Exploring ICT’s potential to help smallholder farmersEthiopia

• Funded by the Gates Foundation• Looking for high-impact ways to apply ICT to

small-holder agriculture to improve farmer livelihoods

Project Goals Introduction

What We Did Introduction

Our team: •Traveled• Observed• Interviewed• Brainstormed

• The only country in Africa that was never colonized• Lucy, Salem, Arc of the Covenant• Second most populated country in Africa• Ongoing war with Eritrea• History of famine and civil war – Conflict between the Communist party, “The Derg,” and

the Democratic Liberation Front, 1974 to 1991– Tigray people currently in power

• Half Christian, half Muslim• Has the greatest water reserves in Africa

Ethiopia Interesting Facts Introduction

• People– Over 80% of Ethiopians are farmers– The majority of them are barely at subsistence– Government has organized farmers into cooperatives and unions

• Land– No land ownership: land use rights– 4% of arable land is irrigated

• Crops– Teff, wheat and maize are the most common crops– Coffee and oilseeds (sesame) are most valuable exports– Other high-value crops are fruits (oranges, bananas) and vegetables

(tomatoes, onions, green beans)

Ethiopian Agriculture Overview

• Regions– Generally broken down by language

and ethnicity– 5 major languages but 50-80 total

• Woredas– Most farmer programs are managed at

district level

• Kabele– Villages or Peasant Associations are

the level at which extension, coops and Farmer Training Centers are organized

– Many are large enough to be split into sub-villages

Ethiopian Agriculture Government

Regions

Zones

Woredas (Districts)

Kabeli

(Village, PA, Tabia)

Sub-Village

• Trust– Bad experiences with gov programs (esp during Communism) and even some NGOs

have created a culture of distrust

• Relevance– Many “best practices” are not properly contextualized for specific areas– Farmers need to see that it will help them before buying in

• Inertia– Many farmers have been working the land for generations and don’t understand why

they need to change

• Access– Many farmers don’t have access to improved seed and fertilizer, or don’t have access to

finance to purchase them

• Stability– One bad year can cause a farmer to slip into poverty– Few programs to help them get out – become aid dependent

Ethiopian Agriculture Culture Challenges

• Sporadic electricity nation-wide• Government monopoly of communications infrastructure

– Cell phones• Even when full coverage, network often busy / non-responsive• SMS turned off for 2 years during last election• Certain websites blocked (Skype, Blogspot)• CDMA just introduced

– Data Network• Extremely slow, even in the capital city on a good day• Quality and quantity of cables very poor / sparse

– Radio permits• CB Radio permits difficult to obtain• Radio broadcasting expensive (national and regional radio – not much local

radio)

• Woreda NET• Ubiquitous use of flash drives

ICT in Ethiopia Introduction

CASE STUDIESLearning from what already exists

Rift Valley Children and Women Development

Case Study #1 Irrigation Cooperative

• Actions– Irrigation Infrastructure Developed

• RCWD initially funded canals, pumps• Land redistribution process

– Supported extension activities– Facilitated green bean market linkages (EthioFlora)– Encouraged household to save individually– Helped start a revolving fund

• 10% of farmer proceeds re-invested for all maintenance

• Results– Food secure, able to buy oxen, iron roofs,

improved community spirit

Case Study #1 Irrigation Cooperative

• Challenges– Required significant initial capital investment– Perceived lack of bargaining power with single buyer

• Takeaways– Immediately establishing that the coop is financially

responsible for community infrastructure– Significant effort needed to:

• build coop skills and convince them to pool resources • convince farmers to change growing practices

Case Study #1 Irrigation Cooperative

REST, Oxfam America, DECSI, Nyala

Case Study #2 Micro-Insurance

• Actions– Initial investment (irrigation infrastructure developed)

• Oxfam America funded river diversion project• Land redistribution process

– Agricultural Extension• Heavy use of demonstration plots• Community nursery• REST “tissue culture” facility

– Risk minimization• Crop diversification (fruit, vegetables, and teff) • Micro-Insurance (Nyala)

– DECSI Financing• Fertilizer and Input supplies

Case Study #2 Micro-Insurance

• Challenges– Irrigation Cooperative Capacity

• No community fund, no consensus on pooling resources• Other farmers at the periphery could potentially benefit

