Internet plus for agricultural development

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Sunday, July 2, 2017

http://dailyasianage.com/news/70919/internet-plus-for-agricultural-development

Internet Plus for agricultural development M S Siddiqui

Agriculture plays an important role in economic development, particularly in the developing economies of all regions. Three billion people in developing countries live in rural areas. They include most of the world's poor. It appears their numbers will continue to grow until 2030 (Source: OECD 2016).

Bangladesh agriculture employ 48% of workforce and contribute 18% in the GDP. About 20% to total GDP in Bhutan, India and Pakistan and 33.1% in Nepal and Pakistan, 31% in Sri Lanka and highest (65.6%) in Nepal and 8% in China, hence demonstrating the importance of this sector in

absorbing the growing labor force of these countries. China's agricultural sector is undergoing the transition from traditional agriculture mode to modern agriculture mode.

In South Asia (i.e., Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Nepal) by computing multi-lateral multi-temporal Total Factor Productivity (TFP) indices and their six finer components (technical change, technical-, scale- and mix-efficiency changes, residual scale and residual mix-efficiency changes) and examined the role of capital in driving TFP growth covering a 34-year period (1980-2013).

Results revealed that all countries sustained agricultural productivity growth at variable rates with Bangladesh experiencing highest rate estimated @1.05% p.a. followed by India (0.52%), Pakistan (0.38%) and Nepal (0.06% p.a.). There were little or no variation in technical and scale efficiency changes among the countries. But China could improve agriculture sector dramatically with the support of ICT in acquiring production technology, sourcing of input, marketing etc.

China has the world's largest number of Internet users and online shoppers, contributing significantly to the phenomenal growth of the sector. As of June 2015, China had 668 million Internet users, and 56%of the Internet population shopped online. These users representing more users than the United States of America, India and Japan combined. In June 2015, the number of Internet users in rural areas rose to 186 million, accounting for 27.9% of the total Internet population.

The number of online shoppers in rural areas reached 77.14 million, a 40.6% yoy increase against the 16.9% yoy growth in urban areas, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

E-commerce is now a major driver of growth in the "new normal" economy, since many traditional industries have now embraced this digital channel. According to BTRC, August 2016, almost 12 cr Bangladeshi people are using cell phone and almost 6 cr people using internet out of 16 cr population and Bangladesh government is in process of implementation of digital Bangladesh program. It is observed that 84% of rural families are using cell phone and 66% families have more than one cell phone. They are recipient of e-agriculture services from government and private organizations.

China's 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) calls for 'agriculture to be the foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects and to achieve modernisation'. Promoting the application of big data in agriculture and strengthening information services. The use of Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) is very encouraging.

The government attaches great importance to the development of e-commerce in the country, On issuing the Summaries of Middle/Long Term Science and Technology Development Plans of China, and the Development of Information Industry Plans in the Eleventh Five year and Long Plan in 2020 Years in The Ministry of Information Industry, "the application of e-commerce platform technology" and "the agricultural informatization technology" have been listed as the key points.

On March 5, 2015, at the Third Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress, China's Premier Li Keqiang delivered annual Report on the Work of the Government in which he said that China would develop the "internet plus" action plan. This was the notion of "internet plus" appeared in highlevel official document for the first time, indicating that it had been approved by the government and began to draw wide attention and became a public concern since then.

China has adapted 5 models of online shops to promote e-agribusiness. According to a survey, conducted by the department of agriculture, "individual plus an online shop" is the first and basic model among Lizhou's "Internet plus agriculture� online start-up models. Second comes the " hypostatic store plus online shop " model, namely the O2O model. Third comes the "enterprise and online shop " model, namely F2C model or F2B model. " Brand and online shop" model is the fourth.

In this model, seller starts selling online and registers his own brand when his business expands.

And then the seller consigns the production of products to other enterprises and sells them online.

This is mainly an online wholesale model such as B2B and B2C model. The fifth is "develop with collaboration" model, namely "dealers association plus members plus warehouse platform ". In this model, a dealers association will be founded to provide training and technology services for its members or those who want to start their business online. Meanwhile, a logistics and warehouse service centre will be established to purchase in unison so that entrepreneurs could be provided with goods and relatively cheap express delivery services.

The "Internet Plus" action plan was officially unveiled in the 2015 Government Work Report. And it is described as follows. "Emerging industries and new types of businesses are areas of intense competition. We will launch major projects to develop high-end equipment, information networks, integrated circuits, new energy, new materials, biomedicines, aero engines, and gas turbines, helping a number of emerging industries to become leading ones. We will develop the "Internet Plus" action plan to integrate the Mobile Internet, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things with modern manufacturing, to encourage the healthy development of e-commerce, industrial networks, and Internet banking, and to guide Internet-based companies to increase their presence in the international market. In addition to the 40 billion yuan government fund already in place for investment in China's emerging industries, more funds need to be raised for promoting business development and innovation."

China will push its Internet Plus national strategy into the industrial and agriculture sectors nationwide, especially in the underdeveloped regions. In October 2015, an executive meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Li Keqiang decided to earmark 140 billion yuan to upgrade the rural telecom infrastructure, and improve e-commerce in less-developed rural areas. Broadband coverage is expected to cover 98% of China's villages by 2020. "Since 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture has established demonstration zones in eight provinces to promote Internet of Things in agriculture, through which 426 technologies, products and application models have been introduced," The integration between Internet and service sectors like e-commerce, mobile payment and online video has already boosted the economy and helped spur innovation as original mentioned in the internet action plan. The integration supports the national Internet Plus and Made in China 2025 strategies, in which China seeks to inject advanced technologies in domestic industries. The latest integration covers e-commerce applications in rural regions, smart manufacture and intelligent supply chain.

The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2003 Plan of Action1 includes e-agriculture as an area of application of information and communication technologies (ICTs). "e-Agriculture" is an emerging field in the intersection of agricultural informatics, agricultural development and entrepreneurship, referring to agricultural services, technology dissemination, and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. More specifically, it involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of new innovative ways to use existing or emerging ICT. It has aim of improving communication and learning processes between various actors in agriculture locally, regionally and worldwide, facilitation, support of standards and norms, technical support, capacity building, education, and extension are all key components to e-Agriculture.

China's online sales remained strong in 2015, jumping 33.3 percent year on year to 3.88 trillion yuan, with 22.4 percent of online shoppers coming from rural areas. The total online retail volume of agricultural products in 2016 was expected to reach 220 billion yuan (about 32 billion US dollars), a 46 percent increase from 2015, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The agricultural extension directorate (DAE) of Bangladesh has introduced web based digital crops calendar for planned use of lands throughout the year. The farmers may select a crop and get a printed card with timing of sampling, process of cultivating, use of water, fertilizer, pesticide and other are mentioned in the card. Another site namely Farmer's digital address contained cultivation process with photos with improved cultivation process and use of water, fertilizers and others are given with photographs. The photographs are very much useful for the non-educated farmers. The DAE also float a pesticide prescriber web site. Famers can download all these information from google play store and save in their phone set.

The agricultural information services provide information on certain guideline from expert over phone. These experts are available over phone during office hours to serve the farmers. Bangladesh agricultural marketing directorate also developed an online platform of daily, weekly and fortnightly price of different products for use of farmers so that farmers can bargain fair price of their products. We can share Chinese experience to improve our agricultural sector and agro-based industries. (This article is modified version of author's paper presented at South Asia Business Forum, Kunming, China, the 11th June, 2017)

The writer is a Legal Economist. e-mail: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com