Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Introduction
The agricultural sector is the key contributor to the national GDP of Bangladesh. Around 32% of the total GDP of the country comes from the agricultural sector.1 But, most of the farmers of Bangladesh are still in lack of modern agricultural knowledge. This lack of knowledge is leading to our farmers not being able to gain app. competitive advantages. The opportunity cost of such lack of knowledge is huge, when we consider the current global food shortage and very high commodity prices both at home and abroad. Had proper information and knowledge been available to the farmers, it could have well fed through significant economic returns to the much desperate poor Bangladeshi farmers, who recently had already been affected by a number of natural calamities. Not only, would that help the poor farmers but it could also have played a significant part in earning foreign currency reserves through the exportation of commodities, not to mention, adequate supplies could have also led to lower local prices that could have been beneficial to the general public as well.
So, to increase the knowledge base of our farmers, it is high time that some initiatives are taken, as figures suggest that the agriculture sector is not only important now but will also likely to be equally important for most part of the next two decades.
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Thus to cope up with future challenges more effectively, we suggest the adoption of E-Agriculture. Here we believe the information to the farmers could be disseminated via Agricultural Information System (AIS) which would help the farmers getting access to information of their specific needs. The proposed architecture and the communication mediums are explained in the next section.
E-Agriculture:
The term E-Agriculture does not refer to Electronic Agriculture, but it is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture
involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use Information and
Communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on efficient and effective agriculture.2 IT ensures the effective and efficient use of information and communication technologies for analyzing, designing and implementing existing and innovative applications to help the agricultural sector. In EAgriculture, farmers can learn from experienced farmers and Agriculture specialists and as a result it helps the farmers to do their
2
www.e-agriculture.org
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routine works more efficiently and effectively. It also makes them aware of the forthcoming natural disaster, which gives them time to take steps in order to save the agricultural products. E-agriculture also helps the farmers in getting the right price for their products by providing information about at what price different products are being sold in different markets. E-Agriculture also provides useful information about the current condition of the agriculture sector not only to governments but also to those who are interested in the sector, making it easy for them to take decisions on how to improve or sustain the agricultural condition. By effectively implanting E-
Agriculture, a country can ensure better future not only in the agriculture sector but also in all the other sectors.
The Current Status of Agriculture in Bangladesh
Agricultural sector is the key contributors to the national GDP of Bangladesh. Around 32% of the total GDP of the country comes from the agricultural sector.3 However, the agriculture sector is not performing as it should be. The reasons behind the inefficient agricultural sector of Bangladesh are:
a) Inefficient
use of knowledge: Most of the farmers of
Bangladesh are still in lack of modern agricultural knowledge. In
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh
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most cases, farmers use traditional methods for cultivation, which results in inefficient use of land and as a result the quantity of products produced is much less than the capacity of the land. Again, there is no knowledge shared between the farmers. They count each other as competitors. If they had shared knowledge, then it would have been possible for all farmers to do the right thing at the right time. Now, many crops die because of the wrong methods used by the farmers. Again the farmers have no knowledge about the systematic storage of crops. They most of the times hold the crops in the open area, where insects can affect the crops. Also, the crops lose some vital qualities if they are kept under the sun for longer periods. If they had the knowledge of how to store the crops more efficiently, the quality of the crops would have been higher, resulting in more money for them also.
b) Middleman’s Profit: At this moment the farmers are selling
their products at a very low price and suffering from loss. They have no connection to the market and as a result they don’t know the price of their products in the market. The buyers of farmers’ product are deceiving them by telling that the price of their products in the market is also loss. However, this buyers again selling this product at the market at a very high price. As a result the people of Bangladesh are also suffering because of
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the high price of the agricultural products. This is resulting in the middleman’s profit, which is making more and more people interested in the middleman’s job. The following flow chart will be useful to understand how because of middleman’s price of a product may rise although the farmers are getting less price4:
Farm
Middleman
Wholesaler
Middleman
Retailer
Consumer
Flow Chart: How products move from farmers to the final consumer
4
THE WORLD BANK GROUP, (2003), Poverty In Bangladesh: Building On Progress, World Bank In Bangladesh, South Asia Region, Bangladesh.
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh c) Lack of interaction between the policy makers and the
farmers: The policy makers of Bangladesh are not directly interacting with the farmers. As a result there is a difference between what the policy makers think about the condition of agriculture sector and the real circumstances. As the farmers are getting lower price for their products they need subsidies to continue with this profession. As there is insufficient amount of subsidies offered by the government, farmers have to borrow from lenders known as “Mohajon”. However, the interest rates are very high for these types of loans. But due to natural disaster and wrong methods used in agriculture, most of the time the crops die or the amount of crops produced is very insignificant. As a result, the farmers earn negative profit (loss) by selling these products and thereby can not pay the loan back. After consecutive failure to pay back the loans, they have to surrender their land to the “Mohajon”. As a result farmers are becoming poor everyday. However, the policy makers most of the time thinks that the farmers are well off. Because they depend on the information provided by the middlemen. To hide their own profit, they are giving wrong information to the policy makers by telling them that the farmers are getting the right price for their products. As a result the policy makers are allocating fewer subsidies than needed. Thereby, direct interaction between farmers and policy makers is a necessity.
