"How can recent advances in science and technology be harnessed so that the poor of the world can overcome the problems of drought and desertification? ICRISAT is harnessing the ICTs to enhance food security."
|
|
William D Dar
|
Drought and desertification are emerging as serious problems in Sub Saharan Africa as well as in South Asia and have the potential to undermine the food security of large masses of people. Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nationas (UN) has recently observed that drought and desertification threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of the worlds poor in 130 countries. A very large part of the drought-prone areas of the world are located in the Semi Arid Tropics (SAT) that is also the home to some of the poorest in the world. How can recent advances in science and technology be harnessed so that the poor of the world can overcome the problems of drought and desertification? The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is now engaged in harnessing the power of contemporary information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance drought-preparedness among the vulnerable rural families of the SAT.
The Committee on Science and Technology (CST) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has consistently emphasised the role of information in drought management. The CST experts have advocated the establishment of a comprehensive early warning system for drought to make famine early warning even more relevant. The United Nations Office to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO), now the UNDP Dry lands Development Center, Nairobi, rated drought preparedness higher than relief and insurance, and pointed out that information is the backbone of drought preparedness. This is also stated in the year 2000 report of the US National Commission on Drought. Canada, in its submission to the CST-5 of UNCCD in 2001, referred to the accumulated experience in drought management in the Sahel, emphasised the role of information in enhancing drought management, and pointed out the need for an experimental communication strategy that would integrate a bottom-up approach with a knowledge dissemination strategy.
There is thus substantial international interest in utilising knowledge and information in enhancing drought preparedness among vulnerable rural communities. Therefore, a new initiative would be relevant and timely, and will also be consistent with the WEHAB approach to sustainable development (WEHAB Action Item 2 in Agriculture is to encourage knowledge generation through research, extension, education and communication.). It will also contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through innovative, international partnerships involving ICTs.
ICT4D and ODL
A number of projects on the application of contemporary ICT for Development (ICT4D) have been successful at a pilot level, constituting what is called a global telecenters movement. Many of them are aimed at initiating processes that would bridge the digital divide. At ICRISAT, ICT means a range of digital technologies, and include digital satellite radio and community radio in this range. The promise they hold as new channels for information in remote/rural areas has captured international attention. It is also a subject for deliberation in the forthcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. Critical studies on the impact and sustainability of such projects document that the long-term sustainability of rural ICT4D projects is dependent upon their information function and not just on the innovative connectivity technology which is adopted. Delivering a locally relevant information service, that meets the local demand, is expected to lead to a model for local revenue generation and sharing that will assure sustainability. Among the many rural ICT4D models, one that promotes value-addition to generic information is found to be more sustainable. Such a model helps in converting information in the networks into information and knowledge that can be locally acted upon. These conclusions were confirmed in a South Asian regional workshop on good practices in ICT4D that ICRISAT had organised earlier this year in June.
The Open/Distance Learning (ODL) paradigm today has evolved into a system for mass education beyond the formal school. It has a presence in every developing country. There is a felt need in many developing countries for opportunities for life-long learning. The ODL system has emerged as the most suitable means to achieve this goal, and ODL leaders such as the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) accept such developmental objectives as an imperative. When combined with the emerging practices of ICT4D of using contemporary ICT to deliver information in rural areas, the ODL paradigm can offer new models for information and knowledge-oriented outreach in the developing world.
VASAT initiative
The Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics (VASAT) is an attempt to blend the power and advantages of contemporary international/ national agricultural research, the ICT4D movement and the ODL paradigm to generate a new extension communication approach that will help enhance food and livelihood security of the vulnerable farm families that inhabit the SAT regions of the developing world.
ICRISAT has established a pilot ICT4D site in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh (AP) Rural Livelihoods Project in Addakal region of Mahbubnagar district, which is one of the most drought-prone areas of India. This is operated by a federation of all-women micro-credit groups whose membership comprises substantial number of poor families in the area. Initial work in this site included setting up a basic connectivity and computing infrastructure and extensive training to federation nominees (all women) in contemporary information management methods. A spectrum of locally relevant information services is offered by the trained workers on site, covering local input prices, market prices, weather and wage information. This site also serves as the window for ICRISAT and partners to gain a picture of current information needs across different segments of the rural population (approximately 45, 000 individuals). The quality of information services offered by this federation is today recognised by the district administration, who have granted them the status of a rural e-seva or e-governance center, one of the first such rural centers in the State of AP. The site also serves as the test bed for evaluating a number of agricultural and livestock information products. ICRISAT is also setting up a site in Kahe area near Sadore in Niger in West Africa. The principal technology in Kahe is the community radio linked to satellite-based digital radio system operated by the World Space Corporation. In Kahe, a local non-government organisation is the lead partner.
