National Agricultural Information Services to use SMsize Internet based platform to improve farmer productivity in Zambia

Despite its potential, the agricultural sector in Zambia has performed below expectations. One

of the factors that have been repeatedly mentioned as responsible for this dismal performance

has been weak research-extension-farmer linkages.

However, this will be a thing of the past as Zambian farmers will soon be using their mobile

phones to send questions on the problems they face in carrying out their farming activities and

receive answers within shortest time possible.

With financial and technical support from the International Institute of Communication for

Development (IICD), the department of National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) is

developing an Internet based platform where farmers will be able to use mobile phones and

send questions on the most pressing problems they are faced with in their farming activities to

NAIS and receive appropriate answers within the shortest time possible.

This SMsize platform allows farmers to send their questions on mobile phones in form of SMS

to the platform and receive answers to their questions.

The platform will be accessed by NAIS programme producers and agricultural specialists and

other identified stakeholders so as to give appropriate answers to the farmers’ questions.

Now that the platform has been finalized, the system will help improve the feedback system

between farmers, programme producers and the agricultural specialists in the Ministries of

Agriculture and Cooperatives and Livestock and Fisheries Development and other relevant

agricultural institutions in the country.

Each SMS on the system will cost 900 Zambian Kwacha (US$ 0.18) and this will reduce the

current expenses farmers are incurring to post or send their discussion report forms for possible

solutions to their farming problems.

The platform has been tried with farmers’ groups in Kasama district of Northern Province of

Zambia (pilot area) located about 900 Km from Lusaka. Farmers were happy with the new

platform and they see it as a tool that will help them bridge the existing disconnect between

them and agricultural experts.

The SMsize platform was recently introduced and demonstrated to the Permanent Secretary

and all the Directors in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The idea behind this

demonstration was to create awareness and allow policy makers in the ministry see how it

works and so as to have management buy-in.

Management was excited with this system and the Permanent feels the system has been

developed at the right time when his ministry is faced with a serious challenge of shortage of

frontline extension officers and promised to support the project by lobbing for cheaper rates for

farmers to send SMSs which are currently pegged at K900.00 (US$ 0.18).

Extension and information service provision plays an important role in agricultural development

in any country. In recognition of this fact the Zambian government has since independence in

1964, made an effort to establish an effective extension and information system in the country.

The overall objective of this information provision service is to provide information to farmers so

that they can make informed decisions that will improve their production and productivity in

order to reduce poverty through income generation and food security (Ministry of Agriculture

Food and Fisheries, February 2001). The extension-information provision has been done

through person-to-person (farmer-extension officer) contact and mass media. The extension

officers are the front line implementers of the extension system of MACO. However, these

officers are few, outstretched and de-motivated. It is currently estimated that there is an average

of one officer to 1,000 farmers (National Agricultural Information Services, September 2002).

This, coupled with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, has led to limited person-to-person extension and

information service. Notwithstanding, extension officers of the Department of Agriculture still

remain a critical information link between researchers and farmers.

Zambia has quite a long experience in agricultural information delivery services through the use

of mass media such as radio/television broadcasts and printed materials including newspapers

in parallel with the mainstream extension services. Broadcasting services of agricultural radio

programs targeting local small-scale farmers was initiated as early as the mid-1960s with

assistance from UNESCO. A number of radio listening groups called ‘Radio Farm Forum

Groups” were set up in rural communities all over the country and they were encouraged to

listen to the radio programs with the motto of ‘Listen, Discuss and Act”. Since then, the Zambian

Government has continued to produce agricultural radio programs through NAIS, although

direct assistance of the Government to the listening farmer groups, such as free provision of

radio sets and batteries, has largely been withdrawn. NAIS also remains engaged in producing

agricultural TV programs, publishing of magazines, newsletters and posters to provide the

farming communities as well as other stakeholders with various kinds of agricultural

information.1

Rural Community

Clientele(Farmers)

Other Farmers

Extension agents

Mass Media

InformationSources

Information &Knowledge

(Technology)

- Research Stations- Gos / NGOs- Agribusiness / Private companies- Other farmers, etc.

ExtensionOrganisations

- National / Local Government- University- Cooperatives- Private companies, etc.

Figure 1: Figure 1: Basic Element/Components in an Agricultural Extension System

The current extension methodology, Participatory Extension Approach (PEA), is about the

improvement of the information services to the farming community and the extension officers in

particular.

At Radio Farm Forum (RFF) level, farmers gather and listen to agricultural technical information

that is broadcasted on radio. After the broadcast, the RFF members discuss the topic which

they have listened to and relate it to their local situation. As a group, they ask each member how

well he or she has understood the broadcast.

After the discussions, farmers feel in a feedback form commonly referred to as a proceedings

and discussion report. The main features of this form are: Name of the forum, district, province,

date of broadcast, subject/topic of broadcast, main points raised on the programme, questions

raised by members on the subject of broadcast, decisions taken by members on the subject,

actions taken by members on previous broadcasts and opinion of members on the quality of the

programme.

After farmers fill in this proceedings and discussion report form, where possible, it is handed

over to the Camp Agricultural Extension Officer (CAEO) for onward delivery to the District

1

Agricultural Information Officer (DAIO) who then posts the discussion report form to the Radio

Programme Producer at national level.

Where the agricultural camp is not manned, the farmers have to post the discussion report

themselves or physically deliver the report to the DAIO.

This system of communication has proved to be time consuming and costly on the part of the

farmers as it takes not less than two months in most cases for farmers to feedback on the

questions asked on each broadcast or any other urgent problem faced by the farmers.