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
d) Lack
of Information about Natural Calamities which
Destroys the Crops: Bangladesh is one of the most disaster prone countries due to its geo graphical position. Every year floods visit our country and last for more than 1 to 2 months. Normal floods are important for the cultivation of the crops. But most of the times the floods turn into abnormal floods. One of the reasons behind the flood is the cutting of trees. The population of Bangladesh is increasing at a rapid rate. To build houses for the extra population the agricultural lands are being used for the housing purpose. Again, trees are cut down as woods are needed to build houses. Now, when rain falls there are fewer trees to stop the flow of water towards rivers and oceans. The more water flows in the river the more water level rises which results in the obstruction of water flow to the rivers and oceans. The trapped water results in abnormal flood which destroys the crops. The last flood destroyed 1.67 million tons of crops.5 Again, recently SIDR visited Bangladesh and destroyed 761361 Acres of Crops amounting 6 lakhs tons.6 As there was no warning given to the farmers about these natural calamities they could not take appropriate steps in order to save their products. The farmers only could watch their crops being destroyed by the natural calamities. Therefore, warning system
5 6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods_in_Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Sidr
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for natural calamities is an important requirement for the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.
e) Wrong Method of Cultivation: One reason why our farmers
are not being able to compete with foreign farmers, which is thus promoting more commodity imports is because of the fact that our farmers are not aware of the modern production and cultivating techniques that leads to greater efficiency. They are still following the traditional techniques that their ancestors had followed, thus leading to greater in-efficiency. Say, in conditions where even a smaller quantity of fertilizer are enough to yield optimum output, our farmers inaccurately tend to believe that the more fertilizer they would be giving the more output would they be getting- a very wrong assumption in times, this leads to increased unnecessary costs. Moreover, they are not
sometimes aware of the existence of hybrid seeds that are capable of yielding greater outputs than the seeds that they had been using. All of these factors add to the cost of production, thus leading to loss of potential competitive advantages. Again, the farmers in Bangladesh are using the same land to produce the same kind of product every year. They do not know that by doing so, the lands are becoming less fertile. If we use a land for the production of same crop for some years, the crops take out some types of nutrients from the land. As the land loses that
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kind of land, it becomes less fertile to produce the same kind of crops in the next years. But, if the lands were used to produce different kind of crops in different season, then the nutrients would have been properly distributed and the land wont loss fertility. Now, as with the current method the fertility of the land is decreasing every year, the farmers are prone to use artificial fertilizers to hold the production of the crops. This may result to bumper production of crops for some year, but the use of artificial crops destroys the fertility of the land more rapidly than continuous production of the same kind of crops. Thereby, the land of Bangladesh is becoming less fertile every year and the production of agricultural crops is decreasing at a rapid rate. So, we need to use scientific methods and natural fertilizers to improve the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.
f) Digital Divide in Bangladesh: Like other developing country,
digital divide exists in Bangladesh too. We are now in information age but still the rural people are almost not familiar with computer. Computers are only used in urban areas for different kinds of jobs. The use of computer in urban areas for agricultural purpose is very insignificant. Again, less than 1% of rural people have some time in their life came in contact with a computer. But agriculture in Bangladesh is based on rural areas. Therefore, people are not capable of using computer to
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improve the competitiveness of agriculture.
We need to cut
down this digital divided in order to improve our agriculture sector.
g) Inefficient marketing of crops: The buyers of farmers’ product
some time fails to identify good crops and in turn ends up buying less good crops. This happens because there is no record of farmers’ products and their qualities. As a result, the buyers do not know that there may be more quality product then they are buying right now. This results in less quality food products. Also, the good crops are still there in the open air waiting for processing. But as time passes by they starts to get rotten. So, although the farmer had produced quality product he is not being able to sell the product to the buyers. This is a loss not only to the farmer but also to the whole country. Therefore, an efficient marketing for crops is very important for the development of the agricultural sector of Bangladesh.
Steps in implementing E-Agriculture
Well, AIS will help in dissemination of gathered information to the farmers, mostly lived in rural areas, to use in their routine work. Besides this, it will also aware them about the upcoming natural disaster, which gives them time to take necessary steps for possible protection of their crops/commodities. It could also inform about:
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a) Climatic Conditions: The information gathered from the
weather center, could be included in the database, from which the farmers could be aware of the likely climatic changes in the near future. Say, in periods of likely droughts the farmers could arrange water supplies in advance before the problems become chronic. When there are possibilities of heavy rainfall, they could either stop or minimize cultivating or plant crops that are less susceptible to rainfall. Again, if the farmers know that storms like “KalBoishaki” is going happen in near future, they can move away crops from their open area to a safer place and thus minimize the loss.
b) Increased Information Share: In AIS more importance will be
given to share of information. There will be agriculture specialist from whom the farmers can get help either by meeting with them or by contacting them over telephone, mobile even with the help of E-mail. However, we know that it would not be possible for farmers to contact the agriculture specialist; each and every time there is a problem. In AIS, few selected experienced farmers will be trained so they can help the farmers of their locality. Thus, these experienced farmers can improve their already owned vast knowledge with the touch of
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technology and help the other farmers in order to fight problems and improve production.
c) Price Information: Lack of accurate price information is
probably the primary reason why, the farmers in spite of producing the heavy demanding commodities end up making losses or very small profits. They are not aware of the actual market prices. Moreover, they are exploited by the middlemen, who provide inaccurate price information, which force these poor farmers to sell their commodities at less desirable prices. Therefore, we believe, through AIS these farmers would get access to actual price information, derived from the demands and the supplies of the market-which will supposedly reduce if not eliminate the communication gap.
