Roy Mathew Director, Kerala State IT Mission, Government of Kerala

“Akshaya project has facilitated creation of ICT access in every village in the district and 100% awareness of how ICT can influence people’s lives. The project ‘Market-led Agricultural Initiative through IT-enabled Agri Business Centres in Kerala’ is positioned to provide contents and service delivery platform to stakeholders in farming sector. We are building a robust, replicable, scalable and sustainable ICT application model in agricultural sector to provide transaction services to farmers and input/output providers.”

Making farmer an equal partner
Agriculture is not only the predominant occupation of many in the world, but it also drives the economy of several developing nations. Today however, the whole sector is under tremendous pressure due to the rapid growth in population, increasing affluence and a dwindling natural resource base. People the world over are recognising the fact, if the sector is to progress and become sustainable, it must quickly transform its functioning, by adapting to new information technologies that assist farmers and help them improve economic performance and production.


It is not uncommon to hear in India about how ICTs have transformed agriculture. Research agencies and agriculture extension departments have always valued the importance of information databases, and methodically archived research and development findings. But making use of the technology and providing local information, that is relevant and applicable to resident communities is a fairly new and exciting phenomenon in the area of ICTs for development. Such information assists farmers to make well-informed decisions about cropping and management of scarce resources. Currently, there are many ICT driven projects that are changing forever the way agriculture and allied activities are practised in the country.

Road to rural empowerment
ICTs can empower rural communities and give them ‘a voice’ that permits them to contribute to the development process. ICT tools like community radio and handheld computers are being promoted heavily in developing countries to deliver real-time information on agriculture issues. With the advent of such new ICTs, rural communities can acquire the means to improve their living conditions, learn about best practices worldwide, have a constant dialogue with others, and reach a stage where they make decisions for their own development.

The past few years have brought with them a sea of change. Earlier farmers neither had the means nor the awareness to know about the advancements in agricultural technology and other related information like hybrid seeds, weather conditions, price movements, pesticides, fertilisers etc, except through extension services offered by universities and research institutions. They would be absorbed in their daily work without any thought about measuring their current yield and increasingly productivity. But today, ICT has made it possible that information is delivered to these farmers at their doorsteps and that too in a language they understand. Such is the power of ICTs. If used freely and fairly, ICTs have the potential to change the social equations forever and can empower farmers and enhance the whole agriculture sector.

Models of excellence
In the past few years, ICT intervention in agriculture has gained momentum world-over and development agencies are promoting use of ICTs in the agricultural sector aggressively. There are numerous examples of initiatives, both in India and in other developing countries in the world, such as the ‘Pedagogia Audiovisual’ project and ‘Comunicación para el Desarrollo en América Latina’ supported by organisations such FAO, ITU, IDRC, IFAD, UNESCO, DFID and British Council.

The ‘Pedagogia Audiovisual’ project, located in Chile in Latin America, was set up to promote rural development and effective peasant participation through an improved communication system. The project has brought together peasants, government representatives, researchers, technicians, banking services, construction companies and marketing and processing institutions. More information about the project can be found at http://www.fao.org/sd/CDdirect/CDre 0055b.htm.

‘Comunicación para el Desarrollo en América Latina’, an Internet-based project (1994-97) helped knowledge sharing between small subsistence farmers and helped develop national communication systems in four countries in Latin America. The project resulted in the training of a huge number of national staff, in the production and use of various communication channels preferred by the farmers and semi-literate rural populations. The project proved very successful and soon spread throughout the Latin American region and beyond to China, Mali, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported another notable project in Latin America and Caribbean, ‘FIDAMERICA’. Now in its second phase, FIDAMERICA has 41 projects and programmes in the region and involves about 3,600 community organisations and 500,000 families (http://www.fidamerica.cl/ )

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA), located in Wageningen, The Netherlands, also works towards improving the dissemination of information for the benefit of farmers through the use of new and improved technologies. CTA has a programme called Rural Radio Support Programme that supports rural radio and development of audiovisual aids in ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) countries. Launched in 1990, the programme distributes information packages consisting of taped interviews along with transcripts and taped radio talks. Technical information and photocopies of relevant articles on each subject are also provided to the farmers. (http://www.agricta.org/icdd/radio.htm)

e-Choupal targets to reach one-sixth of rural India in a decade
Launched in June 2000, ‘e-Choupal’, is the largest initiative among all Internet-based interventions in rural India. It is an excellent example of public-private partnership where 37 companies, NGOs and state governments, have come together creating a new ecosystem for villages and establishing a direct link between what consumers eat and what farmers grow.

