TELECENTRES , BRIDGES TO AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN

1. TELECENTRES, BRIDGES TO AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN “HAITI -CAP ROUGE NIMERIK” PROJECT Kurt JEAN-CHARLES (kjcharles@solutions.ht) Co Founder of SOLUTIONS S.A.Project Manager for CAP ROUJ NIMERIK SANTO-DOMINGO 28th -29th April 2011

2. Contents • Project Background and Partners • Project Description • The case for ICT in rural area • Real Challenges – lessons

3. CONCERNS AND ORIGINAL PARTNERS French companyspecialized in coffee processing and marketing. Number One Fair Trade coffee importer for Europe in Haiti. How canweimproveour coffee business with Haiti and make an impact on smallproducer’scommunities ? « MBDS Haïti» Joint ICT Master Program supported by University of Nice and Haïti’s State University. Whatcanwe prototype as ICT applications aimedat rural areas ? National federation of coffee farmerswith more than 20 000 membersthroughout the country. The FACN owns the famous «haitianblue» coffee label How canweimprovefarmerscapacity and results and show impact fromgrowing coffee on ourcommunities?

4. « Cap Rouge  NIMERIK »Project Objectives • Why Coffee?? • Industrial and cultural tradition in rural and urban area(coffee is grown in every rural village even if it is for local consumers) • Impact on environment (coffee plants need shade and tree to grow and give fruits) • Quality and market demand

5. « Cap Rouge  NIMERIK »Project Objectives • Define and automate Traceability processes “from the coffee tree to the consumer’s cup “ • Provide connectivity between the rural communities to share data on their operations and make decision on a real time basis • Provide information as an added value to the coffee brand in an innovative but intuitive way Strenghts • Reputation of Haitian Coffee ( Haitian Bleue) (listed in the top 10 world reknown gourmet coffee). • Existing structure of smallproducerscommunityfamiliarwithFair Trade concepts. TAKING INTO ACCOUNT Weaknesses • Inefficient infrastructure, production capacity and seriouslylow volumes and capitals. • Poorlevel of educationat the rural level

6. “Cap rouge Numerik”Project Description • Targeted users • Small coffee producers communities • Provide technology efficient traceability tools to reinforce their production processes. • Create added value by linking the product to the grower and his community story • Industrial Production managers • Provide an aggregated dashboard of production at the country level with all communities using the system • Allow smarter resources allocation (cash flow and industrial batch planning) • Provide a portal to importers to access traceability data and communities background information on the products to integrate with their own systems and processes • Final Consumer of packaged products • Provide access to traceability (from the tree to the cup) information and updated communities background from the package using NFC technologies or web portals

7. One of the coffee processing plant

8. transport Simplified sketch of the system PDA ou téléphone communicant, lecteur RFID Système central Voit l’état des stocks Contrôleur 5 Gestionnaire de la coopérative 2 4 Portique lecteur RFID 1 3 Tag RFID Pays Entrepôt

9. Container Haïti 1 Entrepôt Container 3 module de suivi du container transporteur 2 4 Contrôleur Système central France Responsable qualité 5 Simplified sketch of the system (II)

10. Technical Requirements for the project • RFID enabled mobile devices !!!? • Internet Connectivity in rural and remote area!!! • Electricity ! Computers ? • Technology Proof traceabilityprocesses RFID Tag

11. Implementation challenges • The initial pilot location: 3 hourswith a 4x4 … then 3 hourswalk … • Cost of Electricity and Connectivity • Maintenance concerns • Accessibility for ourstudents and teachers… • Weneeded more funding and otherpartners

12. Making it to implementation … • Choose another pilot location accessible (most of the time) by car (4x4 of course) • Find new partners: • ALCATEL-LUCENT providing its latest WIMAX rev-D platform • Voila, a local GSM Operator providing the broadband connection through the Wimax equipments and building a GSM site in a remote area • Find Funds from different stakeholders to finance • Solar powered electrical capacity • A community center with access to computers and broadband internet

13. …with positive side effects Reuse the broadband access to provide internet connection to the local schools Create specific training activities for students and for teachers Create a community center with access to 2 precious resources (electricity and connectivity) Create a sustainable model and a consistent lab for prototyping solutions for the rural needs

14. …and new ambitions Replicate the model at the country level Adapt the traceability model to any agro industry requirements by making it flexible and product agnostic Help rural communities produce their own content on their web sites Combine rural community radio with internet access to test new community services like radio show to read non sensitive and urgent emails from family in the diaspora Develop new applications (mobile phone target) aimed at the rural needs in Haiti

15. Launch project, Cap Rouge, Haïti 2008

16. From 2008 to 2011 Impact of climate disasters (hurricane season of 2008) and production crisis for coffee Content and Accessibility for the small farmers and the community Reaching sustainability for the facility 4. ReActivate the brand for 2012 with Malongo 5. Scale up to other vectors and create clusters involving different production sectors to improve economic and social resilience

17. Thank you