCO, DSC and IBM
•
Nokia Research, Intel Research, Microsoft
Research, Unamesa and Transfair
•
UC Berkeley School of Information
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