– Micro-insurance• Educating farmers about insurance; managing risk

• Takeaways– Even in drought-prone areas, farmers can protect

themselves– Establishing understanding of community savings is critical

Case Study #2 Micro-Insurance

Micro-Insurance Details• Swiss RE is the re-insurer• Requires a premium 22% of what they want to insure• Most farmers insured several hundred birr of their crop• Could enroll by paying labor (PSNP) or through cash• Payout determined through rain level• Major education initiative

– Chance games– Drama (acting out scenarios)

• 200 farmers signed up

Case Study #2 Micro-Insurance

JICA

Case Study #3 Farmer Field School

• Actions– WaBuBs (Walda Bulchiinsa Bosonaa)

“Forest Management Association”• Participatory Forest Management• Organic / fair trade certification• Management training

– Farmer Field Schools• Learn by doing / experimentation• DA or “graduated farmer” teacher• Mandatory attendance• Meet once a week for 3-4 hours• Learn by doing

Case Study #3 Farmer Field School

• Results–Motivated farmers– All farmers take what they learn and apply it

to their homesteads

• Challenges– Difficult for FFSs to learn from one another– FFS exchanges are extremely popular, but only

happen once a year– Decentralization makes monitoring hard

Case Study #3 Farmer Field School

• Takeaways– Importance of:• Taking ownership of the curriculum• Learning experimentation and

troubleshooting– Farmers learn by doing– Farmers are responsive to being taught by

one another

Case Study #3 Farmer Field School

Jimma

Case Study #4 Oromia Coffee Union

• Actions– Single-product focus– Building market leverage through high-volume transactions– Certification to earn a premium price– Engage in value-added services (washing, packaging)– Sell directly to exporters– “Triple Payout”

• Results– Dividend payments– Community Infrastructure projects– Sufficient revenue to re-invest in business and community

Case Study #4 Oromia Coffee Union

• Challenges– Organizational capacity of cooperatives varies

according to:• Leadership / business savvy• Planning• Reporting

– Traceability needed to ensure continued certification

Case Study #4 Oromia Coffee Union

• Takeaways– Large-volume unions build market leverage and

give higher premiums to farmers– Community savings can lead to further income

increases in the future through investment– Major incentives exist that entice farmers to join

• Open Questions– Can this success be replicated for other cash

crops?

Case Study #4 Oromia Coffee Union

ILRI, CEDA

Case Study #5 IPMS

• Actions (4 Pillars)– Knowledge Management

• IPMS Knowledge Portal• Regional and local “Knowledge Centers”

– Agricultural training materials– TV & DVD players– PC & phone line / CDMA-based modem

• Knowledge exchanges – farmer field days, field trips, etc.• Experimentation with training curriculums to farmers

– Capacity Building• Training and short courses for DAs

– Innovation & Commodity Development• Production techniques• Market linkage

– Research

Case Study #5 IPMS

• Results – Still being evaluated, but preliminary feedback:• DVDs and “farmer field days” are wildly popular• DAs interviewed reported using Internet – connectivity

surprisingly fast using CDMA

• Challenges– Computer literacy– Access to electricity– Network

Case Study #5 IPMS

• Takeaways– Farmers learn from each other’s successes– It is possible to have supplementary ICT at the FTC

level– Could be an initial platform for enhanced 2-way

communication

Case Study #5 IPMS

Meki and Wonji

Case Study #6 Catholic Relief Services

• ActionsCRS uses an integrated approach– Education– Food Security

• Extension Work• Provision of Improved Seeds• Fertilizer

– Health• Promoting Savings & Credit groups through

Metamamen• Supplementing traditional extension and coop/union

system

Case Study #5 Catholic Relief Services

• Results– Access to new seeds and fertilizer– Improved farming techniques

• Challenges– Will investment in Haricot bean value chain improve

farmers’ livelihoods?– Limited access to finance– Water supply issues– Under-developed irrigation– Organizational Capacity

Case Study #6 Catholic Relief Services

• Takeaways– Organizing Coops focused on high-value crops can

improve farmer livelihoods– Creating a new value chain is very difficult and

costly– Need proper incentives to achieve quality

improvements– Access to finance and water are critical for any

program

Case Study #6 Catholic Relief Services

TAMPA and the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX)

Case Study #7 Market Prices

TAMPA - Tigray

Case Study #7 Market Prices

ECX

Case Study #7 Market Prices

CHALLENGES, STRENGTHS, AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Summarizing Field Observations

Summary Challenges

Financing & Inputs

• Lack of access

• Shortage of supply

Agricultural Training

• Lack of resources

• Demonstration of relevance

Organizational Capacity

•Leadership capacity of cooperatives, unions, and farmer groups•Farmer participation

