1. Agro-Advisory Services In India
Surabhi Mittal
Agricultural Economist
CSISA Phase II- Obj 1 Work Plan meeting
Jan 23-15, 2013
Kathmandu

2. Farmers and information networks
Source: CIMMYT
survey, 2011
Traditional mode Modern ICT Other farmers Face to Face
• Television, Radio • Landline phone, • Farmers in the • KVKs, AG
, Newspaper Mobile phones, same village or Univ, NGOs,
Internet / neighbourhood Co-op, markets,
Internet Kiosks Private i/p
dealers etc.

3. Increasing penetration of mobile networks and subscribers
• present an opportunity to deliver useful information
widely, on time and to targeted groups
80
70
60
perr 100 inhabitants
50
40
30
20
10
0
Mobile Tele-density Fixed-Line Tele-density Internet teledensity
Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, October 2012

4. 180
160
140 Rural Teledensity Urban Teledensity
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Rural teledensity
2010 2011
50.0 53.9
37.7 37.56 39
21.5 26.3 23.74
14.21 17.84

5. Major Agro-Advisory Models
Tele centre based
Kissan Call Centers, 2004
Internet based
BSNL Help line
Village Knowledge
Centres, 1998
Mobile- Voice message based ITC e-chaupal, 1999
IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited E-sagu, 2004
(IKSL), 2007
Mobile -SMS based
Reuters Market Light (RML) 2007
Mobile based application
Warna Unwired- Microsoft, 2007
Fisher Friend- MSSRF, 2008
E agriculture- KVK’s- NAIP, 2009
Nokia- Life tools, 2009
Kisan Sanchar, 2010
Tata- M Krishi, 2009
Kisan Sanchar, 2012
Video based
Digital Green, 2009
5

6. What Information farmer gets?
• Temperature
Information Farmer • Market Prices
Receives • How to grow?
Source: Mittal S, Gandhi S, Tripathi G (2010); Mittal (2012)
• Plant protection
Information Farmer • Seed information
wants • Weather- probability of rainfall
• cultivation best practices and crop choice

7. Fist Level-Perceived benefits of farmers
getting information using Mobile phones
Percent of farmers
using mobile phone Get better
for agricultural connected to Getting
States information markets better prices Increasing Yield
Bihar 51 99.2 65.9 21.1
Haryana 65 99.4 79.5 42.9
Punjab 26 77.8 82.5 49.2
Uttar Pradesh 45 69.7 69.7 29.4
West Bengal 17 65.9 48.8 34.1
Total 41 87.2 71.7 34.6
Note: This percent of farmers is from the 41% of farmers, who are using mobile phone
to access agricultural information, Farmers have multiple responses

8. What hinders appropriate
utilization of information?
Percent of
Constraint in accessing information farmers
Poor extension facility 46.87
Inappropriate availability of quality inputs (seed, pesticides
and fertilisers) 18.84
Poor access to electricity and irrigation facility 10.18
Shortage of labour 5.58
Poor or no access to soil and water testing facility 5.55
Note: Farmers have multiple responses. Only selected constraints are reported.
Source: CIMMYT Survey 2011

9. A multivariate probit model - Estimated effects of farmer’s attributes
on adoption of different sources of agriculture information
Independent Variable Face to Face Other Farmers Traditional Modern
Age -0.014* -0.001 -0.010 * 0.004
(0.003) (0.003) (0.002) (0.002)
Educational Level -2.36* -0.139* 0.005 0.256*
(0.035) (0.043) (0.032) (0.032)
Farm size 0.057* 0.044* 0.081* 0.039*
(0.011) (0.013) (0.010) (0.007)
Access to Radio/television -0.246** -0.051 # 0.302**
(0.129) (0.147) - (0.127)
Access to Mobile Phone -0.596 0.067 0.312 #
(0.528) (0.490) (0.357) -
Constant 2.482* 1.528** 0.198 -1.560*
(0.563) (0.539) (0.385) (0.198)
Log-likelihood -2304.78
Wald test χ2 (DF=18) 266.25*
Likelihood ratio test of ρki 69.4636*
Number of observation 1199
Note: # Variable dropped in respective regression equation to avoid multi-colinearity; Figures in parenthesis are robust standard errors. *, **, and ***
represent statistical significance at 1%, 5%, and 10% levels, respectively.
Likelihood Ratio Test H0: ρ21 = ρ31 = ρ41 = ρ32=ρ42=ρ43=0, χ2(6 = 69.4636 , p-value = 0.0000
.

