Fwd: [web2pourdev] La révolution mobile en Afrique
Patrice N'CHO
De : Ken Lohento <loh...@cta.int>
Date : 20 septembre 2011 08:43
Objet : [web2pourdev] La révolution mobile en Afrique
À : Web2PourDev <web2p...@dgroups.org>
PVI, voir ci-dessous - Le titre est banal mais il s'agit d'un article assez informatif, par rapport à d’autres articles de presse traitant du même sujet.
Cordialement
Ken Lohento
---
La révolution mobile en Afrique
Par Joan Tilouine
Source : RFI http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20110815-revolution-mobile-afrique
Avec près d’un africain sur deux équipé d’un téléphone mobile, le continent est en train de vivre une mutation technologique sans précédent. Le mobile ne sert plus seulement à communiquer de manière orale. Le réseau a donné naissance à une plateforme d’innovation pour le développement économique de l’Afrique et la lutte contre la pauvreté.
Autrefois, le téléphone portable était réservé aux classes aisées tant son coût était exorbitant au regard du revenu moyen. En 1998, il y avait un peu moins de 4 millions de mobiles sur le continent. C’était il y a plus de dix ans. Puis, entre 2002 et 2007, le nombre d’abonnement a augmenté de 49 % par an en Afrique contre une moyenne de 17 % en Europe. Le président du Rwanda Paul Kagamé, passionné de nouvelles technologies, ne s’est pas trompé lorsqu’il déclarait en 2007 lors du sommet Connect Africa à Kigali : « en dix ans, le téléphone mobile qui était un objet de luxe est devenu un produit de base nécessaire en Afrique ».
Aujourd’hui, on compte plus de 500 millions de téléphones mobiles en usage en Afrique. Une révolution sociétale et économique en Afrique sub-saharienne où moins de 30 % de la population a accès à l’électricité alors que 11,5 % a accès à internet. En même temps que le téléphone mobile s’est imposé sur le continent, l’appareil a évolué d’une façon considérable pour devenir l’ordinateur de poche africain. L’innovation technologique irrigue désormais l’Afrique via ces téléphones mobiles grâce à des services sms et, pour les smartphones, par le web. Aujourd’hui, le mobile permet d’apporter des services bancaires, administratifs, médicaux, scolaires, entrepreneuriales...aux Africains, dont 60 % vivent dans des zones rurales.
Quand le mobile sert de banque
C’est en Afrique et en Asie que le paiement mobile a fait ses débuts dès 2006. A ce moment là, l’opérateur téléphonique kenyan Safaricom met au point le service M-Pesa avec le soutien du gouvernement britannique. Pour Michael Joseph, directeur général de Safaricom, l’idée était alors de transformer le téléphone mobile en une carte bancaire sans contraindre l’utilisateur à ouvrir un compte en banque. M-Pesa permet aux kenyans de déposer jusque 380 euros sur son compte mobile, d’effectuer des transferts d’argent vers ses contacts mais aussi des retraits dans certaines banques ou des achats. Une taxe est prélevée sur chaque transaction.
Quatre ans plus tard, M-Pesa compte 9,5 millions d’utilisateurs contre 8 millions de comptes bancaires traditionnels. En 2011, les 13,8 millions d’inscrits au service ont réalisé 30 % des échanges d’argent au Kenya. Et un peu comme sur un réseau social, la communauté d’utilisateurs se mobilise, s’organise et agit. Dernier exemple en date, jeudi 28 juillet 2011, les utilisateurs de M-Pesa ont rassemblé en 12 heures seulement plus de 140 000 euros, en donation de centimes, pour venir en aide aux victimes de la sécheresse qui frappe l’Afrique de l’Est.
Désormais, grâce au mobile, les africains non bancarisés des villes et des campagnes peuvent donc accéder à des services autrefois coûteux en argent et en temps. Il n’est pas rare de devoir consacrer une journée par mois pour payer de simples factures. Et dans une logique de services et de business, les offres se développent alors que moins de 20 % des foyers africains ont un compte en banque, selon la Banque Africaine de Développement.
Pour le responsable kenyan de Google en Afrique de l’Est, Joe Mucheru, la carte de crédit est aujourd’hui un service « préhistorique ». Partout en Afrique, le paiement par mobile révolutionne les pratiques. L’an passé, les sénégalais dénués de comptes en banques ont pu regarder la coupe du monde de football en payant par mobile leur frais de retransmission par satellite sur télévision. Un service autrefois réservé aux titulaires d’un compte en banque. Le système, Yoban’Tel a été lancé par l’entreprise spécialisé en paiement mobile Obopay en partenariat avec la Société Générale. Au Nigéria, l’opérateur MTN vient de lancer un service de paiement en ligne après avoir irrigué l’Ouganda dés 2009. Le marché et les opportunités sont colossales : moins de 30 millions des nigérians disposent d’un compte en banque alors que 90 millions d’entre eux ont un mobile. Au Sénégal, au Mali, à Madagascar, l’opérateur français Orange a lui aussi lancé son propre système de paiement en ligne.
