The promise (and pitfalls) of ICT for agriculture initiatives

Abstract

The widespread growth of information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) in rural areas of developing countries offers new opportunities to provide more timely and low‐cost information services to farmers, as well as assist in coordinating agricultural agents. Over the past decade, the number of public and private sector initiatives in this space has increased substantially, with over 140 deployments worldwide in 2015. While there is substantial potential for such services to address farmers’ and traders’ information and credit market constraints, economic research suggests that the impacts of such services on agricultural adoption, behavior and welfare is mixed. While this can, in part, be explained by the degree of the information asymmetry and the presence of other market failures in different contexts, research from other disciplines provides additional insights into these findings. In particular, work in the domain of human–computer interaction (HCI) focuses heavily on users’ interaction and experience with a given technology, thus explaining why users may not fully engage with ICT‐based agricultural interfaces. Furthermore, sociological and anthropological approaches study the provision of information and trust and how these may be altered by ICT platforms. Drawing upon these disciplines, we suggest that future ICT for agriculture initiatives should first seek to better understand the information and complementary market failures in a given context, in order to better understand whether information is a binding constraint. Second, even if information is missing, the information services provided should be of high quality and from a trusted source, which can be a challenge with some ICT platforms. Finally, such services should be delivered via platforms that build upon local ICT access and usage, paying particular attention to the gender digital divide.

Digital Revolutions in Public Finance

“…As such, one promising trend over the past two decades has been growth in the coverage and adoption of digital technologies, particularly information and communication technologies, especially in remote rural areas (Aker and Mbiti 2010;Aker 2011;Nakasone, Torero, and Minten 2014;Aker and Blumenstock 2014;Aker, Ghosh, and Burrell 2016).…”

“…Digital technologies encompass different types of infrastructure, technologies, and platforms, each of which has unique features, as well as different rates of access and usage, especially in remote areas of developing countries. While research in the computer science discipline focuses heavily on how technology can be used and manipulated by poor and low-literate populations (Medhi, Ratan, and Toyama 2009;Patel and others 2010;Wyche and Steinfield 2015;Aker, Ghosh, and Burrell 2016), these factors are less often considered in economics studies of the subject. Yet low uptake or usage of digital public service initiatives could, in part, explain some of the observed null results in economics studies of their impact.…”

“…It then looks at ways digital technologies can overcome these failures and discusses the types of digital public services disseminated in the past decade, updating recent economics reviews in this area (Aker 2011;Aker and Blumenstock 2014;Nakasone, Torero, and Minten 2014;Aker, Aker, Ghosh, and Burrell). The chapter then reviews existing research of the impact of digital public services on the effectiveness and efficiency of such services, focusing primarily on the agriculture, civic engagement, education, health, and social protection sectors.…”

“…As a communication device, mobile phone technology reduces the cost of communicating, improving the circulation of information within a person's social networks ("private" information) (Aker and Mbiti 2010;Aker and Blumenstock 2014;Aker, Ghosh, and Burrell 2016). It also facilitates the dissemination of "public" information (that is, information that is provided through the government, non-governmental organizations, and firms).…”

“…It also facilitates the dissemination of "public" information (that is, information that is provided through the government, non-governmental organizations, and firms). With the introduction of mobile money and other digital financial services, mobile phones can also allow consumers and firms to more easily access financial services, such as money transfers, input vouchers, commitment savings, and credit (Aker and Mbiti 2010;Aker and Blumenstock 2014;Aker, Ghosh and Burrell 2016).…”