ICT enabled Information Systems for Agricultural Development in India: Status, Issues and Future Directions

1. ICT enabled Information Systems for Agricultural Development in India: Status, Issues and Future Directions 16th December 2004 An Invited Presentation for IAITA Second National Workshop on `ICT in Agriculture and Rural Development’ at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute for Information and Communications Technology (DA-IICT) Gandhinagar Ajit Maru

2. Outline • Transformation of Indian Agriculture • New Models of Agricultural Information Systems • New Stakeholders to Agricultural Information Systems • Beyond Farmers: New clients for agricultural information • Need for New Institutions, Institutional Structures and Processes • Conclusions ajitmaru

3. Transformation of Indian Agriculture After attaining self sufficiency, the new challenge is to participate effectively in the highly competitive global agricultural markets. ajitmaru

4. Output Support To “Surplus” Producers Input Support To Basic Food Grain Producers “Protective” Agricultural Policies Such as Essential Commodities Minimum Support Price Market Intervention Mechanisms National Self – Sufficiency In Food Irrigation Energy Seed Fertilizers Direct Taxation Information Change in Policies Such as “Liberalization” and Introduction of New Marketing Structures With Transparency Withdrawal of Direct Inputs Support Allowing Inputs to be Exposed to Market Forces Greater Market Participation Ongoing Transformation of Indian Agriculture ajitmaru

5. Transformation of Indian Agriculture Being competitive globally requires information and new knowledge from beyond the conventional boundaries of local communities and markets. ajitmaru

6. Transformation of Indian Agriculture During the “green revolution” public sector extension met almost all the information needs of farmers. Most information needed was of local relevance and technological in nature. ajitmaru

7. Transformation of Indian Agriculture For the emerging challenge of market oriented agriculture, existing agricultural extension systems cannot meet the demands for new information. New agricultural information systems are now needed to satisfy the emerging demands from agricultural communities and agri-business. ajitmaru

8. New Models of Agricultural Information Systems New ICTs, especially Cellular Telephony and the Internet, central to providing connectivity for new generation of Agricultural Information Systems. As learned, when use of radio and television was introduced for agricultural extension, use of any new ICT brings forth new models of agricultural information systems. ajitmaru

9. New Models of Agricultural Information Systems New Models of Agricultural Information Systems, in addition to technology, will have to accommodate social, economic and political complexities to meet the demands of agricultural communities for information. ajitmaru

10. New Models of Agricultural Information Systems Appropriate models that make effective use of ICTs to generate, deliver and enable use of information by agricultural communities in India are lacking. ajitmaru

11. New Models of Agricultural Information Systems Most “proof of concept” applications in providing agricultural information have been technology centric and have had to struggle with issues of financial and social sustainability, scalability beyond a few villages or replication elsewhere. ajitmaru

12. New Models of Agricultural Information Systems Development of appropriate models of agricultural information systems will need to consider: • Who are the stakeholders to the “new” agricultural information systems? • Who are clients of these information systems? • What are the information needs of the clients? • What are “environmental” (social, economic and political) constraints to the development of these new information systems? • What new Institutions, Institutional structures and processes are needed to develop and manage effectively and efficiently the new agricultural information systems? ajitmaru

13. Current Information Flow in Agricultural Research and Extension Organizations (NARS) Farmers Research Manager Extension Support Researcher NARO Stakeholders Policy Makers ajitmaru

14. New Stakeholders to Agricultural Information Systems • Onus of agricultural innovation and transformation shifting from the public sector National Agricultural Research System (NARS) to the Agricultural Commodity Market Chain bringing new stakeholders to agricultural information systems. • New Stakeholders now include, in addition to the public sector NARS, the private sector, the small rural entrepreneur, agricultural service providers, the community sector and civil society organizations. ajitmaru

15. Pesticide Supply Seed Supplier Farmer Local Transporter Fertilizer Seller Consumer Storage Retail Marketing Market Retail Packaging Processing Bulk Transporter Retail Processing Packaging Information Flows in an Agricultural Innovation System Multiple Sources and Pluralistic Information Flows Farmers Extension Support Research Manager Researcher NARO Stakeholders Existing Policy Makers Future ajitmaru

16. New Stakeholders to Agricultural Information Systems • Key issue at the moment in the transformation of Indian agriculture is enabling the new stakeholders to be a part of the Agricultural Innovation System • The need is to create partnerships between the public sector NARS and the new stakeholders in the private and community sectors. • ITC E-Chaupal, Tata Kisan, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Warna initiatives indicate a new trend towards these partnerships. ajitmaru

17. New Stakeholders to Agricultural Information Systems • Key question, who will financially contribute to the development of these new Agricultural Information Systems? • Funding of the public sector NARS diminishing • Corporate sector unwilling to invest in what is considered “public” good • Policy makers must recognize that providing agricultural information will continue to remain a “public sector service” and will require public investment. ajitmaru

18. Beyond Farmers: New Clients for Agricultural Information • Many new stakeholders also new clients for agricultural information • New clients bring new information needs • Even information needs of farmers are changing from technological information to that which enables effective participation in markets • Existing agricultural extension systems, even if automated through use of ICTs, will not be sustainable if they are not demand responsive ajitmaru