Innovations
Mais le mobile ne sert pas uniquement pour le paiement. Un véritable écosystème d’innovation et de création technologique sur la plateforme mobile contribue à améliorer la vie des africains. Et il n’est plus surprenant pour un agriculteur de consulter le cours du marché depuis son mobile ou encore d’acheter des graines, des outils…
Plus innovant encore, l’entrepreneur ghanéen, Ashifi Gogo, 29 ans, utilise le téléphone portable pour lutter contre le gigantesque marché de la contrefaçon de médicaments en Afrique qui représente un marché de près de 500 milliards de dollars. Il a créé son entreprise, Sproxil, en 2009 et a conçu une solution simple : vendre aux entreprises pharmaceutiques locales et internationales des « labels » qui sont en fait des tickets à gratter, collés sur les emballages des médicaments. Le consommateur gratte cette étiquette pour lire le code qu'il doit ensuite envoyer par sms à Sproxil qui identifie, grâce à son logiciel, l'authenticité du médicament. Plus de 5 millions de « labels » sont en circulation au Nigéria. Et la start-up vient de recevoir 1,8 million de dollars de la part de Acumen, un fonds d'investissement à but non lucratif. Une nouvelle génération de développeurs africains enrichit cet écosystème mobile en développant des nouveaux services et applications.
Les réseaux sociaux sur mobile
Dans le contexte africain où le téléphone mobile domine très largement le marché, les réseaux sociaux s’adaptent. Conscient de l’impact des téléphones, Facebook a développé en Afrique une stratégie propre aux particularités «mobiles » des consommateurs.
Sur le continent, plus de 28,5 millions d’utilisateurs sont inscrits sur Facebook, soit près de deux fois plus que l’an passé. C’est en Afrique du nord et en Afrique anglophone qu’il y a le plus d’utilisateurs avec notamment 6,8 millions d’égyptiens et 3,8 millions de sud-africains présents sur le réseau.
Mais en Afrique du Sud, le réseau social local MXit, conçu dés ses débuts en 2003 pour mobile, devance très largement Facebook avec 10 millions d’utilisateurs inscrits. Et ce réseau rivalise directement avec le géant californien sur le continent, avec près de 24 millions d’utilisateurs.
Les jeunes sud-africains en raffolent pour communiquer en temps réel, tout en évitant les frais des sms traditionnels. C’est d’ailleurs sur ce créneau que l’opérateur français Orange et Google ont signé un partenariat stratégique fin juillet. Les deux entreprises allient les services innovants de Google à l’infrastructure de téléphonie mobile d’Orange qui déclare avoir 60 millions de clients en Afrique. Ainsi les clients d’Orange basés au Sénégal, en Ouganda et au Kenya peuvent discuter en direct avec Google SMS sans avoir besoin d’un smartphone. Le service va être étendu dans les mois à venir en Côte d’Ivoire, au Cameroun, au Niger et en Guinée Conakry. Et la tendance en Afrique transfère toujours plus de services initialement conçus pour le web vers la plateforme mobile.
Ce jeudi 4 août, les Nations unies ont annoncé un partenariat avec l’entreprise britannique Movirtu pour fournir des numéros de portable à trois millions de personnes, principalement des femmes, qui vivent en situation d’extrême-pauvreté en Amérique du sud et en Afrique.
La technologie mise au point par Movirtu permet de se connecter depuis n’importe quel mobile sur son propre numéro de téléphone. Ainsi, au lieu de partager un téléphone et un numéro unique d’appel, les membres d’une famille pourront chacun avoir leur propre numéro même s’ils n’ont pas de mobile. Cette innovation s’inspire de la technologie « cloud » qui permet aux internautes de stocker leurs données dans le « nuage », des serveurs externes accessibles de n’importe où et donc de se passer de disques durs personnels. « L’accès au téléphone mobile est un moyen d’améliorer le niveau de vie et d’augmenter le potentiel économique pour un milliard de personnes vivant avec un ou deux dollars par jour », veut croire Amanda Gardiner en charge de ce programme public-privé.
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Patrice Yapi N'CHO, Expert en Développement des Filières Agricoles,
Economiste, Diplômé des Hautes Etudes en Gestion de la Politique Economique
Skype : arcadius2005
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Cél : 00225 05 30 23 34
Blog : http://suividesfilieres.solidairesdumonde.org/
Joost Lieshout
Dear Participants.
On behalf of CTA we would like to thank you again for your invaluable contributions so far. The contributions have been numerous and rich in content and experiences. Based on the discussions we have identified a couple of crosscutting issues for which we see your input (experiences and recommendations) in the next round. The crosscutting issues we want to focus on are:
· Funding: adequacy, prompt release and at what level (state, regional, federal/national, international).
· Increasing privatization and affordability.
· Evaluations and impact Assessment:
o Needs analysis: regular assessment based on the needs and delivery.
o Participatory: bottom up approach.
· Increased use of ICT (a more user friendly approach).
· Professionalism and Coordination of the multiplicity of actors.
· Capacity building and the role of universities and education for enhancing extension delivery.
The questions we have to address each of these issues are:
(1) How can we improve?
(2) What collective actions can we propose moving forward?
(3) What are the recommendations for national and international policy?
(4) What research is needed to fill the knowledge gaps?
We would like to open the floor for discussion.
Regards,
Mercy, Joost.
Dr.Mahesh Chander
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Kenneth Masuki
Just trying to ponder on the questions I figured out a few things in my mind and feel like sharing the following:
- The improvements that I think could be feasible is for the governments to appreciate that much as most of our developing countries depend much on agriculture the only way to to achieve higher heights is to allocate enough budgets to the sector. Off course enough is also very relative but if each government could do something more.
