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Broadening the Horizons for Use of ICT in Agricultural Extension
Willis Ochilo, Holly Wright, Cambria Finegold, Timothy Holmes,
MaryLucy Oronje & Shaun Hobbs
CAB International (CABI)
eLearning Africa 2015 Addis Ababa
Ethiopia May 20 – 22, 2015
Background
• CABI is an inter-governmental, non-profit
organization that was set up by a United Nations
treaty level agreement between its member countries
• Currently 48 member countries (16 in Africa)
• CABI activities contribute to improving food security
& protecting biodiversity
• CABI implements development & research projects
and publishes high quality scientific information
resources.
Major themes for ID work
• Commodities
• Invasive Species
• Knowledge for Development
• Knowledge Management
• Microbial services
• Plantwise
Plantwise overview
Plantwise is a global CABI-led initiative
to improve food security by reducing
crop losses due to plant health
problems
Establishing/strengthening linkages
between ag-extension research,
education, regulators in solving plant
health problems – biotic and abiotic
Use of networks of plant clinics
supported by KB as a technical
resource
Understand how mobile technologies
can improve the current clinic model
Tablets
Improve the quality and speed of data
collection and processing
Improve the quality and variety of
advice available at clinics
SMS messaging
Increase clinic attendance
Broaden reach of extension
messaging
Project Goal
Mobile
Tablets
Prescription Form
Factsheets
SMS
Clinic info
Extension messaging
What we are introducing
Kenya Pilot
Embu Market
Katoloni CBO Dagoretti
Mbogoni
Bahati
Pilot progress
60 ‘plant doctors’ trained
30 ‘e-plant clinics’
running
Electronic prescription
forms
SMS recommendation
Factsheet library App
SMS clinic invites
1. More farmers are helped
Clinics with tablets submitting significantly more prescription forms on
average than plant clinics using paper forms which means more farmers
are receiving advice.
Benefits visible so far
0 5 10 15 20 25
Paper
Tablet
Forms (per month per plant clinic)
Average number of forms submitted (p<0.01)
2. Better advice to farmers
Recommendation given to farmers via tablets are, on average 56
characters longer than on paper forms.
Recommendations include broader range of management options and
more detailed instructions
Benefits visible so far
0 50 100 150 200 250
Paper
Tablet
Recommendation character count
Average character count (p<0.01)
3. Improving data speed, accuracy and value
Data is of better quality and requires less processing
Data is available more quickly
Photos enrich the data
So far over 2,500 photos have been submitted
Assist data validators in quality checking and a source of images for
use in future extension materials
Benefits visible so far
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Paper
Tablet
Days
Average time from data collection to when data is available in POMS (p<0.01)
Case study – response to new pests
Tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta) is a new pest in Kenya that can
decimate tomato crops and has major trade implications.
Records of Tuta absoluta collected on tablets are available on POMS
with minimal delay, allowing the government to identify, monitor and
respond to the threat more quickly.
Benefits visible so far
0 20 40 60 80 100
Paper
Tablet
Time (days)
Average time from collection of data on Tuta absoluta
to when that data is available on POMS (p<0.01)
4. Access to reference materials helps plant doctors give better advice
The ‘plant doctors’ are using their tablets to access a wealth of Plantwise
and non-Plantwise resources such as the Plantwise Factsheet Library,
the Plantwise Knowledge Bank
Benefits visible so far
Screenshots of the Plantwise Factsheet Library App
5. Female ‘plant doctors’ are excelling
Of the 60 ‘plant doctors’ trained on the tablets 31 are male and 29 female
The female ‘plant doctors’ have taken to the tablets exceptionally well
and on average submit 4 more forms per month than their male
counterparts.
It was hypothesised that age and education may impact tablet uptake but
no significant results have been found.
Benefits visible so far
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Men
Women
Forms (per month per clinic)
Average number of electronic forms submitted (p<0.05)
Sustainability
Value for money
E-plant clinics currently cost 35% more than paper clinics. E-plant
clinics will, however, be 21% cheaper than paper when the current
commercial data collection app is replaced by an in house app.
Paper
Tablets
Current commercial data
collection app
Future in-house data
collection app
Start up £0 £1,076 £1,076
Running £2,766 £3,168 £1,104
Total £2,766 £4,244 £2,180
Sustainability
Challenges and lessons learned
For many of the ‘plant doctors’ using tablets is a completely new skill
and some struggled initially.
For the initial stage, we’ve used a commercial data collection app as
a low-investment way of testing the tablet concept. While it has
served that purpose, it is missing key functionality the ‘plant doctors’
need.
While insights have been gleaned into what ‘plant doctors’ are using
the tablets for, further qualitative work is required to understand how
and why, and how this might vary in different contexts.