Assignment done as part of coursework at MICA, India. All rights reserved.

1. DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
Ayushi Mona | 20160123024

2. Introduction
OBJECTIVE
Understanding how digital
technologies can improve access,
and usage in a diversified context.
SECTOR CHOSEN
Environment.
Specifically, Livelihood and Agricultural
Practices in the region.

3. Rural area undertaken for study
 Mithapur Town &
adjoining villages
 Okhamandal
region of
Saurashtra,
Gujarat

4. Overview of Region
Area of 22 kms. With an arid climate,
Mithapur is called the “SALT Town” due to
being the base location of TATA Chemicals.
With a small town at the center, Mithapur is
surrounded by an extensive network of
villages all around the Okhamandal region,
.
Water is a precious commodity in Mithapur,
which falls in the drought-prone Jamnagar
district.
The town also has a beach and oceanic
climate.

5. Challenges with
Usage and access
 Erratic Electricity
 Access limited to male
household members
 Primary requirement to
connect with fellow farmer
groups & middlemen
 View phone as communication
device not a business
instrument
 Limited talktime/messages –
“culture of missed calls"

6. Diversity
Pastoral Community
Arid Region
Non farm livelihood
important due to salinity
Entrenched gender
disparity
Penetration of Internet
connectivity
Most farmers possess
feature phone/ low end
smartphones
Agriculturists with farm &
non farming livelihoods.
Possess access to either a
phone or a phone in the
vicinity of their farms.
Major concerns around
crop safety, selling and
maintaining margins .
Target
group

7. The region has high salinity impacting agricultural
productivity. Efforts are being made to combat or
manage the challenges faced by the residents in
different capacities and forms.
One of these efforts is effective farming practices
keeping the limitations in consideration. However none
of these use any digital intervention.

8. Key Livelihood Interventions
active in the Region
Solar Fencing | Farm Ponds | Sprinkler
Lines | Intermediary |
Storage | Farmer Meet-ups / Groups |
Drip Irrigation System
Areas where Digital Access & Usage
Can be deployed to solve agricultural
challenges
-Irrigation
-Distribution
-Community Building/Strengthening
-Pest Resistance
-Cultivation Patterns
-Procurement
-Tools & Techniques

9. Mobile Linked Systems - mfarm
USSD Feature
The farmer can dial
into a USSD number
with different keys
for different services.
- Rainfall Situation
- Seed availability
- Cost
- Fertilliser type and
quantum
Executing the
Strategy
Building a CRM and
centralized call
center in vernacular
languages (Gujarati,
Kutchhi, Hindi).
This team will
process & update
real time information.
Improving Access
Deploying Audio call
backs instead of text
responses to counter
challenges of
literacy.
Eg: A farmer who
presses 111#1 to
know about weather
will get an automated
call back in Gujarati
stating rainfall &
sunshine expected.

10. WhatsApp Support
Who?
For farmers with
rudimentary
smartphones a
WhatsApp group
can be created
to share and
disseminate
information.
Why?
As mobile
penetration &
cheap
smartphones
percolate, these
groups can be a
key to ensuring
communication.
What?
Disseminating short
audio, video clips
and texts for
information on
training sessions &
meetups. Leveraging
community district –
wide for information.

11. Key areas of intervention
Soil sensors
to be
provided that
can trigger
alerts to
backend &
linked
devices.
Aerial
Snapshots
using Drone
Cameras for
surveillance.
Reduce
wastage &
optimize
irrigation/
fertilliser via
automated
triggers
Combined with data infrastructure, subsidies can be validated (for example, application of
fertilizer on a specific field under a targeted fertilizer subsidy Programme).

12. A day with mfarm
Dandhu Bha is a farmer
in Varvalla around
Mithapur with 6 acres
land and some farm
animals. He & his son
own feature phones.
As part of his current tie
up with a Livelihood
NGO, he has access to a
Farm pond & Farmer
Help Group.
Now his infrastructure
is extended to soil
sensors in the land &
his number is registered
in the farmer registry.
Temperature, nutritive
health and soil quality
are regularly updated
via telecom network.
Dandhu bha is sent
alerts for everything
from vegetative health
to fertilizer overload.
When Dandhu Bha
wants to check for crop
prices in the local
Dwarka market v/s
Porbandar market he
can call up the back end
center to adjudge the
benefit incurred vis a
vis cost.
Dandhu Bha’s son is
planning to buy a
smartphone soon so that
he can join the group of
sellers and farmers as well
as hos own Farmer group.
Meanwhile the crop,
storage, production data
received can help optimize
agricultural subsidies and
overall plans.

13. Big
impact?
Bring rural
communities online
Leverage strong
telecom
infrastructure in
region
Create a private
enterprise run back –
end to provide
information & alerts
Save farmers from
vagaries of salinity,
weather & price
fluctuations.
Precision farming
without wastage.
Strong data network &
information that can
be utilized for
strengthening Indian
farming.

14. Future steps
Financial Incentives
Linking farmer data with
microfinance companies
and banks to fund farming
costs.
Thereby removing the
menace of loan sharks,
tedious paper work etc.
Artificial Intelligence
Linking the existing
infrastructure to and AI
system like IBM’s Watson to
build a system that is self-
learning and grows to
analyze through farmer data
and give optimum solutions
on linked devices.

15. Thank You!