- Need to involve private sector in agriculture more than it is now, may be by encouraging more private service providers to offer services in the sector to forge partnership with primary producers
- Encourage use of multi-stakeholder's innovation platforms to allow more inclusive process in figuring out the way forward to improve productivity. Here the issue of collective action could also play very important role
- Primary producers still need government support to using technologies to improve productivity e.g. use of ICTs in promoting extension service delivery. Hinging on the fact that there is an overall deficit of extension personnel and realizing that ICTs could play a major role in adapting to the situation will be a milestone covered towards improving extension service delivery. ICTs such as mobile phone have very high potential for that as they are affordable, easy to use as they need very basic literacy level which is easy to apply even at local rural set-up in our developing countries.
- There is a need to look into both national and international policies regarding a number of issues. More important is policy harmonization on issues that touch farmers in developed and developing countries. issues like subsidies, marketing issues - pricing of produce among others
- Need research on different models for extension service delivery teasing out various factors which affect agric. extension sector at local, national and international levels. This will help to customize different models depending with what works better in a certain set-up
best wishes
Ken
Abate Bekele
This is what I feel to share on the issues you raised.
1.Funding: adequacy, prompt release and at what level (state,
regional, federal/national, international).
In developing countries, more than 60% of the economically active
population is engaged in agricultural production. In this regard, the
fund release for extension services be it at state, regional,
federal/national or international is a meager. To enhance the
extension and advisory services, there must be a minimum level of
financial investment to achieve both human resource development and
technology transfer (say at least 1% of the GDP depending on the size
of each country. Extension is a channel for technological
dissemination. Even the limited fund allocated for extension may not
be sustainable, sometimes diverted to other purposes if need arises.
Extension agents should get adequate knowledge and skill how to
disseminate technologies and enough financial resource (salary) to
reach poor farmer who work in remote rural areas. Without providing
enough training and fund, it is hard to convince extension agents to
uptake any new ideas to farmers bearing all the risks involved (these
are my field observations).
2.Increasing privatization and affordability
I strongly believe that privates have to share the burden of extension
services in developing countries. My question is here how we can
develop thrust between the government and privates. Professional
platforms may help identify problems and offer discussion space on
burning extension issues to increase the role of privatization. Is it
not time to start contract extension services through companies (seed
production and distribution, growing vegetables, etc.)
3.Evaluations and impact assessment
Improvement in agricultural extension should not end with policy
formulation. Policy formulation is one thing and its implementation
another which is often more problematic without systematic monitoring,
evaluation and impact assessment. Regular and periodic monitoring,
evaluation, review and impact assessment systems have to be put in
place as we have already know that policies grow, mature, age and
die.
4.Increasing use of ICT (a more user friendly approach)
When it comes to reaching small-scale producers using ICT, the
challenge of illiteracy to English language remains substantial. We
need to consider development software of the national language so that
farmers start using ICT more friendly.
5.Professional and Coordination of the multiplicity of actors.
Agricultural extension in Ethiopia is still planned, funded and
implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
through Departments or units attached to it and almost all of them are
organized in a top-down pattern (bottom up is sometime considered
impractical). Inter-organizational rivalry should affect the net
effect of policy induced changes as every department thinks that it
should be the leader irrespective of the strengths and weaknesses.
This mostly achieved through the formulation of the right policy
linking research and extension with full participation of the major
stakeholders, the farmers. Smallholder farmers need to participate in
technology development, trails and dissemination within their
ecological environment. How? It should be researched to work out
feasible models.
6. Capacity building and the role of university and education for
enhancing extension delivery
The presence of well thought out research, extension and education
serves as a road map towards setting out goals in agriculture
especially in the attainment of food security. As far as the
establishment of comprehensive policy direction is concerned, little
emphasis is being currently place on agricultural extension services
whereas overemphasis is placed on other aspects of agriculture. Thus,
there is a need to redirect efforts to improve
research-extension-education linkages to enhance extension deliveries.
In fact, many leaders of extension service organizations still think
that there are enough staffs with a good technical training to be
qualified for extension job. Universities need to develop specific
training programs for extensionnists with focus on innovation
competences development in addition to the usual technical
competences.
Massive policy exercise has been done in the past and being done
currently to increase the number of universities but the quality and
quantity of services render to agricultural extension are very low and
poorly coordinated
Fruitful deliberations.
Abate Bekele (PhD)
Senior Socio-Economic Researcher
Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center
P.O.Box 32,
Debre Zeit, Ethiopia
On 10/31/11, Kenneth Masuki <kenny...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All
>
> Just trying to ponder on the questions I figured out a few things in my
> mind and feel like sharing the following:
>
> 1. The improvements that I think could be feasible is for the
> governments to appreciate that much as most of our developing countries
> depend much on agriculture the only way to to achieve higher heights is
> to
> allocate enough budgets to the sector. Off course enough is also very
> relative but if each government could do something more.
> 2. Need to involve private sector in agriculture more than it is now,
> may be by encouraging more private service providers to offer services in
> the sector to forge partnership with primary producers
> 3. Encourage use of multi-stakeholder's innovation platforms to allow
> more inclusive process in figuring out the way forward to improve
> productivity. Here the issue of collective action could also play very
> important role
> 4. Primary producers still need government support to using technologies
> to improve productivity e.g. use of ICTs in promoting extension service
> delivery. Hinging on the fact that there is an overall deficit of
> extension
> personnel and realizing that ICTs could play a major role in adapting to
> the situation will be a milestone covered towards improving extension
> service delivery. ICTs such as mobile phone have very high potential for
> that as they are affordable, easy to use as they need very basic literacy
> level which is easy to apply even at local rural set-up in our developing
> countries.