d) Production and Cultivation Techniques: In AIS the farmers
of Bangladesh will be taught the modern way of production and cultivation system. At this moment they are following the old tradition that they learned from their ancestors. But in order to compete with the rest of the world, we have to adopt modern production and cultivation system. In AIS, farmers will be taught that, cultivating one kind of crop in a field over years is harmful for the land. If they used the same land for cultivation of different kind of crops in different season, the fertility will
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increase automatically. Thus, they would not require using artificial fertilizers to increase the land’s productivity. This will result in fewer cost but higher production. Again, the farmers will learn the importance of planting crops in random ways. If the crops are planted in a simple plan, it is very easy for the insects to harm identify the crops position and destroy them. But if they are planted in different rows with different gap the damages by insects can be reduced largely. Thereby, the farmers of Bangladesh can have comparative advantage in producing more agricultural products and earn profit by exporting the extra product.
e) Information of potential threats: The database could also
include information of diseases and insect information that could potentially impair the activities of the farmers. For example, following the discovery of a disease, say bird-flu of the poultry industry, AIS could include information that would help the firms getting out from the situation. Say, it could first include the symptoms of the dieses concerned, i.e. how could the farmers know whether they were affected or not? Secondly, if they were affected, what was the possible solution, what were the precautions that was to be taken for minimizing the harmful impacts? What would be the steps of the aftermath? If the dieses were human affecting, what could be their steps? Say,
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who to contact and how? Etc. All these information are likely to minimize the consequences of a peril. Furthermore, insects tend to be one of more dangerous threats for farmers. So, the AIS was also likely to include information of pesticides or other curing measures, where would they be available and what cost, how would those be used, the control mechanism, etc. These are all likely to act as insurance for farmers against the worst of times.
f) Government Policy information:
In AIS, government can
directly communicate with the people of grass root level. As a result the policy makers will know the real situation of the agriculture sector of Bangladesh. Then they can design policies which can actually remove the pain from the farmers and their families’ heart. Farmers can raise their concern about any policy that they think is harmful for the agriculture sector. They could also be made aware of the different incentives and policies that government, every now and then offers and adopts. Moreover, it is also feasible to make the farmers understand the Agricultural expenditure segment of the National Budget, and how was that money going to be used. Doing this, would allow farmers to plan accordingly regarding which commodities to produce and which to not, as they would strive to gain government assistance as much as possible. Say,
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
if the government, decides to promote the poultry sector, and thus makes significant money allotment in that particular sector, not only the poultry farmers would know it but also the farmers of the other sectors. So if they wish, these farmers could also shift to the poultry industry. In this process, not only would the government objective be attained but also would affect the welfare of the farmers.
g) Other general information: As AIS was likely to be the
medium through which the government could communicate directly with the public of the grass root level; it could also be affectively used to disseminate other general information, that the government feels desirable for its rural citizens. This might include education and health information, population and family planning information, or making them aware of the activities of the NGOs of their respective villages and how the farmers were to avail its benefits.
PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh Problem Consultation
Farmers
IT Tro ubl esh oot ing
Con sult atio n
Price and demand Knowledge Agricultural Problems
Government
Data Processing Software
Policy Problems
Marketing of product Weather Information Knowledge
Policy Changes Weather Information Weather
Center
Agriculture Specialist
IT Troubleshooting
Problem analysis and solution
Database
Product information
Use of IT
Price and demand
IT Specialist
Market
IT Troubleshooting
IT Troubleshooting
IT Troubleshooting
Information Information Information
Environmental sources of information
Information Information
Information
Figure: Agriculture Information System
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Dhaka
Chittagong Rajshahi
Central Database
Khulna Sylhet Barisal
Figure: Central Database Central database
Policy makers
Divisional Database
Mobile devices using GPRS
Researchers
District Database
Thana database
General public
Thana representative
Farmers
Figure: how the database will be built and used
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The main component of the architecture is database server, which contains the spatial database that stores information about weather, price, production, cultivation technique and nutrients of a crop. The database is connected with Internet and Multimedia Message Service Centre (MMSC). Internet provides access to the database server through HTTP or FTP protocol, which should be used to update and access the database from any computer. On the other hand the MMSC work as an access point from mobile device.
IMPLEMENTATION TECHNIQUE
We have a central database which has all the information needed for the users. Users can access the database from anywhere in the country using internet or mobile devices with internet access capabilities. But this information flow will be a one-way flow. This means that the general users (farmers, general public, and researchers) can only browse the website and achieve the necessary information. They don’t have the authority to upload or modify any information. Only the government has the necessary access to upload information. There will be a database administration group who will upload the data taken from people related to agriculture such as farmers, agriculture specialist, weather specialist, buyers of
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
agricultural products and so on. To upload information from all around the country, we need to analyze the geographic nature of Bangladesh. We need to divide the whole Bangladesh into several areas. We need six divisional databases to get the necessary information from the divisions. Each division will have several district databases which will be further divided into Thana databases. There will be a representative from the government in each of the databases who’ll take care of collecting the raw data, processing it into usable information, and uploading it to the database of the district. This process will continue until the information reaches the central database. We need this division of small areas to forecast weather, for disseminating the proper information about price, nutrition etc of a crop. The spatial database will solely provide the information for the stakeholders. Moreover we need to develop the accessing method both for the farmers and other interest group.
