Content Management Process for m-Agriculture Platforms

Pier Paolo Ficarelli

- Knowledge Management & ICT for Agriculture -

Working Group Meeting Cape Town, 29th May, 2012

What some say about m-Agriculture

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• What is the use of delivering market information to a farmer with a

phone, if there is no road to market the produce (IFAD, report 2003)

• m-Agriculture is about tools, not about access and dissemination of

agricultural information (FAO, Rome 2010)

• We have farmer field schools for extension. Mobiles add no value to it.

(CGIAR Researcher, Delhi, 2011)

• Use of mobiles in rural areas is the last tactic for squeezing money at

the bottom of the pyramid (GIZ staff, Delhi 2010)

• Agro-Advisory on mobile: too much rubbish around (Mark Khan,

Omnivore Venture Capital, 2012)

• Adoption of a new agricultural practice requires a change of behaviour,

not an SMS (a colleague of mine, last week)

Farmers’ Information Needs

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Information to make a decision Which crop should I grow this year?

Where could I sell ? At what price?

Where can I buy this product?

Answers to a question How much drench should I give to my sheep?

How much pesticide should I use for my crop?

How much concentrate should I use for a cow that produces 5 liters of milk/day

Solutions to a problem Something is killing my crop!

The milk of two of my dairy cows comes out yellow/red!

What should I do?

Information System Impact Chain

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The Info system comprises the processes, people and technology featuring in

the design of a given ICT platform

The impact chain describes the contextual factors determining the impact of the

conveyance of a piece of information to users (design-reality check!)

Relevance is defined as the combination of the functional linkages for users to

make use of the content delivered by the platform

Feedback is the key feature to enable users to influence the Info system

Source: Glendenning & Ficarelli, 2011

Managing Content: Steps

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• A step-by-step process

• A time and resource intensive process, normally underestimated

• Highly processed content to allow information to users/farmers needs and

context to be customised

• The cycle is shaped as an upward spiral

Source: Glendenning & Ficarelli, 2011

Managing Content: Challenges

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Information Needs Analysis

Mainly Expert-to-Farmer Possible at scale? Farmer-to-Expert? Sample surveys useful?

Format

Limitations of SMS & Voice messages for agro-advisory: Videos? Audio+ Icons?

Sourcing

Content is dispersed and scattered: Agri-Google? Standards for congruity & authenticity ?

Access

Identified trend is towards close access of digital repositories: Regulations?

Localisation

Mainly based on outsiders’ knowledge and area criteria: Farmer knowledge?

Quality

It is delegated to experts and relies on implicit knowledge: External validation?

Feedback

Client satisfaction mainly anecdotal/based on sample surveys: Sufficient?

“Infomediaries”

Info-need articulation and advice translation require human facilitation: Viable?

Managing Content: Trade-offs

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Content

Impact

Usability

Quality Reach

Partnerships for

content relevance

Info-mediation for local facilitation

Linkages for

input provision

Timeliness for

seasonal relevance

Alliances for

content identification

Multi-channels for offering choice

Technology for real-

time feedback

Total Quality Mgt. for trustworthiness

Revenues for

economic viability

Managing Content: Quality Assurance

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A Local stakeholder/expert consultations, user feedback, focussed

discussion with farmer organisations

B-C Verifiable sources, validated by authority, updated, generic/localised

D Re-purposed for users, Type/format congruence, Verified translation

E Indexing metadata, Interoperability, SOPs

F Cost- effective, timeliness, scalability

Next Joint learning for continuous improvement

Co-evolving content & applications in the social space of users

What Others may say about m-Agriculture

The problem with the world is not that people know too little,

but that they know many things that ain't so

Mark Twain

What do we know that is so in m-Agriculture?

The Question What are the factors determining successful content

management and delivery in m-Agri?

The learning route 1. Sharing issues/obstacles/failures/successes

2. Turning issues/obstacles into Success Factors (SF)

3. Discussing the ingredients for each SF

4. Proposing promising recipes to be tried out in each SF

The journey duration One hour and a bit

The destination Let’s see how far we can travel!