Communication

•Limited infrastructure•Lack of two-way communication

Summary Field Observations

RCWD

REST Micro-Insurance

JICA FFS

Oromia Coffee Union

IPMS

CRS

Strengths Challenges

•Organizational capacity•Incentives for participation•Community savings and investing

•Market linkages•Reliance on single buyer•Quality control

•High-value crop production•Access to household loans•Financial protection

•Community decision-making ability•Little community investment

•Strong education program•Farmer ownership of curriculum•Emphasis on experimentation

•Short-term pilot•Dependence on government

•Well organized union and coops•Emphasis on value-add services•Substantial community investing

•May only be possible with Coffee•Scaling and management training

•Advanced ICT infrastructure•Centralization of knowledge•Farmer to farmer connections

•Short-term pilot•Heavy investment requirements•ICT impact is mostly at DA level

•Integrated development approach•Building organizational capacity•Forging market linkages

•Access to credit / financing•Capacity of coops / unions

Question Adiha Tabia River Diversion

Project (REST & Oxfam America) How do we convince members of

the cooperative to save collectively to invest in community infrastructure?

Answer Haleku Melka TessoIrrigation

Cooperative (RCWD) Members have agreed (by

consensus) to give 10% of their profits back to the cooperative!

Challenges Address Organizational Capacity

Question Farmers in Meki and Wonji

(CRS) How do we provide a buffer

for our farmers when drought is endemic to our area?

Answer Adiha River Diversion Project

(REST & Oxfam America) Invest in crop insurance

based on rainfall measurements.

Challenges Address Financing

Question Farmer Field Schools – Jimma How do I build a

“modern”beehive with local materials?

Answer IPMS – Gondar We’ve already produced a

photo essay / case study outlining how to do this!

Challenges Address Agriculture Techniques

Question Haleku Melka Tesso Irrigation

Cooperative How do we organize into a

like-minded cooperative union to get higher prices?

Answer Oromia Coffee Union We engage in value-add

services and export directly to International buyers!

Challenges Address Sales & Marketing

IDEAS FOR ICT IN ETHIOPIAEducation platform and streamlining finance

• Farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing using multimedia for things like– agricultural practices– how financing works– how community savings works– how value-added services work

• Expanding access to micro-finance using handheld devices to enhance:– Efficiency in coverage– Data entry & reporting– Transparency

ICT Ideas Overview Potential Ideas

• Enhancing field-to-office and office-to-field communication using structured communication tools using synchronization software. Example:– Field collects GPS coordinates, photos, and data about

drinking water– Data is saved in a standard format (using some software)

and put onto a USB thumb drive (automatically)– Thumb drive is driven to headquarters, synchronized with

the central GIS repository (automatically)– Everyone has access to the data -- if every field office did

this, large, integrated databases could be compiled relatively easily

ICT Ideas Overview Potential Ideas

Farmer to Farmer Video Sharing

A grassroots peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing network

• Farmers learn best from other farmers

• Farmers are risk averse• Farmers believe

demonstrations• Farmer, empowered by

experts, are ultimately the most effective teachers

• Farmers are capable and eager to learn when they perceive information as relevant

Knowledge Sharing Lessons Learned

• Agricultural Extension– New agricultural practices improving productivity– Moving beyond subsistence farming

• Business– Exploring market linkage opportunities– Certification– Value-added post-harvest techniques– Insurance and risk-minimization

• Organizational Capacity– Conflict resolution– Allocating community resources– Financing

Knowledge Sharing Existing Innovations

• What if there were a way to easily empower model farmers to be teachers?

• What if farmers in one village could quickly benefit from innovations in a similarly-situated village?

• What if newfound knowledge could quickly be put into action using information on how to obtain inputs and finance?

Knowledge Sharing Developing a Tool

• Supplementing agricultural extension using DVDs

• Participatory content production– DAs followed template and film:

• Farmers demonstrating techniques

• Farmers giving testimonials

– Footage shipped to regional video editor

– Footage edited, annotated, indexed, and submitted to central repository

Photo taken from http://www.digitalgreen.org, courtesy of Rajesh Veeraraghavan

Digital Green A Story from India

• Disseminating Content– DVDs mailed from central repository to target field

schools– DVDs are publically screened with minimally trained

mediator (3x / week)– Relevant input supplies are made available for purchase– DVD content coordinated according to seasonal

relevance • Results / Effectiveness

– 10 times more effective (per dollar spent) than traditional extension (according to their data and assumptions).