19. Beyond Farmers: New Clients for Agricultural Information • Information needs of many new clients and means to satisfy them have not even been considered because most agricultural information systems in the public sector are planned to be “farmer” centric • ISAP, Agriwatch and ITC E-Chaupals are attempts to satisfy the needs of agribusiness market players ajitmaru

20. Environmental constraints • Illiteracy an overriding constraint in use of new ICT enabled Agricultural Information Systems • Lack of empowerment of women, youth and the economically weak also a major constraint • Weak and even dysfunctional Research-Extension-Farmer linkages • Lack of purchasing power for information of small and marginal farmers • Political neglect of agriculture ajitmaru

21. Environmental constraints • Need for “information cooperatives” for small and marginal farmers • Need for NGOs, who has led innovation in information systems for rural development, to focus on sustainability and scalability of rural information systems including for agriculture ajitmaru

22. New Institutions, Institutional Structures and Processes • Information needs of members of agricultural commodity chains fall into a continuum. • Not related to only 1 commodity but also to interrelations between commodities; e.g. tomatoes and tamarind • Information needs range across geographical and eco-regional distributions ajitmaru

23. New Institutions, Institutional Structures and Processes • There are pluralistic information flows within and across users which calls for significant integration of information to satisfy needs of a variety of users • Integration of information systems may require change in constitutional provisions for agriculture being a “State” subject to being on “Concurrent” list ajitmaru

24. New Institutions, Institutional Structures and Processes • Satisfying new information needs of a variety of users also implies greater integration of the NARS and coordination of its information system. • Technologies, such as data warehousing and use of distributed databases exist but the NARS will need to be restructured to collaborate more in sharing and exchanging information with private and community sectors • New processes to manage information and its flow across the NARS and the Agricultural Innovation System will be needed ajitmaru

25. A Generic Framework to enable ICT use in Agricultural Information Systems Information And Knowledge Intermediaries Clients And User Communities Information “Bus” Information Platform ARD “Information” Organization ajitmaru

26. A Generic Framework to enable ICT use in Agricultural Information Systems Information And Knowledge Intermediaries Capacity development to access and use Information and knowledge Advocacy and New Technologies for enabling access to information In Agricultural and Rural Communities Radio TV Cellular Telephones Websites E-Mail lists Clients And User Communities Information “Bus” Information Platform Capacity development to enable learning in communities ARD “Information” Organization “Integrating” ICM and ICT in work and Business process of ARD organizations through appropriate policies, strategies, resources allocation, capacity development, organizational structures and processes ajitmaru

27. Negotiation Multi-Stakeholder Learning Articulation Of Desirable Visions and Needs Action Shared Community Information Space Appropriate ICT Access Create Use Store Disseminate Information Policies And Strategies that enable, enhance and enlarge Community Information Spaces External Information Sources Support to develop Community Information Spaces Community Mobilization ajitmaru

28. Conclusions • Development of ICT enabled Agricultural Information Systems in India follows the “Stages” theory: • Infrastructure • Operationalization • Coordination and Control • Effective Use ajitmaru

29. Focus on Operational Issues such As Systems Design, Organizational Structures Focus on Infrastructure Such as Rural Connectivity, Content, Capacity Focus on Management, Coordination And Control Issues Including Intellectual Property Rights Focus on Strategic Use Issues Level Of IT Adoption Levels of Economy Adapted from V.K. Agarwal and Abid Haleem: Information Technology: Implementation Issues in India Stages of ICT Implementation Current Stage for India Cost of ICT Implementation ajitmaru

30. Conclusions ICTs transforming agriculture extension and agricultural extension is transforming use and application of ICTs. New and innovative uses of ICTs in agricultural extension are emerging. ajitmaru

31. Conclusions Key to success of ICT enabled information systems in India is the ability to generate and disseminate relevant and useful content in time to users and building capacity in user communities to use information to learn to articulate needs and negotiate action with stakeholders to their development. ajitmaru

32. Conclusions Current Indian Institutions, many of them in the public sector, are extremely weak in generating, managing and disseminating digital content and in their ability to mobilize communities. A content centric strategy with pluralistic flow of information to all users is required for the emerging models of Agricultural Information Systems. ajitmaru

33. Conclusions The new direction is towards partnerships and collaborative arrangements between Public, Private and Community organizations. Existing Institutions within each sector will need change to work in partnerships and through collaboration. ajitmaru

34. Conclusions The transformation of agricultural information systems demands new Institutions, Policy and Structural changes in existing Institutions that generate manage and disseminate agricultural information. ajitmaru

35. Conclusions Significant efforts are needed to be made to embed ICT in organizations that manage and process agricultural information. There is an urgent need to initiate mechanisms and processes to integrate information management and ICT at various levels including in generating content and developing and using applications and providing services. ajitmaru

36. Conclusions There are trends to indicate that the transformation of agricultural information systems in India is occurring. To accelerate this process, there is an urgent need for a policy dialogue among stakeholders that would lead to development of appropriate strategies for investment, both in terms of finance and capacity, to rapidly evolve and implement new models for Agricultural Information Systems. This is vital for the transformation of agriculture in India. ajitmaru

37. Thank You