> 5. There is a need to look into both national and international policies
> regarding a number of issues. More important is policy harmonization on
> issues that touch farmers in developed and developing countries. issues
> like subsidies, marketing issues - pricing of produce among others
> 6. Need research on different models for extension service delivery
>>> Dear Participants.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> On behalf of CTA we would like to thank you again for your invaluable
>>> contributions so far. The contributions have been numerous and rich in
>>> content and experiences. Based on the discussions we have identified a
>>> couple of crosscutting issues for which we see your input (experiences
>>> and
>>> recommendations) in the next round. The crosscutting issues we want to
>>> focus on are:****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> **· **Funding: adequacy, prompt release and at what level
>>> (state, regional, federal/national, international).****
>>>
>>> **· **Increasing privatization and affordability.****
>>>
>>> **· **Evaluations and impact Assessment:****
>>>
>>> **o **Needs analysis: regular assessment based on the needs and
>>> delivery.****
>>>
>>> **o **Participatory: bottom up approach.****
>>>
>>> **· **Increased use of ICT (a more user friendly approach).****
>>>
>>> **· **Professionalism and Coordination of the multiplicity of
>>> actors.****
>>>
>>> **· **Capacity building and the role of universities and
>>> education for enhancing extension delivery.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> The questions we have to address each of these issues are:****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> (1) How can we improve?****
>>>
>>> (2) What collective actions can we propose moving forward?****
>>>
>>> (3) What are the recommendations for national and international policy?**
>>> **
>>>
>>> (4) What research is needed to fill the knowledge gaps?****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> We would like to open the floor for discussion.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Regards,****
>>>
>>> Mercy, Joost.****
>>>
>>> ** **
Kirui, Josephine (ICRAF)
Dear friends
Just to share my thoughts
We need funding at all level to address specific needs at different level. There is need to identify funding sources at the different level for example at the farmer level farmer marketing organizations should set aside some of the profit to supporting extension service for their members. Since farmers pay tax for produce then some of that fund need to be ploughed back to increase agricultural productivity.
Companies need to invest in advisory services for their clients examples are seed companies, agro-chemical companies, processing companies as this will increase productivity.
There is need to invest in evaluation and impact assessment on the different approaches and successes in different part of the world. This lessons need to be shared in forums and web sites. It can also be used to improve curriculum for universities and other agricultural colleges.
The Government extension departments need to play a more regulatory and coordinating roles and hence need to keep abreast on what is new and hence the need for training.
I also see the need to have a secretariat of agricultural advisory services at different level country, regional and global which becomes a resource centre for extension approaches and methods. This will assist implementing agents/NGOs/Companies and Government with a information on what has worked well where and for what commodities as this will avoid reinventing wheel and hasten implementation of projects . Increase extension-Research-Farmer liaison
On ICT, in most developing countries most of the population is based in the rural and most farmers now own phones hence a big clients to phones and Network companies. I see a need for Network and phone companies to invest more and develop specialized software for their target to pass messages an example is the use of MPESA in Kenya which has changed the lives of many Kenyan where one can send and receive money through mobile phones, pay bills, check bank balances etc and also share specific messages with certain clients though use of phone. Use of Radio /TV stations should continue but see how it can be more interactive
Raul Q. Montemayor
Sorry to come in very late. I hope I do not run the risk of going back to previous discussions. I represent farmer organizations and I thought it would be good to contribute even at this late stage.
I think the crosscutting issues that have been identified are very important and relevant. Just some thoughts, which may have been brought out already in previous exchanges.
First, when we design programs and then assess their impact, it is important to be very clear on what are the concrete benefits that we want to bring to farmers. Oftentimes, research goes to waste and extension services are not effective because farmers do not see any significant benefit from the technology. We may be good in selling a product, but if our product is lousy, very fell will buy it or continue using it. It goes without saying also that even if our product is good, but we are lousy in selling it, then it won't be bought by the farmers. So, it is very important to have effective and efficient links and feedback mechanisms between R&D and extension people so that we end up with a good product and selling strategy.
We also need the cooperation of other key actors. Without roads, or irrigation, or credit support or other interventions, it may be impossible or impractical for farmers to use a certain technology. Extension is not a stand-alone activity but is part of a wider and more comprehensive approach to solving farmers' problems. Extension workers should be able to develop partnerships and mobilize the support of local and national government officials, NGOs, private businesses, universities and other support groups. Extension also needs to adopt a market-oriented approach so that the technology that is imparted to farmers is translated into crops that they can sell for a better price and more dollars in their pockets.
I also believe that farmers themselves can become efficient extension agents in the field. Because farmers often adopt a "to see is to believe" attitude, what their co-farmers do and are able to gain from a certain technology could be more convincing to their fellow farmers. We need to develop programs that will develop farmer scientists who will link up with researchers and professional extension workers to deliver messages and technologies to farmers. In my organization, we are experimenting with a scheme where farmers pay a token amount for the services of their own farmer-technicians, so that the latter feel responsible and answerable to the farmers they serve. In some countries, I understand governments channel research and extension funds to private groups, including farmers organizations, through a competitive bidding process, with clear outputs and targets. The winning bidders are also answerable to the farmers they are supposed to serve; the farmers identify their own needs and define what the researchers and extension workers need to do. This concept of putting in place a workable accountability system within the R&D and extension system needs to be developed further.
Thank you.