10. Farmers use mobile phones for Does mobile support local languge?
Don't
agriculture? know
3%
Facts on the ground
No
21%
Yes
41%
No Yes
59% 76%
Ability to read and type SMS
ability to type sms ability to read sms
IGP 28.6
51.3
West Bengal 23.3
35.4
Uttar Pradesh 23
47
Punjab 25.8
45.8
Haryana 25
56.7
Bihar 45.8
70.7
10

11. Farmers Opinion
Will like to receive information through
mobile phone?
0.7%
9.5% No response
Preferred mode of receiving
information
No
SMS
Yes response
6.4%
11.8%
No
89.8%
Indifferen
t between
two
21.8% Voice
Message
60%

12. The missing link
Agro-Advisory services are mostly supply driven and their is
limited understanding of its usability in action
• Choice of seed varieties • Inputs availability
• Timing of sowing and harvesting • Type of inputs- package of it
• Use of climate smart technologies • Availability of machinery/
• Best farm Practices technology
• Efficient resource Management • Market variability in prices
• Timely decision on application of • Insurance
inputs like • Credit
fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides.
• Organizing storage
Managing Managing Market
Production Risk Risk

13. IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL)
• IKSL is a joint venture promoted by IFFCO and Airtel in 2007.- Green Sim Card
• IKSL VAS rural subscriber receives 5 voice messages at no charge. Access to
helpline (at cost of the outgoing call), connected to ag graduates and experts at
Universities.
• Crop-specific communities of farmers with common interests and issues are also
developed- supported by other partners and NGOs to facilitate the delivery of
precise information
• The proactive messages are predefined, based on the crop calendar, weather
conditions, market rates and cropping pattern.
• The reactive messages are generated based on helpline queries and
feedback, which might lead to the development of content that can go out as
alerts and warnings
• Local partners, NGOs and private companies also partner with IKSL
• The GSMA Foundation (Groupe Spéciale Mobile Association)helps in capacity-
building at IKSL and in strengthening infrastructure for quality management and
up-scaling of the service-delivery platform.

14. As of December 2010, IKSL
has more
than 1.2 million active
users of their
services in 18 major states
of India,
managed by 17 full time
content
managers and 59 experts-
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu,
Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Uttarakhand,
Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, West Bengal
and Orissa.

15. Kissan Sanchar
• Kisan Sanchar an enterprise-class communication platform to broadcast text and
voice messages on agricultural to individual framers through KVKs
• Received ‘Vodaphone –Mobile for Good 2011 award’ of One million rupees
(approx. 18 thousand USD) for up-scaling their activities.
• Registered as a NGO’ and transiting from SMS based system to mobile-based
inbuilt applications- tied with mobile phone manufacturers like MAX and Spice for
having an inbuilt application in the handsets- low cost smart phones.
• School going children of farmers are being sensitised with these information’s
through printed information bulletin on the last two pages of school notebooks.
• At the village level e-panchayat- is being exposed to use of internet to gather and
distribute information-6000 farmers in 419 villages of District Kurushetra of
Haryana, India are now linked with government extension system under this
venture.
• Also 150 volunteers across 110 districts in 9 states of Northern India are trained as
information networks to improve small farmers reach ability to information related
to climate adaptation and mitigation.
• Database of all input providers

16. Partners and Users of Kissan Sanchar
• Kisan Sachar, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Input
dealers, Farmers, Extension department, Village
Panchayats, National Bank for agriculture and
rural development (NABARD)
• Also 150 volunteers across 110 districts in 9
states of Northern India are trained as
information networks to improve small farmers
reach ability to information related to climate
adaptation and mitigation.
• Explore- Database of all input providers

17. Answers sought for
There are anecdotal
evidences on use of
mobile phones to
improve access to There is a need for
inputs, markets, and cost methodological
saving. assessment to quantify
these impacts.
• Do the farmers find the information useful and usable?
• How are farmers using this information? If not, Why?
• How does it vary across land size, states, type of mobile services, age, education
level, gender etc?
• How do other information sources complement the information provided
through mobile phones?
• How does the information affects decision making process, adoption of inputs
and technologies etc?
• What's the magnitude of change/ benefit/ impact in cost, income, yield and
other socio economic benefits?

18. Lessons from past
• Mobile phones and mobile enabled information services can
act as catalyst in removing existing information asymmetry
• Bridge the gap between the availability and delivery of inputs
and infrastructure
• Magnitude of economic benefits depends on
quality, timeliness and trustworthiness of the information
• Need to improve the linkages between service providers and
service users and also need to create a feedback loop
• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)-
Not to forget how policies/ regulations can
can hinder the whole component of the
project