The e-Choupal redefines choupal, the Hindi word for village-square where elders meet to discuss matters of importance. e-Choupal offers farmers and the village community a range of services like daily weather forecast, price of various crops, e-mails to farmers and ITC officials, news, knowledge about soil testing, farming methods, platform for purchase and sale of products like seeds, tractors, etc. e-Choupal services today reach out to more than 3.1 million farmers growing a range of crops - soybean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses, and shrimp - in over 29,500 villages through 5,050 kiosks across six Indian states (Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh). ITC aims to increase this number and reach 100,000 villages, and 10 million farmers in a decade. This represents one-sixth coverage of rural India. They also plan to market a wider variety of goods and services (education, health, entertainment, e-Governance) www.echaupal.com

Gyandoot: Community owned rural Internet kiosks
Gyandoot, launched in the year 2000 in Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh state in India, is recognised as a breakthrough in e-Government executed with minimal investment. The project demonstrated a paradigm shift by giving marginalised tribal citizens, their first ever chance to access knowledge. Dhar district has a population of 1.7 million people wherein 60 percent live below the poverty line. Initially low cost rural Intranet covering 20 village kiosks in five Blocks of the district was installed, which was later the project was extended to another 11 kiosks. Aptly named in Soochanalaya (information centre in Hindi language), the kiosks enable the citizens have access to several government related information and services through the Intranet and Internet services. The content is available in both Hindi and English. Farmers and citizens can access the services by logging on to www.gyandoot.nic.in i4d magazine had published a special issue on ICTs and Agriculture/Water covering several interesting case studies, which can be downloaded from the Internet by logging on to: http://www. i4donline.net/july04/July-04.pdf

NISG supports pilot project of ICT in agriculture
In tune with the ongoing worldwide initiatives to use ICTs for development, the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) in India, in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has initiated the ICTD Project in India. The broad objective of this project shall be to make ICTs work for people and one of the areas which would be promoted under this project would be pilot initiatives that use ICTs to enhance Rural Livelihoods.

In the future, market determined production is likely to be the basis of all agricultural operations. In such a scenario, real-time and up-to-date information regarding market prices, insurance, logistics, warehousing, commodity trading, pesticide and other allied activities and resources, becomes indispensable to the farmers. Taking into account the need to provide the farmer with a fair chance in this competitive environment to continue farming, profitably, a pilot project is being implemented by the Kerala State IT Mission (one of the state missions in India) to create agri-business centres for providing web-based information system for multiple stakeholders.

Facilitating agri-based information flow
‘A Market led Agricultural Initiative through IT enabled Agri Business Centres in Kerala State’ is being funded by the ICTD project and will pilot in the Malappuram district in Kerala. The project addresses the existing gap in agriculture information flow and transaction management and is expected to facilitate farmers to interact with Agricultural Service Providers utilising the already existing Akshaya centres as delivery points. The design and architecture of the project can be easily scaled to cover the entire state.

The Kerala State IT Mission has previously implemented various projects like Akshaya, Friends etc (see box). Registered under Travancore Cochin

Literary and Charitable Societies Registration Act, the Kerala State Information Technology Mission is an autonomous nodal IT implementation agency for the Department of Information Technology, Government of Kerala, providing managerial support to the departments under various initiatives. This project seeks to facilitate and enable small and medium farmers, owners of large landholdings and other stakeholders, to interact with agricultural service providers in the private, government and non-government sectors, through a web-based solution in the Agri Business Centres. The project will initially target 50000 people and use the existing infrastructure resources of Akshaya e-Kendrams, established throughout the Malappuram district (about 650), to reach out to the farming community and other stakeholders in agricultural sector. The estimated cost of this pilot project is Rs.14.6 million (approximately US$ 0.34 million) and will be implemented over the next one and half years. The project though is likely to become sustainable by the end of the pilot phase.

Project specific information
The Agri-Business Centres Project has been launched with a vision to establish a community of connected farmers throughout Kerala, who will have access to information on market demand, prices, best practices, quality agricultural inputs, etc., along with a technology enabled robust transaction platform that facilitates all their offline activities. Such a platform is of vital significance and the key result of this initiative, shall be the facilitation and integration of economic activities of all member stakeholders involved in agriculture.