Digital Green A Story from India

• Applying Digital Green in Ethiopia– Videos (farmer to farmer)– Photos and audio– Audio (broadcast over radio)

Digital Green Applying it to Ethiopia

Handhelds for MFIs

Increasing access to financing through digital forms

Addressed Challenges

•Farmers do not have access or education about financial services•Many have to walk long distances to local branches

Limited Coverage

•Usage of DAs as intermediary is problematic•Interferes with education role and strains relationshipsUse of DAs•Many MFIs manually track records in Excel•Large amount of required labor and opportunity for error due to data entryLack of MIS

•There is more demand for loans than supply of capital•Borrowing from commercial banks can cost up to 8%

Capital Shortage

Proposal Field Agent

• Handheld device with interactive forms requiring minimal training

• Questions to determine loan packages that are available for individual farmer

• Collect enough data to process loan application

• Field Agent can quickly process dozens of farmers

Proposal Internal Processing

Downloading •All data is downloaded directly into an electronic data management system•Applications can be processed immediately

Integration •Data can be sent electronically (via flash drive or email) to central branch•Data can be formatted to work with any software

Reporting •Preset reports can be instantly generated from electronic data•Monitoring can also be fully integrated

• Eliminate DA involvement

• Each agent could cover ~10 sub-villages per week

• Monthly contact with every sub-village

• 1 branch with 5 agents can cover 200 sub-villages

Impact Coverage

Impact Efficiency

• Low cost field agents given large potential coverage area

• Reduced data entry time, labor and errors

• Improved tracking and reporting

Impact Capital Raising

Increased Attractiveness to Investment

ROI• Increased efficiency

reduces costs• Lower costs increase ROI

Transparency• Handhelds facilitate

monitoring• Electronic data

management improves reporting

Growth• Handhelds increase

farmer access to loans• Increased access creates

strong portfolio growth

Traceability Tool for Certification

• Certification can add up to a 25% premium on the sale price of a commodity

• Could entice greater participation in coop / union value chain

• Requires the ability to trace produce to the farmer, no basic farmer attributes (land owned, amount earned, assets, etc.)

• Much of this information is already collected by the DA

Traceability Tool Introduction

• Collection– Data, such as quantity produced, farmer who

produced it, basic farmer attributes, could be entered into a small handheld or PC form.

• Transmission– Data could be transmitted to central repository over

the network, by flash drive, or by paper form• Storage– Data could be kept in a central database (hosted by

the cooperative union)

Traceability Tool Proposal

• Corresponding grain from the farmer could be labeled as it is given to the primary cooperative

• Could also provide a quality feedback mechanism – ACOS could flag producers by shipment, which could be traced to the individual farmer.

Traceability Tool Proposal

• Internal inspection and traceability system evaluated in coffee cooperative in Mexico (UC Berkeley project – Digital ICS).

• Results:– Deployed with over 2,000 farmers– 30% reduction in inspection time– 71% reduction in evaluation time– $4,000 yearly savings for cooperatives– Feedback from farmers used to inform decision-

making and governance

Traceability Tool Success in Mexico

Structured Two-Way Communication

Architecture FTC Communication Network

File Transfer•New content files added•New FTC files uploaded

Headquarters

File TransferNetwork/US

B FTC

Client Software•Arrange views•Select content•Input data•Synchronize

Server Software•Content Repository files• Training materials• Accessing inputs• Stories

•Database•Synchronize

• Could be used for information dissemination– Training materials for crop diversification– Farmers group organizational tools

• Or structured communication– Request for farm inputs (packages)– MFI Application Form– Farmer asset data tracking

Modules FTC Communication Network

The same modules could be packaged in different ways…

• Farmer View – Graphics, visualizations, and photos– MP3s & recordings of radio broadcasts– Videos– “How to” training materials

• DA View– Training materials– Forms / Worksheets

Views of the Information FTC Communication Network

Rift Valley Water Cooperative

Narrative View FTC Communication Network

TeffMaizeWheatOnions & TomatosHaricot Beans

Media •Video•Audio

Financing •Information•Application

Markets •Buyers•Cooperative Union

Keys to Success

•Lessons Learned•Favorite Tools

Telling a Story FTC Communication Network

Questions?Thank you to CRS, Oxfam America, REST, RCWD, IPMS, JICA, IDE, Oromia Coffee Union, and everyone else for helping us learn and giving us perspective