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Surabhi r b
1. Impact of Mobile Communication in Improving
Agricultural Productivity at Smallholder Farms
Surabhi Mittal
CIMMYT-India
Paper presented at the National Conference on Livelihood Security of Smallholder Farmers,
on 19 August 2010 at NASC Complex, New Delhi.
2. Indian Agriculture
Productivity hampered by
Positive and • deficits in physical
Farmers face infrastructure
accelerating TFP
threat of • shortcomings in
growths of 70s
economic availability of necessary
and 80s turned
viability and products and services
stagnant or
sustainability in • lack of information
decelerated
crop production about techniques and
since early 90s inputs
3. Literature
Precision Agriculture
• Information-based, decision-making agricultural system is designed to maximise
agricultural production and is often described as the next great evolution in
agriculture.
Michael, 2008
• The combination of GPS and mobile mapping are supposed to provide the farmers
with the information for implementation of decision-based Precision Agriculture
Jensen, 2007; Abraham, 2007
• Found that introduction of mobile phones to Kerala fishermen decreased price
dispersion and wastage by facilitating the spread of information which made the
markets more efficient of markets by decreasing risk and uncertainty
Present Advantage
• Increasing penetration of mobile networks and handsets presents an opportunity to
make useful information more widely available to farmers.
4. Study sought answers
Are mobile phones used for
agricultural purposes? If so how?
Have mobile phones helped drive
agricultural productivity?
Which agricultural information is
most valuable?
What are the constraints to
improve agricultural productivity
through mobiles?
5. Methodology and Data
• IFFCO Kisan Sanchar
Limited (IKSL)
Case studies • Reuters Market Light
(RML)
Individual
Interviews
15 Focus groups -
• 40 in-depth using the standard
interviews mobile phones as
well as those with
• Over 160 people agricultural
interviewed, of information
whom 80% were service on mobile
small farmers
6. Interview and research locations
District Village
Allahabad Saidabad, Bijhayan, Malak
Harhar, Vardaha, Panwar
Agra Medhapur, Mania
Mathura Usfar, Lalpur
Alwar Khairtal
Dausa Khanvaas
Bhilwara Lesua
Baran Himoniya
Jaipur Murali Papmaanbali
Satara Arphal, Bharatgaon, Indoli
Pune Kumbhar
7. Mobile information services for farmers
IFFCO – IKSL Reuters – RML
Began Service June 2007 October 2007 (pilot in January 2007)
Locations of Survey Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu Maharashtra
Cost Free Voice messages Rs. 175 for three months, Rs. 350 for six months
Helpline service at a cost of Rs. 1/min Rs. 650 for an year
Nature of Delivery Voice message (non-customized) SMS-text message for two crops as subscribed
# of Daily Messages 5 4
Information Provided • Weather • Weather
• Crop/animal husbandry advisory • Crop-advisory (one crop)
• Market Prices • Market Price (for 2 crops and 3 markets each)
• Fertilizer availability • News (commodity specific and general)
• Electricity timings
• Government Schemes
Subscribers (at time of • Uttar Pradesh: 200,000 • 82,000 (India-wide); 77,000 in Maharashtra
investigation) • Rajasthan: 65,000
Comments • If message not immediately received by • Message will be retrieved/saved if farmer’s
farmer it can listened to by dialing a phone is on within 24 hours of message
number at a cost of Rs1/ min. delivery
• Messages delivered at unpredictable • Messages delivered at preset times of day
times of day • Subscription is only revenue source
• Revenues are made from the sale of cards
10. What Interviews revealed?
Small farmers
prioritized the most
Other requirements
important
information
11. Use of mobile phone
Primarily for social purposes but use it for at least
some agricultural activity also.
Traders and commission use it daily in assessing
commodity demand/supply situation by contacting
farmers and various markets
Maharashtra farmers reported greater use of their
mobile phones to access information and also
greater use of the mobile-enabled information
services.
Wealthier farmers reported fewer challenges with
infrastructure gaps, access to credit or other
potential limitations on leveraging information
12. Impacts on productivity
Improved
Adjusting
yields
supply to
market
demand
Access to
better
quality Timely
availability
Access to
information
13. Drivers of mobile impacts
• 5-25% increase in earnings, mainly attributable to the adoption of better
planting techniques
easy access to
customized • Weather forecast prevent losses
content
• describe plant diseases from the field to experts
• Better coordination with their hired laborers
• traders and commission agents- ability to shift supply to markets in response
Mobility to changing market conditions
• avoiding local travel saves Rs. 100-200 per trip
time savings • better decisions in choosing market to sell output
or
convenience
14. But there are binding constraints
Credit
constraint- Ability to
‘Bondedne trust the Market
ss’ information inefficiency
Lack of Physical
skill and Infrastruct
risk ure
taking
capacity
15. Encouragingly the research suggests
Extension services and
Social networks - capacity-building efforts
role in building the can complement
trust to influence the mobile based
adoption of new information
mindsets and actions dissemination to
by small farmers accelerate the adoption
of new techniques.
Policy changes needed to Public and private
encourage better investment- necessary
access to high-quality to resolve critical
inputs and credit for small infrastructure
farmers gaps
16. Key Takeaways
Mobile phones and mobile enabled information
services can act as catalyst in removing existing
information asymmetry
Bridge the gap between the availability and
delivery of inputs and infrastructure
Magnitude of economic benefits depends on
quality, timeliness and trustworthiness of the
information
Small farmers are not able to leverage the benefits
as efficiently as the large farmers
