digital GREEN http://www.digital green .org

1. digitalGREEN http://www.digitalgreen.org

2. Agriculture in India A farmer from Yellachavadi village, outside of Bangalore 600M agriculture-dependent lives Majority small landholders (<3 acres) <$2 a day ($750 a year) Growing debts ($300 per year per farmer) Earlier technology intervention… • Green revolution had mixed results • Increased yields, but… • Led to rising input costs, declining soil fertility • Due to excessive use of fertilizers/pesticides Indiscriminate use of technology partially responsible for current agrarian crisis 2

3. Agricultural Systems? Credit card Low literacy in local lang expert farmer No bank account Poor roads Market No unique ID Quantity buyers Poor quality control Expensive credit Computing device and connectivity not enough!

4. Agriculture Extension Dissemination of expert agriculture information and technology to farmers “Training & Visit” extension popularized by the World Bank in 1970s Face-to-face interactions of extension officers and farmers 100,000 extension officers in India Extension agent-to-farmer ratio is 1: 2,000 610,000 villages in India with average 1,000-person population Typical extension officer salary is Rs. 4,000 per month Extension officer “commuting” between farms 4

5. IT & Indian Agriculture • Kiosks with Internet access for farmers • aAqua • Pull-based Question and Answer Krithi Ramamritham, IIT Mumbai • eSagu • Push-based Expert Review of Digital Photos Krishna Reddy, IIIT Hyderabad

6. Agricultural Social Networks ? Main source of information about new technology and farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005) 6

7. The Problem How can the speed and effectiveness of agriculture extension be improved at a reasonable cost? Extension officer on-field demonstration 7

8. Digital Video for Extension Video provides… • Resource-savings: human, cost, time • Accessibility for non-literate farmers 8

9. Parameters Varied Early Experimentation Early Experimentation Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination, Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc. Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination, Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc. Six months in field trying various combinations Over 200 days of surveys, ethnographic investigation, and iterative design 9

10. Participatory Content Production Introduction to innovations Standard extension procedure Rough “storyboarding” Repetitive pattern; easy to learn Minimize post-production Local farmers on their own fields Reduce perception of “teachers” Promote “local stars” Digital Green System 10

11. Digital Green System Video Database Online video database (http://www.digitalgreen.org) >500 videos of 8-10 minutes each Quality-control, minor video editing, and metadata tagging Indexed by type, topic, locale, season, crop, etc. Distributed via DVD 11

12. Digital Green System Mediated Instruction • Local mediator • Performance-based honorarium • Human engagement • Field questions, capture feedback, encourage participation • Balance genders • On-demand screenings • Choice time and place • Not “stand-alone” kiosk • Support and monitoring • Daily metrics and feedback • Official extension staff 12

13. Digital Green System Structured Sequencing Practices with longer-term visible rewards Community Assessment Practices with short-term visible rewards Group Participation Audience Awareness Season Location Time 13

14. Digital Green System Participatory content production Video database Mediated instruction Structured sequencing 14

15. Experimental Set-Up Preliminary Evaluation 15-month study • 21 villages in Karnataka: • Language: Kannada • Crops: Ragi, banana, mulberry, coconut • Population: 50-80 households • Irrigation: 10-20 households with access • Television: 15-20 households • Metrics: • Knowledge: Before-and-after • Attendance: Farmers at each screening • Interest: Intent to take-up a practice • Adoption: Number of households taking up each new farming practice or technology • Classical GREEN (8) • Same as usual Expert • Digital Green (9) • 3 sessions per week • Cost: • Rs. 9,500 ($240) for TV/DVD per village • PC / camera costs shared • Extension officer shared • Mediator salary • Accountability: • Daily metrics and feedback • Official extension staff Research Assistant Extension Officer Local Mediator Local Mediator Local Mediator • Poster Green(3) • Same as Digital Green with local mediator, but no TV/DVD • Mediator makes posters and holds regular group sessions Farming Community Farming Community Farming Community • Audio Green (1) • Same as Poster Green with • MP3 audio tracks from videos 15

16. Digital Green: Early Results 7 times more adoptions over classical extension Sustained local presence Mediation Repetition (and novelty) Integration into existing extension operations Social homophily between mediator, actor, and farmer Desire to be “on TV” Trust built from identities of farmers and villages in videos 15 months: 13 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars 16

17. Cost-Benefit Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale Digital Green is at least 10 timesmore effective per dollar spent than classical extension! 17

18. $200 $100

19. Digital Green System Network Effect • Viral Web 2.0 in the Web-less world • Content ecosystem: education, entrepreneurship, entertainment • Cost-realistic access: pico projectors, TVs, DVD players, and camcorders • Reinforce existing social networks to diffuse innovations through communities • Local “idol” competitions to be a better farmer 3 1 19 2

21. >650M Farm-dependent

23. Digital Green System Platform Online Offline (no/low connectivity) Browser-based input Data stored in local database Synchronized when connectivity available Cloud-based central database Synchronized with local databases 23

24. Digital Green System COCO www.digitalgreen.org/tech

25. Digital Green System Platform Robust system to share, track, and analyse data to manage operations and target interventions over time Analytics dashboard built on top of a simple yet robust data entry system that can toggle between online and offline connectivity modes http://www.digitalgreen.org/ 100,000 simultaneous offline users Offline mode 10x faster than online 25

26. Digital Green System Analytics analytics.digitalgreen.org

27. Non-Non-Profit Digital Green Digital Green’s value to farmers is established. Could DG be supported by ads? Advertisers get access to a distributed, captive audience with demonstrated interest in better agriculture. Ads follow Digital Green’s distribution channels. To do: • Scale Digital Green • Devise mechanism for ensuring appropriate ads • Quantify ad effectiveness • Quantify ad value to advertisers Subsidize agriculture extension with ads? Digital Green DVD title screen

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31. VARRAT 31

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33. Digital Green 2.0 Over three years, improve the cost-effectiveness of the existing people-based extension systems of our partners by a factor of 3-times, per dollar spent, to improve the livelihoods of 60,000 smallholder farmers in 1,200 villages in India. 33

38. Thanks! http://www.digitalgreen.org team@digitalgreen.org