Learning and sharing in communication
for rural development

Dear All, The highlights of the discussion held on 'The Way Forward' has been uploaded for your information. Thank you!

Thank you Thamizoli for your inputs and also for sharing how gender digital divide could be addressed.

1. What processes and methodologies can be applied to design demand driven and inclusive rural communication policies/services to advocate family farming in the Asia Pacific: The role of community based organizations and social capital: It is appropriation not adoption of ICT technologies, which makes the men and women farmers of farming households effectively use these technologies as learning tools. Therefore suggest that attention need to be paid to socio cultural imperatives and the supportive role played by Community based organizations ( like farmers associations, farmers clubs, farmers producer companies, federations of self help groups etc) to successfully mobilize the community and actively participate in the learning programme. In the context of such socially mobilized groups the learning/extension takes place in the already established social capital. It facilitates horizontal transfer of knowledge; hence the benefits are not restricted to the individual learners but extended to other family members, relatives, neighbors and other peer group members. Initiating the learning with such approach would also help to overcome the well established correlation between the digital divide and the gender divide, if the use of technology is placed in an appropriate socio cultural context. Access to technology and information is subtly enhances women’s power to go beyond the culturally constructed space, associate with external agencies and effectively participate in the...

Dear All I am not responding to specific question in the discussion but here are a few issues from women's perspective and a couple more which impacts farmers irrespective of gender: The following is true at least for the Indian sub-continent though there are exceptions of course as there are other factors like caste, religion, region, etc. It is a known fact that women do the bulk of labour work on the farms. 1. Women should have joint ownership of the farm land along with their husbands. Usually, the farm land is owned by the men in the house. This needs to change as men use women as free labour. In recent past, women have been given inheritance rights in India but women have to go through a long struggle to get it implemented. 2. Women should have an equal say in the decision-making related to the family farms. Ensuring joint ownership will not automatically translate in women having an equal say. 3. Women should be recognised as farmers too. Why should they be called 'housewife' or 'farmers' wives'? 4. Often women do not have ownership access to communication tools like radio sets or mobile telephones, etc. Those in the business of designing ICT material must keep this in mind too. Some general issues: 1. The farmers (including women) cannot make an informed choice of switching from traditional crop (suitable to the local ecological conditions) to cash crop (which may not be suited to the specific region and end up draining the natural resources of the region) to...

Thank you Jamie, for sharing your insights on the Way Forward for ComDev in Asia Pacific based on the experiences garnered while implementing various projects. It is enriching and we hope to continue learning from PhilRice on the ComDev Asia platform.

• What processes and methodologies can be applied to design demand driven and inclusive rural communication policies/services to advance family farming in Asia Pacific? I’d go for a thorough scoping study first before we dive in to any interventions. Sometimes, it is very tempting to go on contemplating how ICTs can be used, what ICTs will be useful without looking first if ICT interventions are the most appropriate. I am speaking based on our experiences with the Infomediary Campaign, an action research that aims to mobilize high school students to serve as information providers in their respective rice farming communities. It was initially thought of as ICT-based project. When we, however, visited the sites, we found that they did not even have electricity. In 2009, we did a research on “E-readiness of the farmers in the five top rice-producing provinces of the Philippines”. It was a survey with close to 1000 farmers as respondents. From there, it was noted that the farmers wanted to receive information from printed publications so they can easily refer back to it should they have questions. ICT anxiety or the feeling of discomfort is one thing that we have repeatedly outlined in our papers. Given these conditions, it would do well to rethink overemphasis on ICTs. They surely are not a magic wand that will address all our concerns. This, however, is not to say that we should not utilize them. The only point is use them where appropriate. In our scoping studies for the...

Comments from Dr. Archna Kumar: Hello everyone I have really enjoyed learning from all the interesting discussions that have been taking place. I could not actively participate as I was in the field and it took longer than expected because of the heavy rains in the area. In all the discussion I find women farmers are missing. As a group we need to focus more on women farmers and their access and use of ICTs. I think this is not getting reflected enough. We all are aware of the Gender and technology divide however we need to understand more clearly the ‘Gender Digital Divide’ and its ramifications on intra household dynamics, women's agricultural and household work and their bargaining power. A Gender disaggregated understanding of ICTs is much needed and we cannot assume men and women are impacted equally. In a presently ongoing study of IVR operating in Jharkhand we are seeing huge differentials in men’s and women engagement. Also studies of community radio stations are indicating that CR stations policies and structures influence women’s participation and articulations about issues. Special strategies and affirmative action by CR stations and other ICT based initiatives influences and enhances women’s access and participation in ICT based services. Clearly we need to evolve suitable policy and programme strategies for bridging this gap. Also researching ICTs especially from a gender lens requires us to revisit methodologies and tools. We have been using innovative...

Thank you Aldo for sharing the findings of your study. We have seen the growth of mobile phone usage in Asia Pacific but we have yet to tap into its potential as a tool to benefit farmers and rural households. Upakar it would be better if you can more information about the photo completion on family farming like website, venue, date, etc.