Accessing Methods:
According to our need we may provide two different accessing methods for two different categories of stakeholders to the spatial database.
a) Accessing spatial database from fixed devices (i.e. desktop PC) using Internet by educational, research & development
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activists. The researchers can come up with a feasible project or a research paper and then they can submit their work to the legal authority. If it is accepted, then it’ll be uploaded in the system.
b) Accessing spatial database from mobile devices (i.e. mobile phones) using GPRS or WAP network by the field worker and farmers from their respective places. The farmers don’t have the facility or the affordability to browse the internet because setting up a fixed device is very expensive. Moreover, there is no local area connection in the villages. So, it was not possible for them to get the updated information. But the evolution of telecommunication network by the mobile operators along with the cheap price of cell phones has made life easier for the farmers and the field workers. The user friendly web pages with the text in Bangla language and the use of more images have made it possible for the illiterate farmers to browse the internet and get the necessary information. The Thana representative has provided the farmers with the basic knowledge of accessing the internet. It will also be easy for a user just to remember the menu order and simply press the confirmation button. The menu will contain sub menu so that the user can express his or her choice precisely. After choosing the appropriate term farmers will push the send button and the
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corresponding program will send message containing the keyword to the service center.
The farmers are also involved in a two-way information flow with the Thana representatives. The farmers can also get information from the information center in the Thana level by going there personally if they don’t have the option of using the mobile devices. Information is also needed from the farmers about the production, supply of goods, and any problem faced during cultivation which will be provided to their respective area representative. The information will then be uploaded in the central system which will be available to the general public all around the country. There are many problems which cannot be solved within the area level and needs the help of the government. So a well-designed networking system will be needed for the effectiveness of agricultural information system.
Limitation for implementing E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Like every other project, implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh has some limitations too. These limitations are not easy to raze to the ground overnight. The government of Bangladesh needs to take well-thought steps in order to demolish these limitations. The limitations for implementing E-Agriculture in
Bangladesh are:
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a) Low
Literacy Rate: Literacy rate in the rural area of
Bangladesh is only 17%.7 This is one of the limitations of implementing E-Agriculture because it depends on the efficient use of information. And it would be hard for the illiterate farmers to use the information efficiently when they can hardly read. This may also result in misinterpretation of information, when there is a flow of information from farmers to other farmers or to sellers and policy makers.
b) Corruption: Another limitation is that Bangladesh is one of the
leading countries in the list of corruption. Although we should not blame every body, but at present moment it seems that corruption has reached every place possible. From the policy makers to the farmers every body is working for their own profit. They do not think about other’s well being. They are ready to do any job that will earn them profit, although there is a chance that the job may be harmful for their community or for the environment of Bangladesh. Thus, corruption will be primary obstruction in implementing E-Agriculture. It won’t be possible to pass a project that won’t bring the policy makers any profit. This is why the government of Bangladesh should take serious
7
http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/L_0111.htm
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
steps to eradicate corruption from Bangladesh as soon as possible.
c) Initial High Cost for the Setup: Another limitation for the
implementation of E-Agriculture is the initial High cost for the setup. At present, it would cost more than 1 billion taka only to setup the computers and all the other necessary equipments all over Bangladesh. The communication medium is also needed to be improved. The present medium through which internet is used all over Bangladesh is not sufficient for E-Agriculture. Bangladesh needs to have high internet speed, which they can have if they efficiently use the Fiber Optics line. This will also cost much for a country like Bangladesh. For these purpose Bangladesh would need the help of World Bank, because at this moment World Bank is the only financial source that can supply the sufficient money which can be used to bear this massive setup cost. It would be a very hard for the policy
makers to come to an arrangement with World Bank regarding this loan.
d) Electricity problem: At this moment Bangladesh is suffering
from heavy load-shedding. At urban areas, load-shedding happens in every two to three hours. In rural areas the condition are worse. In some places, current remains only for
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three to four hours a day. As a result the farmers have to use generator for the irrigation purpose. This is resulting in more cost for cultivation of crops and more loss for the farmers. Again, this will be a huge barrier for the implementation of EAgriculture. Bangladeshi people are not accustomed to use of battery to run computers. They can hardly use generators in their houses during load-shedding, as most of the people of Bangladesh are living below the poverty line. So, when loadshedding will happen in rural areas, people will use generators in the paddy or other fields for the purpose of irrigations. As a result computers will be completely useless in the rural areas. Thereby, implementation of E-Agriculture will be a flop project because its main idea is the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on efficient and effective agriculture.8
Conclusion:
Although implementing E-agriculture in Bangladesh has some limitation, we strongly believe the dissemination of all these are likely to increase the knowledge base of our farmers along with reducing if not eliminating the communication gap between the urban and the
8
www.e-agriculture.org
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rural dwellers. It is also likely to improve the present agricultural sector of Bangladesh, which is dominated by middle-men. The presence of all these information will put our farmers in much better position than now, at least in bargaining terms. Again, our economic condition will improve, because there will be more than sufficient amount of production of corps. We will then have comparative advantage in the field of agriculture. We can export agricultural products in bulk amount and earn foreign currency. As a result we will not have to depend in importing agricultural products any more. Again, we don’t have to worry about loss of crops due to natural calamities as the farmers will have learned the ways to save their products from different natural calamities. Again, the people of Bangladesh will also benefit from this, because the price of the agricultural product will not be as high as it is today and the production will be more than sufficient for the people of Bangladesh. We believe, IT could play an effective role not only in changing the fortunes of the people of our country, but also in the betterment of our economy too. Therefore, we strongly suggest that the government of Bangladesh implement E-agriculture as soon as possible.
