What case studies demonstrate the benefits and/or damages of the use of ICTs and Open Data?

Directly after this eAgriculture forum discussion I will present some use case of governments aiming to enforce their agricultural policies with Open Data.

This will start at the 10th of July with a webinar.

Please join at: http://www.e-agriculture.org/forums/discussions/e-forum-discussion-agriculture-open-data-package-agpackinfo

We are looking forward to your views and experiences.

As a preview: Did you get the right data from your government? How did you do that? Or why did you not succeed?

The Indian Central and State Governments have initiated several platforms using ICTS to provide agricultural information, largely to farmers. These initaitives are supposedly "open". Farmers are supposed to get land records, soil health status, market price data and package of practices for common crops online. As I wade through these, I realise that many of these initiatives in reality mean little to the farmer (smallholder) they are aimed to support. For example, land records are not with useful geospatial data and are not linked to soil health status. The approach to sampling and testing soils, interpreting them and offering advice leaves much to be answered and what I hear from the field indicates that there are many problems in this initaitve. The E-NAM prices are from wholesale markets and for bulk commodities, not what smallholder produce. It is easier for a farmer to call a friend/agent in his nearest market that use E-NAM information. There are problems of access to data, interoperability, trustworthiness and timeliness. And none answer the questions of what to grow, when to grow, where to market, how to grow, where to market and how to market that farmers ask?

There exists two types of private sector initiatives to use this data in India. One is by large, corporate ICT service organisations who are well funded and whose business at the moment is around  the large tenders the Indian Central and State Governments have for offering ICT services to mainly farmers and in a very limited way the larger agricultural sector. There is also a much smaller "stratup" sector, made largely of some technocrats who work hard to make it considering the many opportunities they think exists in ICT applications in agriculture. Both these types of initatives are really not able to develop useful information either for the Government, public sector agencies, the private sector or farmers. The core issue is of the availability and accuracy of primary data. Acquiring this data is extermely costly (which no organisation other than the Government can really afford) and present data collection and collation systems are still in the hand written register mode of collection and management. Further there are always questions of its reliability and of course they are not current, primarily because of the data management methods used. The small startups have very little financial resources compared to the needs for what they aim to achieve. An ecology for public-private sector partnership for these startups has not been created. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the State Agricultural Universities hardly have the capacities (in spite of all the incubators they have developed though none in ICT applications) needed to partner PPPs. Thus "open data" even if well intended through policy statements need much more to be useful.  

Making an ecosystem to use open data and offer value added useful services in agriculture and farming, especially for small startups who are the most innovative, needs many more things. They need clear policies (I am still confused whether I can use a UAV/Drone for farm monitoring in India), funding mechanisms, accessible and affordable data that is timely and trustworthy, regulations nad regulatory mechanisms (for example I get more than 20 phone calls and an equal number of SMSs regarding financial, insurance and health products I do not need on my phone because someone leaks or sells my private mobile phone number to these organisation and I am helpless to stop them even after writing to TRAI, the regulatory agenct to deal with spam), support from public sector research and extensin organisations etc.

Ajit

Ajit Maru, Ahmedabad, India

Thanks to the organizers and moderators of this discussion for asking such an important question.  As a community, we tend to focus on what works in isolation of what does not, when in reality there is a lot to learn from open data failures.  The last week’s topics have unpacked the potential benefits of ICTs for open data in agriculture and nutrition so I would like to focus on a potential damage.  

Thought to ponder-

 The first thing that comes to mind is the sustainability of ICTs in agriculture and nutrition.  I don't have any specific examples of this (if you do please share), however, I fear some of these projects are developed with the best of intentions yet dissipate with time due to lack of funding, poor/changing infrastructure, or social/cultural/governmental changes leaving a community that may have become dependent on this information now without it.  Beyond being unfair, this could reduce trust between famers and data service providers, prolonging the process to reach future positive impacts.  Especially if these famers were providing their data, which leads into another potential damage- exploitation.  As another contributor mentioned above, without proper regulation of data services, smallholder farmers face the risk of being exploited for their data.  In conclusion, ICTs have great potential to benefit smallholder framers in developing countries but only when the long-term sustainability of their services are taken into account.  The open data principle or goal of 'equal impact' needs to exist temporally and spatially.  

I think ICT  through collaborative approach Open Data has enhance efficiency among stakeholders to provide basic informations to the public.

In Nigeria, government policies are being digitalized to bring about needed information that provide support and needs of the farming families, for example edah.edostate.gov.ng and citizensofnigeria.org are two unique approaches; currently, supporting the good use of ICT.

More awareness and strategies to reach out to the underserved are required with increase content, since those with expert knowledge and technological resources are in short supply.

Once a platform is designed that can be universally applicable and enduring, then we can deliver real-world “business benefit” by focusing on workflow automation – to reduce burden; this shall overcome any obstacle to data sharing which is widespread in many jurisdictions – the reluctance to share low-level data without the associated assessment narrative.

