Section A
1) a ) What is the role of M-PESA in rural area ? Brief.
Answer:
- M-Pesa is a mobile phone based money transfer system in Kenya which grew at a blistering pace following its inception in 2007.
- Its adoption is country wide; both in the urban and rural areas. Mpesa enables the users to send money in electronic form, store money on a mobile phone in an electronic account and deposit or withdraw money in the form of hard currency at any of the Mpesa agents, pay bills and purchase goods and services.
- M-Pesa operation had improved peoples’ livelihood in Bureti Sub County by creating employment opportunities, increasing income generation, access to credit facilities and social capital between families and friends.
- In order to fully tap the benefits of Mpesa in the area, its services should be extended to all parts of the Sub County, as well as widening the scope of banking services to include provision of micro credits to customers.
- Increased access to mobile money has reduced poverty.The impact on poverty reduction appears to be the result of improved financial behaviour – by facilitating easier and safer savings – and changes in the occupational choice of users.
- Mobile money is a form of electronic money that allows you to conduct financial transactions using your mobile phone. It allows financial services to be extended to unbanked people at a significantly lower cost because physical infrastructure isn’t needed.
b ) What is the use of early warning system ?
Answer:
- An early warning system can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection and decision subsystems. They work together to forecast and signal disturbances that adversely affect the stability of the physical world, providing time for the response system to prepare for the adverse event and to minimize its impact.
-Use of Early Warning System :
- Helps in Risk analysis
- Helps in Dissemination and communication of early warning
- Helps to build adequate response capability
Answer:
Information and communication technology in agriculture, also known as e-agriculture, focuses on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes.
d ) List various benefits of ICT in agriculture.
Answer:
- Increasing efficiency, productivity and sustainability of small scale farms.
- Information about pest and disease control, especially early warning systems, new varieties, new ways to optimize production and regulations for quality control.
- Better of markets resulting from informed decisions about future crops and commodities and best time and place to sell and buy goods.
- Up-to-date market information on prices for commodities, inputs and consumer trends.
- Strengthen capacities and better representation of their constituencies when negotiating input and output prices, land claims, resource rights and infrastructure projects.
- Reduce social isolation, widen the perspective of local communities in terms of national or global developments, open up new business opportunities and allow easier contact with friends and relatives.
Answer:
- Using online automatic milk analyzer on milking machine record milk yield and protein%, fat%, lactose %, somatic cell count and residual blood in milk of all individual milking cows. After finishing milking of the whole herd individual cows, milk composition and quality reports are available for warning with red font immediate for herdsman to review of the herd feeding practices and nutrient disorders, sub-clinic ketosis and sub-clinic mastitis.
-Also using infrared thermometer to measure and to collect the cow’s body surface temperature. Comparing with actual rectal temperature of cows’, exploring the regression with various parts of the cow’s surface temperature to predict the actual cow’s body temperature and then judge the cow’s body temperature if it is normal, or high with inflammation or in fever symptoms.
- Automatic milking systems are computer controlled stand alone systems that milk the dairy cattle without human labor. The complete automation of the milking process is controlled by an agricultural robot, a complex herd management software, and specialized computers. Automatic milking eliminates the farmer from the actual milking process, allowing for more time for supervision of the farm and the herd.
- Farmers can also improve herd management by using the data gathered by the computer. By analyzing the effect of various animal feeds on milk yield, farmers may adjust accordingly to obtain optimal milk yields. Since the data is available down to individual level, each cow may be tracked and examined, and the farmer may be alerted when there are unusual changes that could mean sickness or injuries
- Gradually collecting the data and establishing data base to develop the automatic monitoring and analysis system for dairy farmers. It would be very prompted and convenient to collect cow’s milk composition and quality, body weight, body temperature, and other relevant information. Using real-time information for precise feeding and management of individual cows in the dairy herd to early detect the problem individual cow and immediately take the necessary practices for improvement.
Case Study of Amul :
- The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in rural areas of Gujarat
by GCMMFL has made the operation of the dairy industry different.
- Amul
has become rural India’s flag bearer in the IT revolution. The Co-Operative movement started with two villages and 247 litres of
milk in 1946. It has become a rupees one billion-business now.
- The system makes it easy for the farmers to get the cash payment as soon as
the milk is delivered. The Amul experience indicates that if properly designed and
implemented, the rural poor can benefit from ICT platforms. Customization of IT
platforms for use in rural communities is emerging as a major opportunity for
change.
f) How mobile phones are helpful in agricultural projects ?
Answer :
- Access to market prices: Mobile phones allow farmers to gain access to vital information about prices of crops before they travel long distances to markets.
- Micro-insurance: Cell phones are also used for a “pay as you plant” type of insurance. Kilimo Salama, meaning “safe agriculture” in Swahili, is a micro-insurance company that protects farmers against poor weather conditions. The insurance is distributed through dealers who utilize camera phone technology to scan and capture policy information through a code using an advanced phone application. The information is then uploaded to Safaricom’s mobile cloud-based server that administers policies. Farmers can then receive information on their policy, as well as payouts based on rainfall, in SMS messages. This is a paperless, completely automated process.
- Instant weather information: Mobile technology provides farmers with crucial weather data so they can properly manage their crops.
- iCow from M-Farm: This cell phone application calls itself “the world’s first mobile phone cow calendar.” It enables farmers to keep track of each cow’s individual gestation so farmers never miss the valuable opportunity to expand their herd. iCow also keeps track of feed types and schedules, local veterinary contact information, and precise market prices of cattle.
- CocoaLink: This app makes use of western Ghana’s rapidly expanding mobile network to deliver important information to cocoa farmers. The World Cocoa Foundation created this program to provide free voice and SMS text messages about farm safety, child labor, health, and improvements in farming practices, crop disease prevention, and crop marketing. Farmers receive messages in English or their local language.
Answer:
- Basic education qualification.
- Basic knowledge of using mobile phones and PCs.
- Basic knowledge of using internet based services.
Answer:
- Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting.
- Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters.
- Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve. They are generally nonprofit and provide a mechanism for enabling individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own stories, to share experiences and, in a media-rich world, to become creators and contributors of media.
i ) Why ICT is not much in use in Rural India agriculture ?
Answer:
-Extreme physical conditions including remote and isolated villages.
-Inadequate infrastructure.
-Hill areas and natural hurdles.
-High illiteracy rate especially in semi urban and village areas.
-Techno phobia of villagers to adopt technology.
-Inappropriate supply of electricity and connectivity.
j ) How can ICT help in market research of crops ?
Answer:
j ) How can ICT help in market research of crops ?
Answer:
-The agriculture market size and its reach have increased manifold over the years due to linkages with distant and overseas markets.
-Farmers are using various ICT platforms viz. mobiles, web-portals, information kiosks, e-markets, etc for marketing their produce.
i) ICT platform adds market knowledge and give farmer greater confidence in understanding the demand and enhance ability to the control production and manage supply chains.
ii) It also helps farmers to deal directly with large wholesalers or traders or directly with the processors rather than small-scale intermediaries.
iii) ICT platforms assist in developing a broader network of contacts which helps in making better decision regarding transportation and logistics, price and location, supply and demand and cheaper access to inputs.
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