Raul Montemayor
Federation of Free Farmers (Philippines)
--
Mercy Akeredolu
Raul Q. Montemayor
On coordination, it is a long and never ending struggle. Each player, even within the R&D and extension community, has his/her own priorities, interests and preferences. Budgets and programs are not synchronized. We just have to try addressing these constraints. I think everybody wants to be part of a success, so one approach is to work on a model or prototype that appears to be successful, and then we invite the other players (local and national government officials, scientists, universities, NGOs, etc.) to be part of it and work together to expand it together in a coordinated way. We can also try to identify and get the support of a local leader (maybe a sympathetic politician or local mayor) who has the clout and respect to order everybody to toe a certain line. Donors can also play a key role in pressuring governments and project implementors to develop partnerships and coordinative mechanisms on the ground.
Raul Montemayor
Abate Bekele
Thank you for sharing the best-bet proven practices that could be
implemented or prompted to other areas. Adequately planned
comprehensive and agreed-upon development brings tangible benefits to
the rural community.
As I understand your message, you play a front-line role to invite the
other players (local and national government officials, scientists,
to expand it together in a coordinated way. Can you suggest me who
plays a front-line role to invite other stakeholders where there is no
“Federation of Free Farmers” like yours?
Kind regards,
Abate
>>> 幹unding: adequacy, prompt release and at what level (state,
>>> regional, federal/national, international).
>>>
>>> 弒ncreasing privatization and affordability.
>>>
>>> 幌valuations and impact Assessment:
>>>
>>> oNeeds analysis: regular assessment based on the needs and delivery.
>>>
>>> oParticipatory: bottom up approach.
>>>
>>> 弒ncreased use of ICT (a more user friendly approach).
>>>
>>> 感rofessionalism and Coordination of the multiplicity of actors.
>>>
>>> 嵩apacity building and the role of universities and education for
>>> enhancing extension delivery.
>>>
>>> The questions we have to address each of these issues are:
>>>
>>> (1) How can we improve?
>>>
>>> (2) What collective actions can we propose moving forward?
>>>
>>> (3) What are the recommendations for national and international
>>> policy?
>>>
>>> (4) What research is needed to fill the knowledge gaps?
>>>
>>> We would like to open the floor for discussion.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Mercy, Joost.
>>>
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Raul Q. Montemayor
Even we in our organization cannot claim to be truly successful yet in getting other actors to work together. As I said, it is a long and never ending struggle, and what happens in one place is oftentimes different in another area. Some form of organization of farmers is very important to link farmers with scientists and extension workers, not only for technology dissemination, but also in ensuring that activities continue even when the extension workers are away. In the absence of such organizations, there could be traditional groupings within the village which can be tapped. Or, we could identify a respected elder or member of the community and convince him to spearhead the program; this could lead to the formation of organizations later which can help sustain the extension effort. Local political leaders could also be asked to help although this runs the risk of polarizing farmers in the area who have different political alignments. NGOs are another alternative. So there are many options.
In many instances, there are players already in the area who are willing to help, but nobody approaches them and brings them together. In some of our programs, we go through an exercise where the farmers themselves map out their needs and constraints and then identify who can help them address these. For example, a local road may need repairs, and they conclude that the local mayor has the funds to fix the road. Then, they assign some members to contact the mayor and see what can be done. Others could work on pest, credit, and other problems. They all come back after their assignments and see if there is any tangible result, and make adjustments and follow ups if needed. Sometimes, the farmers get more than what they originally expect in terms of support and assistance.
I hope these ideas help. Best regards.
Raul
Abate Bekele
Thank you very much indeed for sharing your experience.
I agree with you that getting other actors to work together is a long
and never ending struggle. I also totally agree with formation some
organization of farmers to link farmers with researchers and extension
workers so that activities continue when both leave farmers. I
discussed with several groups of farmers on the organizational aspect
of extension programs. The discussion results revealed that farmers'
organizations (union, cooperatives, etc.) formed at the goodwill of
government will not bring changes in rural development. Farmers
believe that forming free farmers' organizations (free in sense from
strong interference of government) is obligatory to change extension
approach. Let the farmers give voice what researchers and extension
workers should do for them or as you state let the farmers themselves
map out their needs and constraints and then identify who can address
their needs (public or private research, public or private extension
organizations, NGOs, etc.)
My group discussion with farmers arrived at the conclusion that some
innovations are simply not accepted or implemented because of distrust
in researchers and the extension workers. Yes, there is hard facts to
believe farmers that extension workers and researchers carry out
government missions and accountable to it not farmers earnest needs
and problems. It was suggested that having free independent
researchers and extension workers, and formation of free farmers’
organizations at the goodwill of farmers not at the goodwill of the
government will change the rural settings. One thing hammered is that
the role of government in extension program be limited to road
construction, irrigation facilities development, soliciting programs,
availing credits, etc.
I look closer to your experience just to know what the best path to
sustainable agricultural development is. Thank again for sharing your
experiences.
Kind regards
Abate
--
Mercy Akeredolu
Mercy
Kudzai Marovanidze
I find this line of discourse quite interesting and also relevant for Southern Africa. Our quick scan in Zimbabwe and Zambia indicates that the current dominant 'Farmer Unions' are actually serving the interest of governments and much less of the interests of the Smallholder Farmers. For the larger Commercial Farmers the scenario is seems more realistic. The dominance of elites seems to increase from the Provincial to the National and Regional levels; to an extent that there is no effective representation of the agricultural research and development priorities from the smallholder farmers. The Unions have also been used as conduits for distribution of agric inputs especially towards elections (politicisation). The self-identity and voices of farmer associations are likely to evolve as political governance systems also evolve.
