Agriculture, Supply Chain, Best Practices, Markets

Pedro LichtleMian Ahsan AhmedAadam SoormaYing Li

Nokia Life

Nokia LifeLocalized information including

weather conditions, advice about crop cycles, general tips and techniques, as well as market prices for crops.

Farmers in the pilot scheme said getting daily prices on their phones reduced their dependency on agents for basic information, enabling them to negotiate with greater confidence.

Nokia LifeNokia Life was launched in 2009 for

“emerging market” customersStarted in India; has been rolled out in

Indonesia, China & Nigeria◦ Farmers pay $1/month for the service

Farmers receive customizable daily text updates:◦ Growing advice, weather forecasts, market

prices

Nokia LifeFarmers have seen drastic improvements

in their farm output◦ It’s considered an “agricultural input cost” due

to necessity◦ It has removed the “guesswork” associated with

pricing◦ Can farm more confidently

Still room for improvement◦ Farmers request customer service via photo

uploading Example: farmer sends in photo of infected crop Farmer receives a diagnosis reply with treatment advice

Financial Times ArticleLast week’s Financial Times ran a

relevant article◦ Mobile devices: Phones give farmers an

edge when in the field◦ Nov. 21, 2012◦ http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/490e9f88-29eb-11e2-a5ca-

00144feabdc0.html#axzz2DNO6wtz6

ICT Solutions in Pakistan

Video on ICT Agriculture

Video– ICT based agriculture-solutions in Pakistan

--By CABI

Question:1. Briefly describe(in a few

sentences) the goal of ICT implementation into agriculture markets.

2. If CABI conducts a follow up study, how can they increase user feedback and streamline support units?

3. What can be done differently in a following study?

Promoting ICT investment in Cassava Value Chains in NigeriaWhat is a value chain?Cassava is consumed by 80% of

people living in rural Nigeria daily.How can ICT be used to promote the

productivity and growth of firms?Show how firm characteristics such

of SME’s influence ICT effectiveness.Study conducted involved growers,

processors and marketers.

QuestionsOut of the three categories,

growers, processors and markets, who are most likely to reap the benefits of using ICT and why?

Why does ICT ownership have more of an influence on SME output than ICT investment or frequency of use?

Linking Supply Chain MarketsDeveloped countries—Australia Problem: Primary grocery producers ineffectively participate

in supply chaina). Australia’s uneven geographic spread. A small number of large cities .vs. the vast and

sparsely populated rural areas. b). Primary grocery producers don’t have time

to access the internet. They have to spend most of their time in the field. c).Grocery industry was mainly controlled by

two major retail chains: Woolworths and Coles.

Question:How to use technology to help

organic primary producers enhance information access and provision, so as to improve the integration into the grocery supply chain? （ Australia has strong mobile support. ）

Solutions:Design:A mobile commerce technology

for organic primary producers effective participation in the grocery supply chain.

MobiCert Login and Home Screen

Mobile ApplicationName : MobiCert Functions: Record-keeping; Database

access; Weather Information; Information access and provision and community features into one platform.

Benefitsa). Accessing and exchanging

information in filed using a mobile device.

b). The approved input database allows organic producers to check any input quickly.

c). Improving the communication between organic primary producers and strengthen their inter-relationship.

COMMONSense Net: A Wireless Sensor Network for Resource-Poor Agriculture in the Semiarid Areas of Developing Countries

Panchard, J., Rao, S., Prabhakar, T. V., Hubaux, J. P., & Jamadagni, H. S. (2007)

Key IssuesResource-poor farmers

High rate of suicides

Increasing debt

Crop failure

SolutionImproving environment

monitoring

Providing decision-support system

Using technologies◦Wireless sensor networks (WSNs)

Design and ImplementationUse of participatory and iterative design

Employment of a field survey (10 months, 3 villages)

Deployment of WSNs (fully scalable)◦Calibration◦Alert◦Soil Moisture Prediction◦Water Requirements Assessment

Reliable Data Gathering

Source: www.commonsensenet.in

Bicycle Datamule

Source: www.commonsensenet.in

WSNs’ CharacteristicsConsiderations Limitations (first results)

Minimum Range of 100m (Up to 1km is desirable)

Durability of nodes of 6 months (cropping season)

Ideally using alkaline batteries or small solar panel

Range of 200m

Durability of nodes of 2 months (soil moisture use just 1 month)

Alkaline batteries

Improvements (1st Iteration) New wireless sensor platform

◦Range from 300m to 1km◦More attractive power consumption

New data acquisition board◦Customized for soil moirture ◦3.6-V lithium battery

New software◦Life-time of up to 5 years

QuestionsIs the project succesful?

How could you improve the COMMONSense Net project?◦ Scalability◦ Economic Sustainability

Do you think that the COMMONSense Net project should be replicated in other developing countries? Why?◦ Design/implementation gaps: hybrids◦ Computer literate operators