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Journalism of Courage
Information technology, if effectively applied in the agriculture sector, can solve many problems, including those related to marketing.
‘‘IT can resolve problems of traceability of produce and certification of their origin, which are becoming major issues in global trade,’’ said Ralph Houtman, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s marketing and rural finance officer. ‘‘It can also play a role in contract farming whereby processors and institutional buyers will want to secure their supplies and identify them from the moment they leave the farm.’’
In India for the five-day FAO-AFAMA regional workshop on the use of IT, Houtman suggested that developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region use the FAO’s Agrimarket software to collect supply and price data from markets and process them into ready information for radio, televisions or bulletin boards. The information could also work for further statistical analysis for research.
Radio frequency tags (RFT) could also be used to trace goods from the source of production until they leave the retail market, he said, expressing belief that effective application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) would help surmount many problems in global trade, all of which would ultimately benefit farmers.
AFAMA, the co-host of the workshop, is the acronym for the Association of Food and Agriculture Marketing Agencies, a body floated by the FAO.
Narrating his own experiences in rural finance, Houtman said, ‘‘I see the potential and the need for deployment of IT solutions in risk management for small farmers. I am referring to innovative approaches such as indexed crop insurance or weather insurance, whereby the payment is, for example, triggered by unusually low rainfall and price insurance schemes based on market-based price risk management instruments such as put options.
‘‘Such schemes can only reach their full potential if the millions of small farmers, who are targeted, can be reached through a low-cost and effective network for distribution, collection of premiums, processing of claims and handling of payouts. Obviously IT will have to play a major role in achieving this objective.’’
However, India has a long way to go in achieving the plans of AFAMA’s hitech marketing or providing IT solutions in various farm insurance schemes.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agri marketing agency in the public sector, has made a beginning by computerising its 5,000 godowns and linking them with the headquarters. The corporation also uses the National Informatic Centres’ video conferencing facilities between headquarters and field offices, and an interactive voice response system on toll-free telephones that gives farmers specific information on the grain procurement operations.
National commodity exchanges which have gone online are also helping
FCI in rendering market intelligence.