One issue of concern is the funding mechanisms for agric research and extension. At the moment smallholder farmers have no influence whatsoever on the development of the national strategies for research and extension. In some cases the mandated departments are operating without strategies; yet it is the strategy which may guide and ensure effective policy implementation in a more coordinated fashion.
Maybe some of you may shed light on the prospects of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP - a NEPAD initiative) process to ensure that the policy and strategic priorities are 'community-based' (based on validated evidence from the frontline as it were) for those African countries participating.
Kudzai Marovanidze
Programme Team Leader - AIM 1
Practical Action Southern Africa
P.O. Box 1744
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 4 776631-3; Fax: +263 4 788157
Cell: +263 772 868188
______________________________________________________________________
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kenneth ekwe
From: Mercy Akeredolu <maker...@field.winrock.org>
To: extension-co...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, November 4, 2011 7:50 AM
Subject: Re: [extension-conference-2011 / cross-cutting] Introduction and Questions
claude lufungula
I found the situation of DRCongo by what Raul and Mercy said and realize that all african countries have almost the same situation. In africa each country has several tribes which form communities and each community has self problems which needs their own participation for resolving them. Not much to say.
Best regards,
Engineer Claude Lufungula
Analyst in the Laboratory of Seeds Testing
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 07:50:11 +0100
Subject: Re: [extension-conference-2011 / cross-cutting] Introduction and Questions
researchers and extension workers, and formation of free farmers嚙踝蕭
>> 嚙踝蕭Federation of Free Farmers嚙踝蕭 like yours?
>>>>> 嚙瘤unding: adequacy, prompt release and at what level (state,
>>>>> regional, federal/national, international).
>>>>>
>>>>> 嚙瘢ncreasing privatization and affordability.
>>>>>
>>>>> 嚙瘟valuations and impact Assessment:
>>>>>
>>>>> oNeeds analysis: regular assessment based on the needs and
>>>>> delivery.
>>>>>
>>>>> oParticipatory: bottom up approach.
>>>>>
>>>>> 嚙瘢ncreased use of ICT (a more user friendly approach).
>>>>>
>>>>> 嚙瞑rofessionalism and Coordination of the multiplicity of actors.
>>>>>
>>>>> 嚙瘠apacity building and the role of universities and education for
Gabriel Yao Agornyo Adukpo
I would attempt to follow the outline provided for the discussion.
FUNDING
Additional funding for extension could be obtained through lobbying, advocacy and legislation. The perception in rain-fed agriculture that once the weather is favourable, farmers would deliver the tonnes of food and industrial raw materials should be discarded with justifiable reasons.
An agreement reached in Maputo by African leaders to allocate ten percent of national budgets to agriculture is a laudable one. At the continental level we could go a step further advocating for a fraction of that allocation specifically to advisory services. National governments would also put it into their implementation plan budgets specifically for service and investment expenditure items.
Monitoring expenditures is essential, especially the proportion of funds released to implementation levels. Also budgets should be linked to activities.
PRIVATIZATION
Public extension and advisory service institutions need to partner the private sector working on high value export commodities. The extent to which we promote, increase and sustain the supply chain would determine the profitability of the venture and hence private sector's ability to afford contributing to extension services. Elsewhere in the e-discussion someone wrote on Incubation Fund idea.
Benefits from public-private participation can trickle down to small-scale farmers through nucleus farmers or out-growers system where smallholder farmers supply large scale exporters. Small-scale farmers could then be in the position to pay for extension services.
It is recommended that nations put up conducive investment climates to attract the private sector.
Relevant bodies could also conduct commissioned surveys to research into, for example, livelihoods of beneficiary target groups.
EVALUATIONS
Constant refining of tools and training of evaluators would auger well for evaluations and impact assessment. Regular needs assessment of clientele tends to increase participation and enhancement of bottom - up approach. Affiliation to and use of tools collectively designed by supra organizations like FAO and GFRAS would give legitimacy to evaluation methods.
INCREASED USE OF ICT
In the wake of staff attrition in public sector extension services, we have to resort to increased use of ICTs.
Radio remains a powerful tool for mobilizing the mass of rural dwellers towards innovations. However, commercialization of the airwaves demands that more funds be committed to farm radio programs.
The use of telephone in extension delivery was remote twenty years ago. We now have many mobile phones in the system. These gadgets can be used extensively to disseminate agricultural information, eg. weather and radio programs.
Videos, development of CDs and the use of mobile extension vans can send messages to remote areas where roads are passable. Translation to local languages is a must where CDs are in foreign languages. In some cases voice overs and subtitling need to be applied.
PROFESSIONALISM AND CO-ORDINATION
Professionals heading organizations, departments and units tend to become more of administrators.
To keep the spirit of professionalism alive, I propose a small unit, call it Project Coordinating Unit (PCU), to be situated between top management or board and implementing units. Such a unit should be headed by a versatile professional to co-ordinate all actors.
A simple research is to study existing PCUs of organizations and recommend best practices to others.
CAPACITY BUILDING
Let us intensify in-service training in extension methodology, facilitation skills and other soft skill techniques.
Let us also encourage staff of extension services to go for further studies at the universities. Universities themselves should modify their teaching methods preferably in line with SUCAPRI and GO4IT models presented by one e-discussant .
Best regards.