The VASAT is a partnership-oriented effort and functions wholly in a consortium mode. In India, the principal partners include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). A series of consultations with partners were held in India and in Niger over the last one year period, and the following points for action emerged:
-
VASAT actors should focus on the primary users, namely the rural families, their own organisations and credible intermediaries;
-
the material generated should be highly customisable to suit local requirements in a short span of time;
-
the material generated should be such that an element of non-formal instruction is built into an information service; content should be in a granular, easy-to-absorb form rather than in a heavily packaged format.
|
|
Figure 1: Organisation of partners in VASAT consortium
|
The points for action, which emerged from consultations with partners, are now fully ingrained in VASATs work. The VASAT partnership is organised into three levels: at the first level are those that own and operate ICT-based rural information centers that are linked directly to rural families; at the second level are those partners who are in a position to adapt or re-create locally relevant content and who are linked to the rural information hubs; at the next level are those who are able to generate generic content of good quality that is authenticated. This arrangement is presented in the form of a diagram (Figure 1). It is important to note that this arrangement does not pre-suppose the use of any particular connectivity technology but is neutral in relation to that component.
The generic activities of VASAT partners at various levels are grouped into four: content generation, authentication and storage as granules; training and community needs assessment; facilitating interaction and delivery through rural information hubs; process for impact assessment. For the scale advantage, VASAT activities are promoted in the form of significant value-addition to ongoing and upcoming rural ICT4D sites both in India and in Niger. This enables the VASAT partners to build on their own strengths, which relate to areas of crop/livestock/water management.
| ICRISAT was founded in 1972 on
the foresight and vision of a number of science leaders and organisations
that played a key role in bringing about the Green Revolution in Asia. It is
an eco-regional institution with the formidable mandate of enhancing food
security in the drought-prone tropical regions of Sub Saharan Africa and
South Asia where some of the worlds poorest families live. Since inception,
the science leaders in ICRISAT have devoted attention to both these regions
to develop relevant as well as durable research programmes and in building
and strengthening capacity among the scientists and technical workers of the
SAT in the developing world. ICRISATs scientific excellence in SAT
agriculture is well established. ICRISAT also trained close to 10,000 public
sector national agricultural research scientists from 99 countries in the
last 28 years, and maintains close working relationships with 130
universities and advanced research institutes in the world. Most of these
training activities took place in ICRISATs India-based facilities, thus
making it a unique platform for South-South cooperation. ICRISAT has an
extremely successful crop improvement and varietal release programme that
has generated significant impact on food security in our host country,
India, and in many countries in the Sub Saharan Africa. |
Instead of farmers coming into touch with only local experts an opportunity to create a virtual college of SAT experts has come up. The ICT4D projects in India, and the digitally linked community radio projects in Niger are the first level partners in interacting with the primary producers. In the first year of active operations, now there is a possibility to link to about 1200 rural ICT centers in India, and to scores of community radio farm groups in Niger. The approach is to add value to this significant infrastructure and investment by creating highly customisable content. A blend of para-professionals operating the rural information technology (IT) centers and local extension personnel is being created on a pilot scale, with the potential to bridge the current gap in extension communication. With this, now there is an opportunity to reach out to hundreds of thousands of individuals, by creating repositories of authenticated and customisable information.
In the first phase, the VASAT partners in India and Niger have carried out extensive work in mapping the information needs and flows in rural areas. The method followed is based on an adaptation of the Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) technique and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) - inspired participatory rural communication appraisal method. The picture of information flow maps in rural areas reveals that the principal sources of information in a rural setting are rural people themselves (Figure 2).
|
|
Figure 2: Information Flow and linkages in Addakal Mandal as perceived by rural women and men
|
At the secondary level, local input suppliers and traders act as information gateways. The links between farm families and sources of new and critical information in production and marketing are relatively weak. Thus, there is a pressing need to strengthen these links and to supplement them in the immediate term with new channels which the rural IT or community radio operations are able to provide. The information poverty in rural areas has set in a vicious cycle, and a blend of conventional and new channels of communication is needed to help vulnerable families break out of this loop.
