Presentation by Md. Asad-Ur-Rahman Nile, Katalyst Bangladesh, in the e-agriculture Action Line session, 16 May 2012, at WSIS Forum 2012. Geneva.

1. Technology Transfer: The
Farmer’s Side of the Story
Presented by
Md. Asad-Ur-Rahman Nile
Senior Business Consultant
Swisscontact, Katalyst
Geneva, Switzerland
May 2012

2. Content
• Katalyst at a Glance
• ICT & Bangladesh
• The Katalyst Approach
– Constraints & solutions
• Results & Deepening the impact
• The Missing Link
• The Information seeking behavior & decision making
• Lessons learned
• Way forward

3. Katalyst at a Glance
Phase I Phase II
Donors • DFID • DFID
• SDC • SDC
• SIDA • CIDA
• The Embassy of Netherlands
Implementers Swisscontact, Swisscontact,
GTZ-IS GTZ-IS
Duration • Oct ’02 –15 Mar ’08 • 16 Mar ’08 – 15 Mar ’13
Budget • US$ 20 million • US$ 45 million
Line Ministry Ministry of Commerce Ministry of Commerce

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

5. The Constraints
Limited access to ICT tools and technology
Lack of appropriate ICT-based service offers targeting
rural sectors
Lack of appropriate policy support for growth of ICT
based services
Low awareness and usage of among rural people
Lack of adequate skill set among service providers

6. The Solutions

7. Delivery Channels: GPCIC & BL7676
A nationwide network of Grameenphone
Community Centre’s (GPCIC), more than
500 at sub-district level
A 24/7 agriculture helpline
branded by Bangalink offering
agriculture related information
and advisory services

8. The Results
• Partnership with Grameenphone (GP) led to establishment of 502 rural
telecentres known as Grameenphone Community Information Centre’s
(GPCIC)
– Cumulative access outreach from March 2008 - June 2011 is 1.5 million+ only from the
Grameenphone CIC’s
– Cumulative benefit outreach from March 2008 - June 2011 is 0.6 million+ (all services
direct & indirect)
• The partnership with Banglalink (BL) led the development of Banglalink
Agriculture Helpline 7676
• Impact of Banglalink Agriculture helpline from Jan’11 to Dec’11
– Relevant calls 32,904
– Repeat calls 22% (7,219)
• The partnership with public agency Agriculture Information Service (AIS)
led to policy recommendation to facilitate dissemination of agricultural
information through ICT based channels and validation mechanism
Source: Katalyst Annual Report 2011 , Banglalink & Grameenphone

9. Widening and Deepening the Impact
• Rendering specialized public services from the both
delivery channels
– Fertilizer Recommendation System (FRS)
• Based on nationwide soil sample analysis data
• Very precise & balanced dosage recommendation
• Reduces fertilizer cost and increases yield
• Online based, centrally updated by Soil Resource Development
Institute, a government agency under Ministry of Agriculture
• Increased number of commercial content providers
• Horizontal expansion with Banglalink
– SME Helpline 7677
• Facilitating market response to increase competition &
end user benefit

10. The “Missing Link”
• The acceptance to new technology or new source of
information is still very low
• The repeat usage by the beneficiaries is still low
• The technology transfer through peers is yet to gain a
momentum
• Majority is waiting to see others use it first
• The “What if” questions

11. What needs to be considered
• Information seeking behavior
• The Influencing Factors in Decision Making
• The risk assessment from a farmer’s POV
– The cost benefit analysis
– Confidence in service
– The uncertainties
– The proof of effectiveness

12. The Information Seeking Behavior
Top-three information needs Information needs during the
during decision stage Needed by preparing and planting stage Needed by
Higher yield crops 97% Best farming practices
Current prices in the market related to growing crops 84%
they sell at 63% Farming machinery 69%
Finance 54% Labor 62%
Top-three information needs
during seeding stage Needed by Top-three information needs
Information on seed varieties 84% during growing stage Needed by
Best farming practices Fertilizer information 96%
including how to
prepare seeds 83% Pesticide/ herbicide
information 71%
Finance 52%
Farming machinery 53% Crop diseases 71%
Source: “Smallholders and Micro--‐enterprises in Agriculture: Information needs and communication patterns” ,
LIRNEasia 2012