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doc_324005506.doc
Introduction
The agricultural sector is the key contributor to the national GDP of Bangladesh. Around 32% of the total GDP of the country comes from the agricultural sector.1 But, most of the farmers of Bangladesh are still in lack of modern agricultural knowledge. This lack of knowledge is leading to our farmers not being able to gain app. competitive advantages. The opportunity cost of such lack of knowledge is huge, when we consider the current global food shortage and very high commodity prices both at home and abroad. Had proper information and knowledge been available to the farmers, it could have well fed through significant economic returns to the much desperate poor Bangladeshi farmers, who recently had already been affected by a number of natural calamities. Not only, would that help the poor farmers but it could also have played a significant part in earning foreign currency reserves through the exportation of commodities, not to mention, adequate supplies could have also led to lower local prices that could have been beneficial to the general public as well.
So, to increase the knowledge base of our farmers, it is high time that some initiatives are taken, as figures suggest that the agriculture sector is not only important now but will also likely to be equally important for most part of the next two decades.
1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh
Page 1 of 25
Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Thus to cope up with future challenges more effectively, we suggest the adoption of E-Agriculture. Here we believe the information to the farmers could be disseminated via Agricultural Information System (AIS) which would help the farmers getting access to information of their specific needs. The proposed architecture and the communication mediums are explained in the next section.
E-Agriculture:
The term E-Agriculture does not refer to Electronic Agriculture, but it is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture
involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use Information and
Communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on efficient and effective agriculture.2 IT ensures the effective and efficient use of information and communication technologies for analyzing, designing and implementing existing and innovative applications to help the agricultural sector. In EAgriculture, farmers can learn from experienced farmers and Agriculture specialists and as a result it helps the farmers to do their
2
www.e-agriculture.org
Page 2 of 25
Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
routine works more efficiently and effectively. It also makes them aware of the forthcoming natural disaster, which gives them time to take steps in order to save the agricultural products. E-agriculture also helps the farmers in getting the right price for their products by providing information about at what price different products are being sold in different markets. E-Agriculture also provides useful information about the current condition of the agriculture sector not only to governments but also to those who are interested in the sector, making it easy for them to take decisions on how to improve or sustain the agricultural condition. By effectively implanting E-
Agriculture, a country can ensure better future not only in the agriculture sector but also in all the other sectors.
The Current Status of Agriculture in Bangladesh
Agricultural sector is the key contributors to the national GDP of Bangladesh. Around 32% of the total GDP of the country comes from the agricultural sector.3 However, the agriculture sector is not performing as it should be. The reasons behind the inefficient agricultural sector of Bangladesh are:
a) Inefficient
use of knowledge: Most of the farmers of
Bangladesh are still in lack of modern agricultural knowledge. In
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bangladesh
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
most cases, farmers use traditional methods for cultivation, which results in inefficient use of land and as a result the quantity of products produced is much less than the capacity of the land. Again, there is no knowledge shared between the farmers. They count each other as competitors. If they had shared knowledge, then it would have been possible for all farmers to do the right thing at the right time. Now, many crops die because of the wrong methods used by the farmers. Again the farmers have no knowledge about the systematic storage of crops. They most of the times hold the crops in the open area, where insects can affect the crops. Also, the crops lose some vital qualities if they are kept under the sun for longer periods. If they had the knowledge of how to store the crops more efficiently, the quality of the crops would have been higher, resulting in more money for them also.
b) Middleman’s Profit: At this moment the farmers are selling
their products at a very low price and suffering from loss. They have no connection to the market and as a result they don’t know the price of their products in the market. The buyers of farmers’ product are deceiving them by telling that the price of their products in the market is also loss. However, this buyers again selling this product at the market at a very high price. As a result the people of Bangladesh are also suffering because of
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
the high price of the agricultural products. This is resulting in the middleman’s profit, which is making more and more people interested in the middleman’s job. The following flow chart will be useful to understand how because of middleman’s price of a product may rise although the farmers are getting less price4:
Farm
Middleman
Wholesaler
Middleman
Retailer
Consumer
Flow Chart: How products move from farmers to the final consumer
4
THE WORLD BANK GROUP, (2003), Poverty In Bangladesh: Building On Progress, World Bank In Bangladesh, South Asia Region, Bangladesh.
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh c) Lack of interaction between the policy makers and the
farmers: The policy makers of Bangladesh are not directly interacting with the farmers. As a result there is a difference between what the policy makers think about the condition of agriculture sector and the real circumstances. As the farmers are getting lower price for their products they need subsidies to continue with this profession. As there is insufficient amount of subsidies offered by the government, farmers have to borrow from lenders known as “Mohajon”. However, the interest rates are very high for these types of loans. But due to natural disaster and wrong methods used in agriculture, most of the time the crops die or the amount of crops produced is very insignificant. As a result, the farmers earn negative profit (loss) by selling these products and thereby can not pay the loan back. After consecutive failure to pay back the loans, they have to surrender their land to the “Mohajon”. As a result farmers are becoming poor everyday. However, the policy makers most of the time thinks that the farmers are well off. Because they depend on the information provided by the middlemen. To hide their own profit, they are giving wrong information to the policy makers by telling them that the farmers are getting the right price for their products. As a result the policy makers are allocating fewer subsidies than needed. Thereby, direct interaction between farmers and policy makers is a necessity.