Gabriel Adukpo
From: Joost Lieshout <Joost.L...@co-capacity.org>
To: "extension-co...@googlegroups.com" <extension-co...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 3:44 PM
Subject: [extension-conference-2011 / cross-cutting] Introduction and Questions
Mercy Akeredolu
Talot BERTRAND
Bonjour à tous et à toutes,
Parler de financement au développement agricole dans les pays en voie de développement fait l’objet d’énormes interrogations. C’est pourquoi, nous nous efforçons de promouvoir, en Haïti, l’investissement par des entrepreneurs en milieu rural, ce qui permettrait aux petits planteurs de faire des contrats importants capables de créer une main d’œuvre importante. D’où, on parle de l’approche HIMO.
L’approche HIMO (Haute Intensité à Main-d’œuvre) se définit comme une alternative technologique qui vise à promouvoir l’utilisation optimale des ressources locales (main d’œuvre et matériaux locaux, savoir faire local..) dans une perspective de réduction de la pauvreté tant en recherchant la qualité des travaux réalisés et en respectant les normes du travail. La combinaison optimale de ces ressources ne dispense pas en effet les projets HIMO d’utiliser un équipement léger dans le but d’aboutir à une qualité acceptable des travaux.
Les travaux HIMO doivent s’appliquer dans le cas ou cette approche est techniquement possible et économiquement rentable. La faisabilité des projets selon l’approche HIMO est évaluée en effet selon des critères se rapportant notamment :
(i) au niveau économique du pays,
(ii) au niveau de salaire,
(iii)à la disponibilité de la main d’œuvre et des matériaux,
(iv) au volume des travaux, etc.
L’approche HIMO se justifie davantage dans les pays comme Haïti où la main d’œuvre est abondante, bon marché et disponible en particulier après les crises (Emeutes, cyclones, séismes, etc.) dans le cadre des programmes de reconstruction, de réduction de la pauvreté, de promotion du secteur privé local, et d’appui à la décentralisation et au développement local.
Il faut reconnaître cependant que les projets HIMO s’implantent plus facilement dans un contexte qui bénéficie du soutien de personnes sensibilisées à l’approche et disposées à porter le plaidoyer directement au niveau des décideurs ou par l’intermédiaire de projets d’investissements, de programmes et fonds sociaux et qui bénéficient des appuis en formation pour les divers acteurs impliqués dans la mise en œuvre des travaux.
Le niveau des salaires versés à la main d’œuvre constitue un critère décisif à prendre en compte dans la justification économique et l’évaluation de la faisabilité de l’approche HIMO. Le respect du salaire minimum (SM) et son paiement à temps procurent aux travailleurs des revenus compétitifs et motivants susceptibles d’amplifier les avantages économiques que l’on reconnaît à l’approche HIMO : réduction des coûts de construction, économies en devises.
--
Talot BERTRAND, Ing-Agr.
Secrétaire Général de la PROMODEV
(509) 3472-6092 / 3733-5953
Kiringai Kamau
Dear Moderators and Participants,
My contribution will address the issues you have sought to be addressed but from the perspective of an active development consultant rather than as an extensionist or researcher, much as I do both of them, courtesy of a brand new qualification I acquired in agricultural communication and information management only recently!
FUNDING
Bill and Merida Gates pioneered a model of lending to sustainable research in agriculture which is linked to tangible business models on selected value chains. There is need to study the model used by this foundation and explore how such a model can be adopted to harness the potential of the CAADP commitments
PRIVATIZATION
Agribusiness is the undoubtedly the solution to the woes faced by African agriculture, the challenge where agricultural researchers lead agricultural development organizations, while they lack knowledge in business orientation at community level is a major challenge that need to be addressed. Who will address this is the challenge that this forum must discuss exhaustively. And when privatization is invoked, the tools that are to be used to link agriculture to the private sector needs to be assessed adequately.
The use of ICTs in offering extension and knowledge to smallholders and governments need to be exploited. There is too much rhetoric and recycling of individuals who do not add value to agricultural development yet they are given the tasks of becoming private sector advisors to the agricultural sector in pluralateral or developmental initiatives.
EVALUATIONS
When there is so much technology around, the provision of standardized tools that can be used to benefit project standards cannot be overemphasized. There is need to make use of Web 2.0 technologies to promote cost effective extensions. What we see when Web 2.0 technologies are mentioned is on the technology rather than on its use for the targeted focus of realizing programmatic issues. We are challenged, we do not want to acknowledge this!
INCREASED USE OF ICT
ICT is the proverbial John Godfrey Saxe’s element and the blind men. Everybody has an idea what it is and how it can be used, there has never been enough effort to study the technology on how it can help the sector. When efforts have been made to create learning programmes on how to train ICT people to appreciate agriculture so that agricultural communication is possible, there is no framework of absorbing them into the agricultural mainstream. I have been one such graduate who went through an ASARECA sponsored programme to infuse my skills into agriculture but I have tried every way to get my ideas into CAADP thinking with no success. I have not the slightest doubt that the work I have done in knowledge management and value chains development for smallholder farmers in tea and dairy are sufficient to guide adoption of ICT in agriculture, but every effort I have made to make the ideas infused into the existing organization have landed on dead ends. I rest assured that this will not be for long, change and transformation is coming and furiously unless those that are keeping the gates to technology and enterprise integration to agriculture give way.
PROFESSIONALISM AND CO-ORDINATION
It is very difficult to talk professionalism without having to lay down standards of practice and ethics. May technical areas have their professional bodies, agriculture has networks. Networks are faceless and amorphous organizations that are owned by their crique of founders and funders. There is need to create a body that lays down standard rules of practice including contextualized level of qualification of the people leading networks. Many if not most of the networks in the agricultural sector have challenges that need to be addressed and may have serious queries on their transparency and accountability.