In our country Nepal communication services and tools are used these days for the promotion of family farming. In Nepal one of the leading organisation is AgriyouthNepal, a group of energetic young students of agriculture aiming promotion of Nepalese agriculture by means of ICTs. Its role is appreciable. On the occasion of International Year of Family Farming as decided by UNO , AgriyouthNepal is also promoting family farming with photo competition in collaboration with many organisations in Nepal

Hi everyone! I'm Aldo Lim from the College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines Los Baños. My collegue and research adviser, Cleofe Torres, invited me here to share my masters thesis on mobile phone appropriation among coffee farmers of Amadeo, Cavite, Philippines. I also presented this paper at the AMIC Conference last year (and hope to publish it as a journal article this year). As you know, in the Philippines, agriculture is the largest and most critical sector. Moreover, the country is no stranger to ICT4D. Mobile phones have established a presence even in developing rural areas. They have been integrated in agricultural information delivery, especially in rice farming (as Ronan has shared in this discussion). However, the benefits of I-C-Ts have yet to be fully realized when it comes to local coffee production, an agricultural sector that used to be globally recognized as an industry player. The lack of e-agriculture initiatives in coffee farming was seen as a ripe opportunity to generate empirical data on local mobile phone practices. Inspired by FAO's "Revisiting the Black Box: Case Studies in Local Appropriation of ICTs," I set out to analyze how coffee farmers of Amadeo, Cavite -- the coffee capital of the Philippines -- have appropriated mobile phones. I used Wirth, von Pape, and Karnowski's Integrative Model of Mobile Phone Appropriation as my framework. Coffee farmers of Amadeo, Cavite were mostly male, married, and in their mid-to-late...

Dear All Here is a summary of the main points of discussion of 11 September on “The Way Forward” for ComDev for family farming and rural development in Asia Pacific: •Processes and methodologies that can be applied 1.Participatory and focussed discussion, capacity building with recent development in technology vis a vis availability and applicability in particular area, listing priority, situation analysis and planning must be undertaken 2.Mechanism of delivery including the support system for implementation should be developed along with monitoring and evaluation at grass root level. 3.Government and the universities should re-consider the objectives and think how the researches and academic discourses can be brought to the field easily and frequently to help the farmers. 4.There is a need to re-look on the target, output and outcome of the extension services of the agricultural universities. The agriculture education should not be confined to the campus of the institutions, it must go to the field and the information should be disseminated for the real practitioners in a participatory model of communication. 5.There is a need to change the negative image of agriculture and promote it as a profession that ensures sustainable food production. 6.Mobile phone has more potentiality to reach the farmers individually in Asia. It is the best means of ICT for the rural smallholder farmers as it is portable, handy. It has reached more than 80% of the population with android...

Thank you Pradeep, Ankuran and Madan for your inputs on the processes and methodologies that can be applied, initiatives that should take place and how you and your organisation can contribute to the role of ComDev for family farming and rural development in Asia Pacific. Your contribution and insights are deeply appreciated and noted.

Hello All, Agriculture has an image problem. Youth don't want to engage in farm and enjoy their living. It seems to be less demanding, non prestigious and outdated profession. It's a moment to change the negative mindsets about farming and cultivate seeds of change for sustainable food production. To promote farming among young people and to raise profile of family farmers ICT can play a great role. Talking about Nepal, we don't have good agriculture database. There is a need to digitalize agriculture information to enhance learning and research. Agriculture and farming activities are less promoted by media. There is a need of saperate channel to broadcast agriculture news, upadtes innovation and best practices which could reach to almost all family farmers from different landscapes. Mobile phone technology is the best means of ICT than the other means in the rural part of the country as it has been diffused vigorously. It has advantages over the other ICT tools. Internet based ICT tools needs ensured internet, electricity and the advanced expensive devices. So the mobile phone technology is the best means to diffuse the agricultural information for the rural smallholder farmers as a portable and handy mass media communication means. As mobile penetration has reached to more than 80% and android penetration has reached to 60% in Nepal focus should be given to such information manaement system which are easily accessible to family farmers. Youth has a great role in...

The agricultural universities have their agricultural extension services. But how many messages practically deliver to the farmers? What are the methodologies of information dissemination of these agricultural extension services? The educational institutions should think for the impact of education in the rural areas. The objectives of the agricultural education should not confined to award the successful students with degrees. So, there is a need to re-look on the target, output and outcome of the extension services of the universities. In the developing countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, the agriculture education should not be confined to the campus of the institutions. It must go to the field and the information should be disseminated for the real practitioners. Here, I want to clarify one issue. The concept of information dissemination should be changed to a participatory model of communication. Our organisation - Commonwealth of Learning and Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia are working on a model of programme designing, known as Community Learning Programme. This model is focused on the local level, generally in one or perhaps two districts, involves local stakeholders from the outset in decision-making about topics, messages, and programme design and execution, bring together different types of groups – community networks, media/ICT outlets, health and development experts, public policy representatives – into collaborative programme design,...