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d) Lack
of Information about Natural Calamities which
Destroys the Crops: Bangladesh is one of the most disaster prone countries due to its geo graphical position. Every year floods visit our country and last for more than 1 to 2 months. Normal floods are important for the cultivation of the crops. But most of the times the floods turn into abnormal floods. One of the reasons behind the flood is the cutting of trees. The population of Bangladesh is increasing at a rapid rate. To build houses for the extra population the agricultural lands are being used for the housing purpose. Again, trees are cut down as woods are needed to build houses. Now, when rain falls there are fewer trees to stop the flow of water towards rivers and oceans. The more water flows in the river the more water level rises which results in the obstruction of water flow to the rivers and oceans. The trapped water results in abnormal flood which destroys the crops. The last flood destroyed 1.67 million tons of crops.5 Again, recently SIDR visited Bangladesh and destroyed 761361 Acres of Crops amounting 6 lakhs tons.6 As there was no warning given to the farmers about these natural calamities they could not take appropriate steps in order to save their products. The farmers only could watch their crops being destroyed by the natural calamities. Therefore, warning system
5 6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods_in_Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Sidr
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for natural calamities is an important requirement for the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.
e) Wrong Method of Cultivation: One reason why our farmers
are not being able to compete with foreign farmers, which is thus promoting more commodity imports is because of the fact that our farmers are not aware of the modern production and cultivating techniques that leads to greater efficiency. They are still following the traditional techniques that their ancestors had followed, thus leading to greater in-efficiency. Say, in conditions where even a smaller quantity of fertilizer are enough to yield optimum output, our farmers inaccurately tend to believe that the more fertilizer they would be giving the more output would they be getting- a very wrong assumption in times, this leads to increased unnecessary costs. Moreover, they are not
sometimes aware of the existence of hybrid seeds that are capable of yielding greater outputs than the seeds that they had been using. All of these factors add to the cost of production, thus leading to loss of potential competitive advantages. Again, the farmers in Bangladesh are using the same land to produce the same kind of product every year. They do not know that by doing so, the lands are becoming less fertile. If we use a land for the production of same crop for some years, the crops take out some types of nutrients from the land. As the land loses that
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kind of land, it becomes less fertile to produce the same kind of crops in the next years. But, if the lands were used to produce different kind of crops in different season, then the nutrients would have been properly distributed and the land wont loss fertility. Now, as with the current method the fertility of the land is decreasing every year, the farmers are prone to use artificial fertilizers to hold the production of the crops. This may result to bumper production of crops for some year, but the use of artificial crops destroys the fertility of the land more rapidly than continuous production of the same kind of crops. Thereby, the land of Bangladesh is becoming less fertile every year and the production of agricultural crops is decreasing at a rapid rate. So, we need to use scientific methods and natural fertilizers to improve the agriculture sector of Bangladesh.
f) Digital Divide in Bangladesh: Like other developing country,
digital divide exists in Bangladesh too. We are now in information age but still the rural people are almost not familiar with computer. Computers are only used in urban areas for different kinds of jobs. The use of computer in urban areas for agricultural purpose is very insignificant. Again, less than 1% of rural people have some time in their life came in contact with a computer. But agriculture in Bangladesh is based on rural areas. Therefore, people are not capable of using computer to
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improve the competitiveness of agriculture.
We need to cut
down this digital divided in order to improve our agriculture sector.
g) Inefficient marketing of crops: The buyers of farmers’ product
some time fails to identify good crops and in turn ends up buying less good crops. This happens because there is no record of farmers’ products and their qualities. As a result, the buyers do not know that there may be more quality product then they are buying right now. This results in less quality food products. Also, the good crops are still there in the open air waiting for processing. But as time passes by they starts to get rotten. So, although the farmer had produced quality product he is not being able to sell the product to the buyers. This is a loss not only to the farmer but also to the whole country. Therefore, an efficient marketing for crops is very important for the development of the agricultural sector of Bangladesh.
Steps in implementing E-Agriculture
Well, AIS will help in dissemination of gathered information to the farmers, mostly lived in rural areas, to use in their routine work. Besides this, it will also aware them about the upcoming natural disaster, which gives them time to take necessary steps for possible protection of their crops/commodities. It could also inform about:
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a) Climatic Conditions: The information gathered from the
weather center, could be included in the database, from which the farmers could be aware of the likely climatic changes in the near future. Say, in periods of likely droughts the farmers could arrange water supplies in advance before the problems become chronic. When there are possibilities of heavy rainfall, they could either stop or minimize cultivating or plant crops that are less susceptible to rainfall. Again, if the farmers know that storms like “KalBoishaki” is going happen in near future, they can move away crops from their open area to a safer place and thus minimize the loss.
b) Increased Information Share: In AIS more importance will be
given to share of information. There will be agriculture specialist from whom the farmers can get help either by meeting with them or by contacting them over telephone, mobile even with the help of E-mail. However, we know that it would not be possible for farmers to contact the agriculture specialist; each and every time there is a problem. In AIS, few selected experienced farmers will be trained so they can help the farmers of their locality. Thus, these experienced farmers can improve their already owned vast knowledge with the touch of
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technology and help the other farmers in order to fight problems and improve production.
c) Price Information: Lack of accurate price information is
probably the primary reason why, the farmers in spite of producing the heavy demanding commodities end up making losses or very small profits. They are not aware of the actual market prices. Moreover, they are exploited by the middlemen, who provide inaccurate price information, which force these poor farmers to sell their commodities at less desirable prices. Therefore, we believe, through AIS these farmers would get access to actual price information, derived from the demands and the supplies of the market-which will supposedly reduce if not eliminate the communication gap.