Nowhere is this felt more urgently than with water-scarcity issues. The participatory appraisals conducted in the AP state of India revealed that an average rural resident is not even aware that drought can be a phenomenon affecting large areas in the vicinity. It is perceived as a largely local event. The first set of information modules of the VASAT focuses on coping with drought in its varying degrees.
The information modules themselves were developed in a collaborative mode, involving both national and international institutions. The national institutions brought in the sensitivity to the context and subject matter expertise, while the international institutions have brought in the accumulated multi-regional experience and domain knowledge that is of cutting edge variety. The modules are divided into simple chapters that encourage the user, a woman farmer, for example, into thinking about the causes and extent of drought.
Detailed yet simple scenarios of drought in varying degrees, and potential options for production for a particular scenario follow these. Both crop and livestock production has been covered. The scientists of the Central Research Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) in India, ICRISAT and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) made the contributions. An online (email and web-based) process of authentication and review is already in place.
Also in place is a continuous process to obtain responses and feedback from the primary users. Without this integrated into the core of operations, the program is likely to become supply-driven. A sample of primary users pointed out that they were out of any formal instructional experience and that the modules should not have a bookish quality; they should instead be presented as granules of facts with opportunities to pose review questions. The modules under preparation now ingrain this suggestion.
More material is under preparation in a partnership mode
(Table 1).
Table 1: VASAT web-based content available in simplified format
| Topic |
Institutions
|
| Coping with drought |
ICRISAT, CRIDA and B. R.
Ambedkar Open
University, AP |
| Micro-nutrient management |
ICRISAT and APRLP |
Livestock management during
drought |
ILRI, CRIDA and ICRISAT
|
Pests and diseases of chickpea
and pigeonpea |
ICRISAT |
| Crop-weather relationship |
ICRISAT and CRIDA |
Both the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are engaged now in developing water-literacy modules, which will be tested with the primary users in South India. ICRISAT and CRIDA are now engaged in developing a weather literacy module, focusing on crop-weather relationships. The Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai has come forward to develop simple digital interfaces to gather weather data in their rural IT centers. A dialogue is under way with new generation banks such as the ICICI Bank and with the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Indias premier extension management institute to supplement the extension workers information capabilities in relation to drought and water-scarcity issues. A dialogue is under way with leading Open Universities of India such as the IGNOU for rapid generation of instructional materials, for
delivery using their satellite-based infrastructure, and for eventual certification of training.
In Niger, current partners relate to community needs assessment and mobilisation. A number of leading NGOs, such as the Oxfam, work closely with ICRISAT. Regional organisations such as the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), for weather information, and the FirstVoice International, offering support for digital radio-based information delivery, are actively involved, along with partner institutions in the Global Environment Facility supported Desert margins Program. The Niger National Council for Communication is a key partner in helping the roll out through community radio stations.In recent months, ICRISAT, as leader of the VASAT project, has been leading a series of interactions with established leaders in content management and device development. The US National Academy of Sciences has signed an unprecedented agreement with ICRISAT, which acts the gateway for VASAT coalition partners to access nearly 3000 online publications of the Academy without copyright restrictions. A massive knowledge resource of high quality has thus been created for the VASAT this way.
ICRISAT and the Sun Microsystems, which is an acknowledged global leader in e-learning have signed an agreement to avail the latters expertise in learning content management and delivery in a highly customisable form. The Commonwealth of Learning, an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the promotion of non-formal learning in the developing world, is a core partner of VASAT. The upcoming Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Global Open Agriculture and Food University, led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) works closely with ICRISAT, which provides its gateway services in South Asia.
Conclusions
The VASAT work is gaining momentum, and its relevance is appreciated by a variety of partners in the coalition. The partners accept that information is the backbone of drought-preparedness, and that two-way, interactive communication between farmers and experts can provide relevant information in a timely manner. The opportunities for mass capacity building in new information delivery are unprecedented.
The VASAT is proving to be the right channel for content and information delivery to the primary users, the vulnerable families. It is evident that the power of partnerships blended with the power of contemporary ICT can make a significant contribution to enhance drought-preparedness and food security in the SAT.
Author: William D. Dar is the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics(ICRISAT), India.
|