CAPACITY BUILDING
This is an overused term that is intended more for fund-raising than realizing the moral of the words behind it. Capacity is normally associated with organizations or bodies of frameworks. Weven when there are no organized frameworks of actors, the words are used for the purpose of attracting funding and using funds then the same faces that have attended ‘capacity building workshops’ coined in a new way attend the workshops. Call it anything, but you will find the same group of workshop participants having ther capacity build over and over again. Where our challenge lies is not in building capacity of individuals, it is in building the organization for which capacity to build. I am yet to see two, three agricultural researchers who can boast of having participated in building sustainable organizations which they have gone further to build capacity.
CONCLUSION
It is not the research organization, African governments, or donors/development partners that have failed the sector…it is this network of knowledge workers that have become too complacent and continued to use the same tool that they invented many years gone by. As they say, if you gave a problem to a carpenter he will assume it is a nail and needs hammering. We are the carpenters.
I rest my case!
__________________________________________________________________
Kiringai Kamau
Nairobi-Kenya
Cell: +254-722800986/733375505
Websites:www.vacidafrica.or.ke, www.kenyagateway.or.ke, www.willpower.co.ke
Mercy Akeredolu
Kiringai Kamau kiri...@gmail.com to extension-conf.
show details Nov 7 (2 days ago)
Dear Moderators and Participants,
My contribution will address the issues you have sought to be addressed but from the perspective of an active development consultant rather than as an extensionist or researcher, much as I do both of them, courtesy of a brand new qualification I acquired in agricultural communication and information management only recently!
FUNDING
Bill and Merida Gates pioneered a model oflending to sustainable research in agriculture which is linked to tangiblebusiness models on selected value chains. There is need to study the model usedby this foundation and explore how such a model can be adopted to harness the potentialof the CAADP commitments
PRIVATIZATION
Agribusiness is the undoubtedly thesolution to the woes faced by African agriculture, the challenge where agriculturalresearchers lead agricultural development organizations, while they lackknowledge in business orientation at community level is a major challenge thatneed to be addressed. Who will address this is the challenge that this forummust discuss exhaustively. And when privatization is invoked, the tools thatare to be used to link agriculture to the private sector needs to be assessed adequately.
The use of ICTs in offering extension andknowledge to smallholders and governments need to be exploited. There is toomuch rhetoric and recycling of individuals who do not add value to agriculturaldevelopment yet they are given the tasks of becoming private sector advisors tothe agricultural sector in pluralateral or developmental initiatives.
EVALUATIONS
When there is so much technology around,the provision of standardized tools that can be used to benefit projectstandards cannot be overemphasized. There is need to make use of Web 2.0 technologiesto promote cost effective extensions. What we see when Web 2.0 technologies arementioned is on the technology rather than on its use for the targeted focus ofrealizing programmatic issues. We are challenged, we do not want to acknowledgethis!
INCREASED USE OF ICT
ICT is the proverbial John Godfrey Saxe’selement and the blind men. Everybody has an idea what it is and how it can beused, there has never been enough effort to study the technology on how it canhelp the sector. When efforts have been made to create learning programmes onhow to train ICT people to appreciate agriculture so that agricultural communicationis possible, there is no framework of absorbing them into the agriculturalmainstream. I have been one such graduate who went through an ASARECA sponsoredprogramme to infuse my skills into agriculture but I have tried every way toget my ideas into CAADP thinking with no success. I have not the slightestdoubt that the work I have done in knowledge management and value chainsdevelopment for smallholder farmers in tea and dairy are sufficient to guideadoption of ICT in agriculture, but every effort I have made to make the ideasinfused into the existing organization have landed on dead ends. I rest assuredthat this will not be for long, change and transformation is coming andfuriously unless those that are keeping the gates to technology and enterprise integrationto agriculture give way.
PROFESSIONALISM AND CO-ORDINATION
It is very difficult to talk professionalismwithout having to lay down standards of practice and ethics. May technicalareas have their professional bodies, agriculture has networks. Networks arefaceless and amorphous organizations that are owned by their crique of foundersand funders. There is need to create a body that lays down standard rules ofpractice including contextualized level of qualification of the people leadingnetworks. Many if not most of the networks in the agricultural sector havechallenges that need to be addressed and may have serious queries on theirtransparency and accountability.
CAPACITY BUILDING
This is an overused term that is intendedmore for fund-raising than realizing the moral of the words behind it. Capacityis normally associated with organizations or bodies of frameworks. Weven whenthere are no organized frameworks of actors, the words are used for the purposeof attracting funding and using funds then the same faces that have attended ‘capacitybuilding workshops’ coined in a new way attend the workshops. Call it anything,but you will find the same group of workshop participants having ther capacitybuild over and over again. Where our challenge lies is not in building capacityof individuals, it is in building the organization for which capacity to build.I am yet to see two, three agricultural researchers who can boast of havingparticipated in building sustainable organizations which they have gone furtherto build capacity.
CONCLUSION
It is not the research organization, Africangovernments, or donors/development partners that have failed the sector…it isthis network of knowledge workers that have become too complacent and continuedto use the same tool that they invented many years gone by. As they say, if yougave a problem to a carpenter he will assume it is a nail and needs hammering.We are the carpenters.
I rest my case!
__________________________________________________________________
Kiringai Kamau
Value Chain Analyst and Knowledge Specialist
PO Box 35046 00200
Nairobi-Kenya
Cell: +254-722800986/733375505
Websites:www.vacidafrica.or.ke, www.kenyagateway.or.ke, www.willpower.co.ke