Transcript digitalGREEN http://www.digitalgreen.org Agriculture in India 600M agriculture-dependent lives Majority small landholders ( Growing debts ($300 per year per farmer) Earlier technology intervention… – Green revolution had mixed.

digitalGREEN
http://www.digitalgreen.org
Agriculture in India
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
A farmer from Yellachavadi village,
outside of Bangalore
Indiscriminate use of technology partially
responsible for current agrarian crisis
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Agricultural Systems?
expert
farmer
Low literacy
in local lang
No bank account
Poor roads
Poor quality
control
Expensive
credit
No unique ID
Credit card
Market
Quantity
buyers
Computing device and connectivity not enough!
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
Extension officer “commuting” between farms
Typical extension officer salary is
Rs. 4,000 per month
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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
Agricultural Social Networks
?
Main source of information about new technology and
farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005)
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The Problem
How can the speed and effectiveness
of agriculture extension be improved
at a reasonable cost?
Extension officer on-field demonstration
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Digital Video for Extension
Video provides…
– Resource-savings: human, cost, time
– Accessibility for non-literate farmers
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Early Experimentation
Early
Experimentation
Parameters Varied
Background
Background of
of actors
actorsininvideo,
video,Types
Typesofofcontent,
content,
Six and
months
in field
trying various
combinations
Location
timing
of screening,
Method
of dissemination,
Degree
of mediation,
mediation,
Background
Background
of
ofmediator,
mediator,
etc.
etc. design
Over 200Degree
days of of
surveys,
ethnographic
investigation,
and iterative
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Digital Green System
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”
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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
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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
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Digital Green System
Structured Sequencing
Community
Assessment
Practices with
short-term
visible rewards
Practices with
longer-term
visible rewards
Group Participation
Audience
Awareness
Season
Location
Time
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Digital Green System
1.
Participatory content production
2.
Video database
3.
Mediated instruction
4.
Structured sequencing
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Preliminary Evaluation
Experimental Set-Up
15-month study
21 villages in Karnataka:
Classical GREEN (8)
Expert
– Language: Kannada
– Crops: Ragi, banana, mulberry, coconut
Research Assistant
– Population: 50-80 households
– Irrigation: 10-20
households with access
Extension
Officer
– Television: 15-20 households
Metrics:
Local Mediator
Mediator
– Knowledge:Local
Before-and-after
Local Mediator
– Attendance: Farmers at each screening
– Interest: Intent to take-up a practice
– Adoption: Number
taking up
Farming
Farmingof households Farming
each new farming
practice or technology
Community
Community
Community
Same as usual
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
Poster Green(3)
Same as Digital Green with local
mediator, but no TV/DVD
Mediator makes posters and holds
regular group sessions
Audio Green (1)
Same as Poster Green with
MP3 audio tracks from videos
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Digital Green: Early Results
7 times more adoptions over classical extension
Sustained local presence
90
80
Repetition (and novelty)
Integration into existing extension
operations
Adoption Rate (%)
Mediation
70
60
50
Classic GREEN
40
Digital Green
30
Poster Green
20
Audio Green
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Desire to be “on TV”
Trust built from identities of farmers
and villages in videos
0
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Oct-07
Nov-07
Dec-07
Jan-08
Feb-08
Mar-08
Apr-08
May-08
Jun-08
Cumulative
Social homophily between mediator,
actor, and farmer
15 months:
13 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars
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Cost-Benefit
System
Cost (USD)
Adoption (%)
/Village/Year
/Village/Year
Cost/Adoption
(USD)
Classical GREEN
$840
11%
$38.18
Digital Green
$630
85%
$3.70
Poster Green
$490
59%
$4.15
Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale
Digital Green is at least 10 times more effective
per dollar spent than classical extension!
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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
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3
2
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Digital Green System
Platform
Online
Cloud-based central database
Synchronized with local databases
Offline (no/low connectivity)
Browser-based input
Data stored in local database
Synchronized when connectivity available
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Digital Green System
COCO
www.digitalgreen.org/tech
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
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Digital Green System
Analytics
analytics.digitalgreen.org
Non-Non-Profit Digital Green
Subsidize agriculture
extension with ads?
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:
–
–
Digital Green DVD title screen
–
–
Scale Digital Green
Devise mechanism for ensuring
appropriate ads
Quantify ad effectiveness
Quantify ad value to advertisers
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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.
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Thanks!
http://www.digitalgreen.org
[email protected]