Mobiles can keep farmers updated about market

Farmers should be kept updated about agriculture and agricultural marketing news through information communicated over mobile phones, said speakers at a roundtable discussion yesterday.

The discussion on the role of information technology in agricultural expansion was organised by Prothom Alo with assistance of Katalyst at the Bangla daily's office in the capital.

Mokbul Hossain, project director and chief scientific officer of Soil Resources Development Institute (SRDI), said, "Agriculture produce of the country can increase by 30 percent if farmers know what fertiliser to use on what soil."SRDI has scientific research on the nature of soil in different parts of the country and the type of fertiliser appropriate for each type, he said. "The challenge is to let farmers know what we have on our information bank," he said, adding, "Mobile phones can play a key role on overcoming the challenge."

General Manager (digital services) of Grameenphone Mohammad Muntasir Hossain suggested introducing "voice messages" for farmers as he thinks sending texts to them might be ineffective considering the country's low literacy rate.

Sheikh Hemayet Hossain, director of field services at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said there are about 12,000 union level DAE workers across the country.    

Md Jahangir Alam, deputy director of Agriculture Information Service, said the days of disseminating information by going door-to-door are over. "We have to find new methods to reach them," he said.

Nujhat Jannatun Nayeem, senior executive (infrastructure business) of mobile phone operator Banglalink, said, "Finding the right approach to communicate with farmers is a major challenge for service providers."