13. The Information Seeking Behavior (contd.)
Top-three information needs during Top-three information needs during selling
harvesting, packing & storage stage Needed by stage Needed by
Expected future market prices around the
time when your crops are ready to Prices in market they sell at 98%
harvest 85%
Prices in markets other than where they
Market prices where they sell at 78% sell at 87%
Prices in markets other than where they
sell at 65% Buyers, collectors & traders 73%
Preparing & Harvesting,
Decision is taken by or influenced by Decision Seedling Planning Growing Packing & Storing Selling
Always by myself 28% 22% 29% 21% 26% 33%
Sometimes with the advice of the
others 70% 77% 71% 77% 73% 66%
always with the advice of the others 2% 1% 0% 2% 1% 1%
Source: “Smallholders and Micro--‐enterprises in Agriculture: Information needs and communication patterns” ,
LIRNEasia 2012

14. Influences in Decision Making
Preparing & Harvesting,
Sources Decision seedling Planning Growing Picking & Sorting Selling
Family/ Friends 63.30% 53.20% 62.00% 54.40% 59.50% 61.20%
Other farmers 94.40% 81.80% 90.10% 91.10% 85.10% 89.60%
Govt. extension
workers 44.40% 36.40% 38.00% 40.50% 0.00% 0.00%
Traders/ collectors/
buyers 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 16.20% 20.90%
Extent of farmers’ utilization of a source for their needs
during harvesting, packing and storing stage Decision
Self-knowledge 29.10%
Family/ Friends 13.10%
Other farmers 32.70%
Mass media 4.10%
Govt. ext. worker 1.80%
Input supplier 1.70%

15. The Influencing Factors in Decision Making
• Economic condition
• Economic consideration
– Cost
– Potential gain / loss
• Education
• Age & Experience
• Peers
• Exposure to communication
• Perception

16. Decision Making: Inside the farmer’s mind
• SWOT analysis of a farmer on online based Fertilizer
Recommendation System (FRS)
• Key facts
– FRS is a public service provided by Soil Resource
Development Institute (SRDI) an agency under government
– Available through GPCIC & BL 7676
– The service is based on soil testing and with a central
database
– The recommendations from the system have been proven to
reduce fertilizer cost and increase yield
– Cost of accessing service is minimal (0.12USD to 0.17USD)
– Reduces fertilizer cost 20% on average and yield increase in
up to 20% on average

17. Inside the farmer’s mind : SWOT of FRS
• Reduces fertilizer cost • Delivered by non-government
• Promise of better yield!! people
• Its not free
• No face to face interaction
through call centre
Strengths Weaknesses • No direct linkage with GPCIC
and agriculture
Opportunities Threats
• Costs less • “What if” questions
• “Sounds good” • Too risky to experiment
• Easily accessible • “What is the guarantee”?
• Who would be responsible?
• Known brands associated

18. Lessons Learned
• The mindset is of the farmer is one of the most crucial factors
• The acceptance of the delivery channel is as important as the
service itself
• The confidence building of the farmers on ICT based channels are
needed
• The availability of the service is not enough
• The involvement of government to use mass media has a huge
potential to make a difference
• The critical mass of retained users needs to be developed to create
a “snowball effect”
• Really good, beneficial and profitable services might not be
accepted by the mass due to perception
• The demand creation from end users side is needed to be
developed

19. Way Forward
• The facilitation for accepting new technology need to be
enhanced
• Partnerships with private sector can play a crucial role to
address the issue
• The government mechanism can be effective in breaking
the barriers by building trust
• The role of mass media needs to be focused to address
the issue
• The latent demand needs to be stimulated through
facilitating “cognitive learning”
• Indirect influencing mechanism can be effective to
influence end users

20. Thank You