d) Production and Cultivation Techniques: In AIS the farmers
of Bangladesh will be taught the modern way of production and cultivation system. At this moment they are following the old tradition that they learned from their ancestors. But in order to compete with the rest of the world, we have to adopt modern production and cultivation system. In AIS, farmers will be taught that, cultivating one kind of crop in a field over years is harmful for the land. If they used the same land for cultivation of different kind of crops in different season, the fertility will
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increase automatically. Thus, they would not require using artificial fertilizers to increase the land’s productivity. This will result in fewer cost but higher production. Again, the farmers will learn the importance of planting crops in random ways. If the crops are planted in a simple plan, it is very easy for the insects to harm identify the crops position and destroy them. But if they are planted in different rows with different gap the damages by insects can be reduced largely. Thereby, the farmers of Bangladesh can have comparative advantage in producing more agricultural products and earn profit by exporting the extra product.
e) Information of potential threats: The database could also
include information of diseases and insect information that could potentially impair the activities of the farmers. For example, following the discovery of a disease, say bird-flu of the poultry industry, AIS could include information that would help the firms getting out from the situation. Say, it could first include the symptoms of the dieses concerned, i.e. how could the farmers know whether they were affected or not? Secondly, if they were affected, what was the possible solution, what were the precautions that was to be taken for minimizing the harmful impacts? What would be the steps of the aftermath? If the dieses were human affecting, what could be their steps? Say,
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who to contact and how? Etc. All these information are likely to minimize the consequences of a peril. Furthermore, insects tend to be one of more dangerous threats for farmers. So, the AIS was also likely to include information of pesticides or other curing measures, where would they be available and what cost, how would those be used, the control mechanism, etc. These are all likely to act as insurance for farmers against the worst of times.
f) Government Policy information:
In AIS, government can
directly communicate with the people of grass root level. As a result the policy makers will know the real situation of the agriculture sector of Bangladesh. Then they can design policies which can actually remove the pain from the farmers and their families’ heart. Farmers can raise their concern about any policy that they think is harmful for the agriculture sector. They could also be made aware of the different incentives and policies that government, every now and then offers and adopts. Moreover, it is also feasible to make the farmers understand the Agricultural expenditure segment of the National Budget, and how was that money going to be used. Doing this, would allow farmers to plan accordingly regarding which commodities to produce and which to not, as they would strive to gain government assistance as much as possible. Say,
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if the government, decides to promote the poultry sector, and thus makes significant money allotment in that particular sector, not only the poultry farmers would know it but also the farmers of the other sectors. So if they wish, these farmers could also shift to the poultry industry. In this process, not only would the government objective be attained but also would affect the welfare of the farmers.
g) Other general information: As AIS was likely to be the
medium through which the government could communicate directly with the public of the grass root level; it could also be affectively used to disseminate other general information, that the government feels desirable for its rural citizens. This might include education and health information, population and family planning information, or making them aware of the activities of the NGOs of their respective villages and how the farmers were to avail its benefits.
PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE
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Term Paper on Implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh Problem Consultation
Farmers
IT Tro ubl esh oot ing
Con sult atio n
Price and demand Knowledge Agricultural Problems
Government
Data Processing Software
Policy Problems
Marketing of product Weather Information Knowledge
Policy Changes Weather Information Weather
Center
Agriculture Specialist
IT Troubleshooting
Problem analysis and solution
Database
Product information
Use of IT
Price and demand
IT Specialist
Market
IT Troubleshooting
IT Troubleshooting
IT Troubleshooting
Information Information Information
Environmental sources of information
Information Information
Information
Figure: Agriculture Information System
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Dhaka
Chittagong Rajshahi
Central Database
Khulna Sylhet Barisal
Figure: Central Database Central database
Policy makers
Divisional Database
Mobile devices using GPRS
Researchers
District Database
Thana database
General public
Thana representative
Farmers
Figure: how the database will be built and used
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The main component of the architecture is database server, which contains the spatial database that stores information about weather, price, production, cultivation technique and nutrients of a crop. The database is connected with Internet and Multimedia Message Service Centre (MMSC). Internet provides access to the database server through HTTP or FTP protocol, which should be used to update and access the database from any computer. On the other hand the MMSC work as an access point from mobile device.
IMPLEMENTATION TECHNIQUE
We have a central database which has all the information needed for the users. Users can access the database from anywhere in the country using internet or mobile devices with internet access capabilities. But this information flow will be a one-way flow. This means that the general users (farmers, general public, and researchers) can only browse the website and achieve the necessary information. They don’t have the authority to upload or modify any information. Only the government has the necessary access to upload information. There will be a database administration group who will upload the data taken from people related to agriculture such as farmers, agriculture specialist, weather specialist, buyers of
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agricultural products and so on. To upload information from all around the country, we need to analyze the geographic nature of Bangladesh. We need to divide the whole Bangladesh into several areas. We need six divisional databases to get the necessary information from the divisions. Each division will have several district databases which will be further divided into Thana databases. There will be a representative from the government in each of the databases who’ll take care of collecting the raw data, processing it into usable information, and uploading it to the database of the district. This process will continue until the information reaches the central database. We need this division of small areas to forecast weather, for disseminating the proper information about price, nutrition etc of a crop. The spatial database will solely provide the information for the stakeholders. Moreover we need to develop the accessing method both for the farmers and other interest group.
