Rikin Gandhi on Digital Green - how through technology they are empowering Indian farmers by educating them on agricultural best-practices through videos at 2010 ThoughtBerg's Campus Ambassadors boot-camp

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digitalGREEN
http://www.digitalgreen.org
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Agriculture in India
600M agriculture-dependent lives
Majority small landholders (<3 acres)
<$2 a day ($750 a year)
Growing debts ($300 per year per farmer)
Earlier technology intervention…
– Green revolution had mixed results
• Increased yields, but…
• Led to rising input costs, declining soil
fertility
• Due to excessive use of
fertilizers/pesticides
Indiscriminate use of technology partially
responsible for current agrarian crisis
A farmer from Yellachavadi village,
outside of Bangalore
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Agricultural Systems?
Low literacy
in local lang
No bank account
Expensive
credit
No unique ID
Poor roads
Credit card
Computing device and connectivity not enough!
farmer expert
Quantity
buyersPoor quality
control
Market
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Agriculture Extension
Dissemination of expert agriculture
information and technology to farmers
“Training & Visit” extension popularized
by the World Bank in 1970s
– Face-to-face interactions of
extension officers and farmers
100,000 extension officers in India
– Extension agent-to-farmer ratio is
1: 2,000
– 610,000 villages in India with
average 1,000-person population
Typical extension officer salary is
Rs. 4,000 per month
Extension officer “commuting” between farms

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IT & Indian Agriculture
• Kiosks with Internet access
for farmers
• aAqua
– Pull-based Question and Answer
Krithi Ramamritham, IIT Mumbai
• eSagu
– Push-based Expert Review of Digital Photos
Krishna Reddy, IIIT Hyderabad
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?
Main source of information about new technology and
farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005)
Agricultural Social Networks
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How can the speed and effectiveness
of agriculture extension be improved
at a reasonable cost?
The Problem
Extension officer on-field demonstration
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Video provides…
– Resource-savings: human, cost, time
– Accessibility for non-literate farmers
Digital Video for Extension

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Six months in field trying various combinations
Over 200 days of surveys, ethnographic investigation, and iterative design
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Early Experimentation
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Participatory Content Production
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Digital Green System
Introduction to innovations
– Standard extension
procedure
Rough “storyboarding”
– Repetitive pattern; easy to
learn
– Minimize post-production
Local farmers on their own fields
– Reduce perception of
“teachers”
– Promote “local stars”
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Digital Green System
Video Database
Online video database
(http://www.digitalgreen.org)
>700 videos of 8-10 minutes each
Quality-control, minor video editing,
and metadata tagging
Indexed by type, topic, locale,
season, crop, etc.
Distributed via DVD
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Digital Green System
Mediated Instruction
Local mediator
– Performance-based honorarium
Human engagement
– Field questions, capture feedback,
encourage participation
– Balance genders
On-demand screenings
– Choice time and place
– Not “stand-alone” kiosk
Support and monitoring
– Daily metrics and feedback
– Official extension staff

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Digital Green System
Structured Sequencing
Group Participation
Practices with
longer-term
visible rewards
Practices with
short-term
visible rewards
Community
Assessment
Audience
Awareness
Season
Location
Time
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Digital Green System
1. Participatory content production
2. Video database
3. Mediated instruction
4. Structured sequencing
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21 villages in Karnataka:
– Language: Kannada
– Crops: Ragi, banana, mulberry, coconut
– Population: 50-80 households
– Irrigation: 10-20 households with access
– Television: 15-20 households
Metrics:
– Knowledge: Before-and-after
– Attendance: Farmers at each screening
– Interest: Intent to take-up a practice
– Adoption: Number of households taking up
each new farming practice or technology
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Experimental Set-Up
Preliminary Evaluation
Poster Green(3)
Same as Digital Green with local
mediator, but no TV/DVD
Mediator makes posters and holds
regular group sessions
Classical GREEN (8)
Same as usual
Digital Green (9)
3 sessions per week
Cost:
Rs. 9,500 ($240) for TV/DVD
per village
PC / camera costs shared
Extension officer shared
Mediator salary
Accountability:
Daily metrics and feedback
Official extension staff
15-month study
Audio Green (1)
Same as Poster Green with
MP3 audio tracks from videos
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7 times more adoptions over classical extension
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15 months:
13 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars
Sustained local presence
Mediation
Repetition (and novelty)
Integration into existing extension
operations
Social homophily between mediator,
actor, and farmer
Desire to be “on TV”
Trust built from identities of farmers
and villages in videos
Digital Green: Early Results
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60
70
80
90
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Oct-07
Nov-07
Dec-07
Jan-08
Feb-08
Mar-08
Apr-08
May-08
Jun-08
Cumulative
AdoptionRate(%)
Classic GREEN
Digital Green
Poster Green
Audio Green

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Cost-Benefit
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Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale
Digital Green is at least 10 times more effective
per dollar spent than classical extension!
System Cost (USD)
/Village/Year
Adoption (%)
/Village/Year
Cost/Adoption
(USD)
Classical GREEN $840 11% $38.18
Digital Green $630 85% $3.70
Poster Green $490 59% $4.15
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Network Effect
Viral Web 2.0 in the Web-less world
- Content ecosystem: education, entrepreneurship, entertainment
- Cost-realistic access: pico projectors, TVs, DVD players, and camcorders
Reinforce existing social networks to diffuse innovations through communities
Local “idol” competitions to be a better farmer
Digital Green System
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Platform
Digital Green System
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Global
Database
Online/Offline
Connectivity
Access
Points
Partners Locations
Regular
Digital Green

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Platform
Digital Green System
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Cloud-based central database
Synchronized with local databases
Online Offline (no/low connectivity)
Browser-based input
Data stored in local database
Synchronized when connectivity available
COCO | Connect Online, Connect Offline
Digital Green System
www.digitalgreen.org/tech
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Platform
Robust system to share, track, and analyse data to manage operations and
target interventions over time
Analytics dashboard built on top of a simple yet robust data
entry system that can toggle between online and offline connectivity modes
Digital Green System
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http://www.digitalgreen.org/
Offline mode 10x
faster than online
100,000
simultaneous
offline users
Analytics
Digital Green System
analytics.digitalgreen.org
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Non-Non-Profit Digital Green
Digital Green’s value to farmers is
established – viewers contribute Rs. 2-4
per screening.
Could DG also be supported by ads?
Advertisers get access to a distributed,
captive audience with demonstrated
interest in better agriculture.
Ads follow Digital Green’s distribution
channels.
To do:
– Scale Digital Green
– Devise mechanism for ensuring
appropriate ads
– Quantify ad effectiveness
– Quantify ad value to advertisersDigital Green DVD title screen
Subsidize agriculture
extension with ads?
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Digital Green 1.0
Digital Green is at least 10 times more effective
per dollar spent than classical extension!
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Digital Green 2.0
Over three years, improve the cost-effectiveness of the existing people-based
extension systems of our partners by a factor of 3-times, per dollar spent, to improve
the livelihoods of 60,000 smallholder farmers in 1,200 villages in India.
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Thanks!
http://www.digitalgreen.org
team@digitalgreen.org
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