One Agri Business Centre (ABC) with Information Assistant as the Akshaya e-Kendra Entrepreneur shall be promoted in all the 100 Panchayats and five Municipalities creating 105 agri-entrepreneurs in Malappuram district. These ABCs are responsible for identifying crops to be promoted, making firm arrangements with sales-warehouse/transaction points and buyers, dealers in agricultural inputs, etc. These ABC’s shall register 500 farmers each in their respective Panchayats noting their vital information such as: acreage by product, number of plants, age, seeds used, harvesting skills, expected quantity by month, etc. Registered farmers will get an opportunity to test their soil samples for advice on fertilisers to be used, directives in crop maintenance, price information, new plantation, etc.

Apart from the above, ABCs shall also register other stakeholders like agri-buyers/ exporters, agri-product manufacturers, agri-input providers: seeds, plantlets, fertilisers, pesticides, experts, test laboratories, agricultural equipments suppliers, quality graders, warehousing, logistics providers, banks, insurers, documentation specialists, accountants, legal support, payment gateway services, government offices/resources, agricultural institutions, non-governmental organisations.

Standard project proposals will be evolved after including views of experts in various domains to enable the participants to benefit effectively. To facilitate the processes, an expert panel will be constituted with the assistance of domain-functionaries. Transaction platform required by the stakeholders shall be studied and all the necessary information sheets, content forms, application forms and transaction forms shall be made available online, and training provided to all potential beneficiaries. Care shall be taken to ensure that the range of services offered, shall suitably empower all the members in the agricultural supply chain.

Akshaya and Friends ‘Akshaya Project’ launched on November 18, 2002 is expected to generate a network of 6000 information centres in the state, generate about 50,000 employment opportunities and throw up investment opportunities to the tune of Rs.5000 millions, all within a time span of 3 years. The project involves the setting up of multi-purpose IT enabled ‘Akshaya Kendras’ for every two wards, each catering to approximately 1000 families. Akshaya Kendra is the basic unit through which the project aims to reach its objectives. Each Akshaya Kendra aims to become the primary contact point for residents in its vicinity. The Akshaya Kendra provides a number of facilities that could be used by the common man to simplify his day-to-day activities. The Akshaya Kendras are equipped with computers, printers, fax machines, photocopiers etc. Akshaya addresses three key issues in IT dissemination to masses: Bringing the benefits of technology to the households (Access), providing ample information base in local language relevant to citizens’ lives (Contents) and sufficient understanding of the world of Information Technology and how it can touch their lives (Skillsets) in terms of using simple programs, Internet browsing for information, emails etc. In the pilot project implemented in Malappuram district, over 600 Akshaya centres have been set up. State wide roll out of the project is taking place in phased manner and presently the first phase is in progress. (http://www.akshaya.net/akshaya/default.asp) The ‘FRIENDS’ project is a part of the Kerala State IT Mission. The FRIENDS counters are equipped to handle about 1,000 types of utility payment bills (electricity, water, revenue taxes etc.) originating out of various public sector departments/agencies. (www.keralitmission.org)

The objectives of the pilot initiative shall include aggregation of responsive farmer community (of about 100,000 with a cumulative farm land of 100,000 hectares, cultivating priority crops as determined by the market demand), establishment of a robust IT enabled platform where the members can seek information, transact and make or receive electronic payments, inclusion of legal, accounting, documentation support, and enrollment of farmers and other agricultural stakeholders.


A highly proactive scientific mechanism has been evolved to carry out the programmes under this project. The work has been decentralised and various cells have been set up to look after the individual components of the programme and, to aid the smooth functioning of the program implementation and management. To state as an example, the network of Agri Business Centres shall be driven by a state level resource cell and a district level implementation cell. Web based platforms will be used in creating a virtual services gateway for all the participating members. This platform shall cater to all needs related to information, communication, transaction, payment, and thus result in potential integration with related services.

The implementation of the project will provide benefits to member farmers in terms of access to information on markets, prices, schemes, credits, quality issues, support services, benefits to member agricultural input providers in terms of logistics planning, contract farming, management of schemes, enabling e-transactions, benefits to member agricultural activists, NGOs, Government organisation in terms of policy support, integrated approach, structured dissemination of agri-based interventions and will eventually result in an increase in yields that will convert non-performing agricultural assets to performing assets. In the present scenario where competition for survival has become fierce and natural resources are dwindling, modernisation of agriculture along with empowerment of farmers has become inevitable. The project has set up very realistic targets and it is hoped, given the past experience of the Kerala IT Mission, that it will be able be able to achieve the set out targets.