Accessing Methods:
According to our need we may provide two different accessing methods for two different categories of stakeholders to the spatial database.
a) Accessing spatial database from fixed devices (i.e. desktop PC) using Internet by educational, research & development
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activists. The researchers can come up with a feasible project or a research paper and then they can submit their work to the legal authority. If it is accepted, then it’ll be uploaded in the system.
b) Accessing spatial database from mobile devices (i.e. mobile phones) using GPRS or WAP network by the field worker and farmers from their respective places. The farmers don’t have the facility or the affordability to browse the internet because setting up a fixed device is very expensive. Moreover, there is no local area connection in the villages. So, it was not possible for them to get the updated information. But the evolution of telecommunication network by the mobile operators along with the cheap price of cell phones has made life easier for the farmers and the field workers. The user friendly web pages with the text in Bangla language and the use of more images have made it possible for the illiterate farmers to browse the internet and get the necessary information. The Thana representative has provided the farmers with the basic knowledge of accessing the internet. It will also be easy for a user just to remember the menu order and simply press the confirmation button. The menu will contain sub menu so that the user can express his or her choice precisely. After choosing the appropriate term farmers will push the send button and the
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corresponding program will send message containing the keyword to the service center.
The farmers are also involved in a two-way information flow with the Thana representatives. The farmers can also get information from the information center in the Thana level by going there personally if they don’t have the option of using the mobile devices. Information is also needed from the farmers about the production, supply of goods, and any problem faced during cultivation which will be provided to their respective area representative. The information will then be uploaded in the central system which will be available to the general public all around the country. There are many problems which cannot be solved within the area level and needs the help of the government. So a well-designed networking system will be needed for the effectiveness of agricultural information system.
Limitation for implementing E-Agriculture in Bangladesh
Like every other project, implementation of E-Agriculture in Bangladesh has some limitations too. These limitations are not easy to raze to the ground overnight. The government of Bangladesh needs to take well-thought steps in order to demolish these limitations. The limitations for implementing E-Agriculture in
Bangladesh are:
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a) Low
Literacy Rate: Literacy rate in the rural area of
Bangladesh is only 17%.7 This is one of the limitations of implementing E-Agriculture because it depends on the efficient use of information. And it would be hard for the illiterate farmers to use the information efficiently when they can hardly read. This may also result in misinterpretation of information, when there is a flow of information from farmers to other farmers or to sellers and policy makers.
b) Corruption: Another limitation is that Bangladesh is one of the
leading countries in the list of corruption. Although we should not blame every body, but at present moment it seems that corruption has reached every place possible. From the policy makers to the farmers every body is working for their own profit. They do not think about other’s well being. They are ready to do any job that will earn them profit, although there is a chance that the job may be harmful for their community or for the environment of Bangladesh. Thus, corruption will be primary obstruction in implementing E-Agriculture. It won’t be possible to pass a project that won’t bring the policy makers any profit. This is why the government of Bangladesh should take serious
7
http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/L_0111.htm
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steps to eradicate corruption from Bangladesh as soon as possible.
c) Initial High Cost for the Setup: Another limitation for the
implementation of E-Agriculture is the initial High cost for the setup. At present, it would cost more than 1 billion taka only to setup the computers and all the other necessary equipments all over Bangladesh. The communication medium is also needed to be improved. The present medium through which internet is used all over Bangladesh is not sufficient for E-Agriculture. Bangladesh needs to have high internet speed, which they can have if they efficiently use the Fiber Optics line. This will also cost much for a country like Bangladesh. For these purpose Bangladesh would need the help of World Bank, because at this moment World Bank is the only financial source that can supply the sufficient money which can be used to bear this massive setup cost. It would be a very hard for the policy
makers to come to an arrangement with World Bank regarding this loan.
d) Electricity problem: At this moment Bangladesh is suffering
from heavy load-shedding. At urban areas, load-shedding happens in every two to three hours. In rural areas the condition are worse. In some places, current remains only for
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three to four hours a day. As a result the farmers have to use generator for the irrigation purpose. This is resulting in more cost for cultivation of crops and more loss for the farmers. Again, this will be a huge barrier for the implementation of EAgriculture. Bangladeshi people are not accustomed to use of battery to run computers. They can hardly use generators in their houses during load-shedding, as most of the people of Bangladesh are living below the poverty line. So, when loadshedding will happen in rural areas, people will use generators in the paddy or other fields for the purpose of irrigations. As a result computers will be completely useless in the rural areas. Thereby, implementation of E-Agriculture will be a flop project because its main idea is the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on efficient and effective agriculture.8
Conclusion:
Although implementing E-agriculture in Bangladesh has some limitation, we strongly believe the dissemination of all these are likely to increase the knowledge base of our farmers along with reducing if not eliminating the communication gap between the urban and the
8
www.e-agriculture.org
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rural dwellers. It is also likely to improve the present agricultural sector of Bangladesh, which is dominated by middle-men. The presence of all these information will put our farmers in much better position than now, at least in bargaining terms. Again, our economic condition will improve, because there will be more than sufficient amount of production of corps. We will then have comparative advantage in the field of agriculture. We can export agricultural products in bulk amount and earn foreign currency. As a result we will not have to depend in importing agricultural products any more. Again, we don’t have to worry about loss of crops due to natural calamities as the farmers will have learned the ways to save their products from different natural calamities. Again, the people of Bangladesh will also benefit from this, because the price of the agricultural product will not be as high as it is today and the production will be more than sufficient for the people of Bangladesh. We believe, IT could play an effective role not only in changing the fortunes of the people of our country, but also in the betterment of our economy too. Therefore, we strongly suggest that the government of Bangladesh implement E-agriculture as soon as possible.
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doc_324005506.doc