Katalyst :: ICT

In agriculture, timely and accurate dissemination of information helps farmers to protect themselves from potential losses, while learning and applying new production techniques means they can make optimum use of limited resources, thereby increasing productivity and production. At the same time, ICT can also help in reducing business costs, leading to improved overall competitiveness and the growth of agricultural sub-sectors.

The prime target group of the ICT team are Katalyst’s agricultural value chain sectors, focusing on small and marginal farmers . The average monthly income of the beneficiaries is BDT7,000-10,000 (USD95-135), although for unskilled workers on farms this can be less than BDT3,000 (USD40) .

Certain agricultural sectors involve a wide range of female participation, both as labourers and producers. Numerous women are engaged in homestead production, which requires knowledge of cultivation techniques, disease prevention and post-harvest management. However, their ability to get such information is challenged by restricted mobility, with cultural preconditions making it almost impossible for them to visit public places (such as market places), even for trading or essential inputs. Hence ICT, primarily through its mobile helpline service, offers ground-breaking potentials to increase the flow of information to female small scale entrepreneurs and farmers.

Katalyst believes that the market has sufficient scope to make it work better for rural farmers and entrepreneurs, and aims to reach and benefit around 650,000 poor farmers through its work in the ICT cross sector. It envisages a vibrant ICT market, providing appropriate service offers targeting the rural audience, including the poor. The cross sector will also have adequate policy support and a strong content service market providing the basis on which it can serve its target audience better. To that end, the overall vision of the ICT cross-sector is “addressing the information and services needs of farmers, entrepreneurs and the wider community of rural Bangladesh by developing and promoting the ICT service sector.”

Intervention Areas

Developing appropriate ICT channels to facilitate easier access to technology and public and private offers aimed at farmers and small businesses

In partnership with telecom operators, Katalyst has already successfully launched a number of ICT models/platforms aimed at serving the information needs of farmers and small business. Katalyst plans to crowd in further platforms while strengthening the existing ones in terms of service delivery to poor farmers.
Increasing awareness of ICT services among farmers and small businesses

Owing to the newness of the service, especially among poor farmers, investments need to be made to increase awareness among farmers and small business to a critical threshold level. Katalyst has already partnered with private sector firms Grameenphone and Banglalink, and demonstrated the effectiveness of promotional campaigns.
Developing a sustainable ICT-based content market

Katalyst has worked to build the capacities of a couple of content providers and linked them with the mobile phone operators. This has also helped establish a process which allows the providers to assess appropriately the needs of the target audience and to generate digitized content. To crowd in more providers, Katalyst is promoting the commercial success of those content providers it is working with, through conference and other communication events.
Developing the capacities of ICT centres operators/agents

There is an acute need for the capacity building of the intermediary acting as the interface between the service seeker and the technology used to render the service. In the tele centre this is the centre operator; in the call centre it is the call centre agent. An enhanced professional capacity of these agents is crucial to ensure better and effective service delivery. Katalyst is working with telecom operators to develop modules and trainer who then periodically conduct such training for its agents and operators.
Promoting a conducive policy and regulatory environment that encourages growth of the ICT market

In recognition of policy-related constraints, Katalyst has formed a partnership with government agency, the Agriculture Information Service (AIS), through which it is attempting to create a policy guideline which should lead to a) a framework that allows for a more transparent and structured process of forming public private partnerships under the remit of agriculture information dissemination and b) the establishment of a government-endorsed, content validation authority, to ensure that the livelihood-related information generated by the ICT content market is properly scrutinized and validated.

Major telecom operators Grameenphone and Banglalink are Katalyst’s partners in different ICT interventions, along with government agencies such as the Agriculture Information Service (AIS) and the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI). Content and software development is carried out by local private sector companies such as The Bangladesh Institute of ICT for Development (BIID), Win Inc., SSL Wireless and E-Gen. More content development organizations are under consideration.