ICT and Agriculture : Benefiting the Poor

Transcription

1 ICT and Agriculture : Benefiting the Poor Presented by Md. Asad-Ur-Rahman Nile Senior Business Consultant Swisscontact, Katalyst Geneva, Switzerland May 2012

2 A real life story Moharaja Hossain A 32 year old farmer, from Pantapara village, Sharsha of Jessore District, with little formal education. On average his yearly earning is BDT 50,000 ( USD 595) Last season, Moharaj observed that the leaves of his bitter gourds were curling up. This disease was gradually spreading and diminishing his gourds. Within 15 days, approximately 160 Kgs of what could have been his produces got damaged. He was unable to find solutions from regular sources. Finally after 15days he took the solution from one of the telecentre s known as Grameenphone Community Information Centre (GPCIC) and managed to save his produces. At the end of the season he earned BDT (USD 214)

3 Content Katalyst at a Glance ICT & Bangladesh The Constraint and Katalyst Strategy Innovations with private sector Grameenphone CIC experience Banglalink Agri-helpline experience Impact Lessons Learned Way Forward

4 Katalyst at a Glance Phase I Phase II Donors Implementers DFID DFID SDC SDC SIDA CIDA The Embassy of Netherlands Swisscontact, Swisscontact, GTZ-IS GTZ-IS Duration Oct Mar Mar Mar 13 Budget US$ 20 million US$ 45 million Line Ministry Ministry of Commerce Ministry of Commerce

5 Katalyst Approach Govt. Supporting Functions Information Informing & Communication Private Sector Demand Core Supply Informal network Regulations Standards Setting & Enforcing Rules Rules Laws Informal Rules & Norms Business Membership Organizations Source: The Springfield Centre

6 The Constraints ADVANCED MARKETING PROCESS Limited access to ICT tools and technology Lack of appropriate ICTbased service offers targeting rural sectors Lack of appropriate policy support for growth of ICT based services Growth Potential of The Farmers Low awareness and usage of among rural people Service Delivery Lack of adequate skill set among service providers

7 Katalyst Strategy

8 Partnership with Grameenphone (GP) Katalyst To develop a delivery channel To create a sustainable mechanism for access to technology and information To develop a private sector led & commercially viable ecosystem for accessing agriculture information Grameenphone To create a strong rural presence To develop potential touch-points for products and services To develop the rural segments with bundle of Value Added Services (VAS) To promote data usage in rural areas Partnership formed

9 The CIC s Grameenphone (GP) branded rural telecentre Franchise model GP provides technology, branding material, training Entrepreneur invests in equipments & establishments Standardized Bundle of services Information services IT-enabled services Top-up, photography, telco-products Commercially motivated entrepreneurs Without any subsidy

10 The Ecosystem Katalyst GP Developing commercial content provider Capacity building of the service providers Promotion Service integration Monitoring and advice Commercial content providers developed The channels became efficient in delivery Awareness increased Number of services increased Business case strengthened A sustainable delivery channel to deliver agriculture information with nationwide outreach

11 Deepening the Impact Now What? More than 18 million farmers High & growing tele-density High latent demand of information Interested private sector partners Ecosystem of commercial content providers needed more opportunities

12 Katalyst Banglalink Partnership with Banglalink Improved performance of farmers & rural entrepreneurs Katalyst Banglalink Value added services for more market share in rural markets Market assessment Capacity building Content/Service development Promotion Branded Value added service for targeted customers Capacity building of the Call Center service provider Demand stimulation and promotion of VAS

13 The Outcome: Bangallink Agri-helpline 7676 A call-centre offering only agriculture related solution Commercially operated Branded by the second large mobile phone operator Banglalink Commercial content provider, commercial callcentre Human interface not IVR based Affordable for the farmers (0.06 USD / Min)

14 Service Delivery Model Customers dial a short code 7676 Routed to a call center Agents provide the info over phone Call center agents receive customers call Agents browse the database and finds the solution If the information is not available in the database Customer is called back Agents take notes of queries Support team gathers info Database is updated

15 The Impact There are more than 500 CIC s in rural areas of Bangladesh The average footfall in each CIC is 100 per day Cumulative access outreach from March June 2011 is 1.5 million+ only from the Grameenphone Cumulative benefit outreach from March June 2011 is 600,000+ Impact of Banglalink Agriculture helpline from Jan 11 to Dec 11 Relevant calls 32,904 Repeat calls 22% (7,219) Asia Mobile Awards 2009, organized by the GSM Association Nomination in The World Communication Award 2009 and The Global Mobile Award Source: Katalyst Annual Report 2011, Banglalink & Grameenphone

16 Agriculture Information The demand of agriculture information services is low compare to other services but its growing slowly Specialized Agriculture information like online based Fertilizer Recommendation System has been integrated in both the platforms The reasons behind the growing demand of agriculture information services Easily accessible through the operators/entrepreneurs Quick service delivery (very crucial in case of disease) Possible to take print of the solution A wide variety of solutions (crops, fisheries, livestock, poultry, fruits )

17 Challenges Ahead Slow adoption among the intended Target group Latent demand New technology Reliability factor Revisiting the business case for different key actors Harmonization between different projects for optimum impact at beneficiary level Reduce cannibalization Increased Synergy

18 Lessons Partnering with right large Private Sector (PS) partners with right commercial incentive High Volume-Low margin business model Effective service development and delivery process Demand led Conveniently accessible Multi-stakeholder partnership for: Taking ride on the core expertise of different actors Reduction in cost of doing business and associated risk Time efficient implementation

19 Lessons (contd.): Role of Government Creating conducive policy environment for PS to perform Extend cooperation to PS for developing and delivering need based services Service quality and standardization Endorsement and mass promotion of private sector lead initiatives Shift from service provider role to facilitator role

20 Way Forward Changing the mindset Increase participation of women in availing ICT based services Developing strong role based partnerships with government organizations Advocacy for conducive environment Deepening the impact by developing ecosystems

21 Way Forward (contd.) Widening the impact by developing right partnerships Increasing specialized agricultural services like fertilizer recommendation, irrigation recommendation, soil testing, weather forecasting etc. Introducing mobile fund transfer for benefitting the farmers Facilitating direct market access of the farmers

22 Thank You