It shall be important to address the knowledge challenges associated with establishing an indicator-based reporting process by providing a Shared Knowledgebase (SK) - so that stakeholders or countries can share relevant report templates and indicator definitions with a more public audience from grassroot upward.

Development of an Open Data Knowledge Management Framework Using Information and Communication Technology: The case of Arid and Semi-arid Land - Agricultural Productivity Research Project in Kenya

The past decades have witnessed an increased growth in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) as a mechanism for improving the management of agricultural research knowledge. However, the management of agricultural research knowledge continue to face enormous challenges especially in Arid and Semi-arid Lands (ASAL) areas. This is because open data, open access and use of ICT in agricultural research field has remained low. It is therefore clear that ICT plays an essential role in agricultural research sphere as an innovation as well as an intervention. The empirical data further serves to support argumentation for supporting open data in nutrition and agriculture as an essential factor in research collaboration, learning and training among the stakeholders. It is evidenced that ASAL research knowledge and information are not well organized and structured in a suitable formats to support ease of access and utilization by the intended beneficiaries. In this regard, careful selection and development of ICT based systems, tools and processes for sourcing, storage, sharing and dissemination of information and knowledge in an open manner is considered a suitable innovation and intervention.

ICT and Open Data Perspective in Agricultural Research the case ASAL areas in Kenya

A large of body of theoretical and empirical literature assert that ICT plays a critical role in the management of agricultural research knowledge such as improved access and sharing of knowledge and information products and services. Likewise, the research attention given to ICT in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) is a testament to its potential role and impact on improving agricultural productivity, economic growth and poverty reduction. However, agricultural research scientists in ASAL-APRP have cynical perception on sharing of data through ICT tools and systems, as a result this has led to unexplored opportunities and resources. By and large in ASAL areas, the access, availability and management of agricultural research knowledge and information is “unsystematic”, and this has partly contributed to declining agricultural potential and food crises. Specifically in ASAL-APRP it has been reported that “despite the availability of various knowledge channels, most farmers do not have access to information on good agricultural practices (GAP)”. This low perspective of ICT and open data approaches  contributes to the project’s inability to effectively meet the diverse demand for research technologies for the different actors in ASA mainly farmers. Similarly, there are inherent complexities, difficulties and resistant from scientists in the use of ICT tools and systems as well as open data strategies in the management of research knowledge and information. This is mainly due to “the fear of unknown” with regard to data security and intellectual property rights (IPR). Other challenges include systematic organization of the data, information and knowledge to meet specific purposes. This is because farmers need information on a variety of subjects and at multiple stages from pre-production to post-harvesting. Similarly they have different types of information needs during each stage of the process for instance information on weather, pests and diseases, inputs, improved farming practices and markets among others. The persistency of these challenges is because the role, value and effectiveness of ICT and open data in supporting the management of agricultural research data, information and knowledge is sometimes dismissed and unexplored by agricultural research stakeholders. In the case of ASAL-APRP agricultural data, information and knowledge is scattered and stored in different forms mostly in hard copies and personal computers. This condition is possibly caused by low utilization of ICT and impoverished understanding of ICT and open data opportunities and value. In this case the developed “a Knowledge Management Framework” using ICT and open data principles for this project has provided real benefits and potentials to farmers and stakeholders in ASAL areas. The framework known ASAL-Knowledge Hub embraced ICT and open data has been instrumental in consolidating, managing and making available agricultural research data, information and knowledge for different stakeholders mostly the small holder farmers. The case of ASAL Knowledge-Hub as an open data platform is a testament in facilitation of equitable access to data, information and knowledge by different actors in the agricultural sector within the ASAL areas. The platform included innovative approaches including the development of mobile application which have been made available openly.

The case of ASAL Knowledge hub provides evidence to the fact that ICT and open data plays a significant role in AR4D particularly in the development of virtual open platforms such as “the ASAL knowledge hub”. The findings has produced new insights in the management of agricultural research data, information and knowledge. Moreover, as result of reflexivity using the privilege of empirical data, the concept of developing ASAL knowledge hub as the “artifact” was pivotal to the achievements of ASAL-APRP project vision of establishing a “Centre of Excellence” for agricultural research data, information and knowledge access, sharing and utilization ASAL.  In addition, the platform has meet the postulated requirements of a suitable interventions for achieving equitable access and utilization of agricultural research data, information and knowledge for ASAL areas and beyond. The empirical evidence further serves to support argumentation for ICT and Open data as key in supporting research collaboration, learning and training among the stakeholders. In this regard, careful selection and deployment of ICT systems, tools, techniques, and processes for sourcing, storing, sharing and dissemination of agricultural research data, information and knowledge is paramount. Furthermore, ASAL K-Hub an open data interactive platform has proved that allowing for inquiries and feedback can benefit demand driven research agenda. Additionally, it can inform practice and policy makers on critical research themes ultimately addressing the needs of small holder farmers.