Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Agriculture in the Global South

ICT and Agriculture in the Global South

University of Guelph International Development Studies Programme IDEV*4500 Fall 2016 Class Photo Credit: David Borish 1

About Us We are a group of students at the University of Guelph who share a passion for the world around us. We major in International Development Studies, and are interested in exploring issues that pertain to social justice, inequality, poverty, and long-term change. We represent all of the 7 areas of emphasis in the programme: Environment and Development, Economic and Business Development, Gender and Development, Historical Perspectives in Development, Latin American Studies, Political Economy and Administrative Change, and Rural and Agricultural Development. Each of us drew on our expertise in our chosen area of emphasis in order to collaborate for this research paper.

For many of us, 2016 is our final year of study, and we have decided to focus our efforts and areas of expertise on exploring the opportunities and constraints related to ICT and agriculture in the Global South.

Authors

Aluvoric, Katarina

kalurovi@mail.uoguelph.ca

Bestvater, Benjamin

bbestvat@mail.uoguelph.ca

Brown, Allison

abrown36@mail.uoguelph.ca

Cheskes, Rebecca

rcheskes@mail.uoguelph.ca

Deppner, Alicia

adeppner@mail.uoguelph.ca

Dudezki, Pearson

pdudeski@mail.uoguelph.ca

Filippelli, Victoria

vfillippe@mail.uoguelph.ca

Forbes, Rebecca

rforbes@mail.uoguelph.ca

Gallagher, Abigail

gallagha@mail.uoguelph.ca

Gibson, Ashley

agibso05@mail.uoguelph.ca

Gladstone, Zoe

zgladsto@mail.uoguelph.ca

Hall, Brittany

bhall03@mail.uoguelph.ca

Hellier, Ellee

ehellier@mail.uoguelph.ca

Jamison, Nicole

njamison@mail.uoguelph.ca

Knapp, Melanie

knappm@mail.uoguelph.ca

MacDonald, Shaelynn

shealynn@mail.uoguelph.ca

McKenzie, Grace

mckenzig@mail.uoguelph.ca

Micallef, Amanda

amicalle@mail.uoguelph.ca

Mulvale, Chelsea

cmulvale@mail.uoguelph.ca

Neil, Emily

eneil@mail.uoguelph.ca

Paico-Avilez, Amy

apaicoav@mail.uoguelph.ca

Rosenblum, Eliana

rosenble@mail.uoguelph.ca

Schneider, Michael

mschneid@mail.uoguelph.ca

Sedgwick, Meredith

msedgwic@mail.uoguelph.ca

Taylor, MacKenzie

mtaylo16@mail.uoguelph.ca

Taylor, Nicole

ntaylo04@mail.uoguelph.ca

Volhard, Felix

fvolhard@mail.uoguelph.ca

Wahbi, Layla

lwahbi@mail.uoguelph.ca

Wenstrup, Kaileigh

kwenstru@mail.uoguelph.ca

Table of Contents

Abbreviations ………………………………………………………………………... p. 5-6 Introduction ………………………………………………………………...……… p. 8 What are ICTs ……………………………………………………………………... p. 10 Case Study: M-Pesa ……………………………………………………………….. p. 11 Barriers …………………………………………………………………………………. p. 12 Practical Constraints to Consider ………………………………………….. p. 13 Precision Agriculture ……………………………………………………………… p. 13 Sustainable Agriculture, the Environment, and Climate Change Farming, Environmental Degradation and Climate Change……. p. 15 Case Study: The Climate Change and ICT Project (CHAI) ……….. p. 16 Sustainable Agriculture and ICT’s ………………………….………………. p. 17 Case Study: Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) …………….... p. 19 The Food System, Agriculture, and Global Health Food Security and Malnutrition ……………………………………………… p. 21 Case Study: High Tech Solutions for Diabetes ……………………….. p. 21 Case Study: RapidSMS …………………………………………………………… p. 23 Malnutrition and ICT’s …………………………………………………………... p. 24 Case Study: Cell-Life ……………………………………………………………... p. 24 Epidemics and Neglected Tropical Diseases …………………………. p. 25

Table of Contents

NTD’s and Food Security …………………………………………………… p. 26 Case Study: SMS for Life …………………………………………………… p. 26 Maternal Health, Mental Health and Issues of Inequality …. p. 27 Case Study: TulaSalud ………………………………………………………. p. 27 Case Study: Mass SMS Messaging in Bangladesh ……………… p. 28 Dangers of Pesticide Use on Rural Farms, Livestock Use and Prevention … p. 29 Gender, Class, Age and Inclusivity Gender ……………………………………………………………………………… p. 32 Class ……………………………….………………………………………………… p. 34 Case Study: SafetiPin ………………………………………………………… p. 35 Age: Youth ………………………………………………………………………… p. 36 Youth and ICT Use ……………………………………………………………. p. 37 Education …………………………………………………………………………. p. 37 Youth and Unemployment ….…………………………………………… p. 38 Case Study: Mkulima Young …………………………………………….. p. 39 Age: Elderly ………………………………………………………………………. p. 40 Intersectionality ……………………………………………………………….. p. 42 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. p.43 References …………………………………………….……………………….. p. 44

Abbreviations

Photo Credit: David Borish

AIS - Agricultural Information System(s) CHWs - Community Health Workers CKW - Community Knowledge Worker(s) FMD - Foot-and-Mouth Disease GHG - Greenhouse Gases GIS - Geographic Information Systems GOe - Global Observatory for eHealth GM - Genetic Modification; Genetically Modified GPS - Geographic Positioning Systems hiPAPD - Holistic, Interactive and Persuasive Model to Facilitate Self-care of Diabetics HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus ICRISAT - International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics ICT - Information and Communication Technology/Technologies ICT4D - Information and Communication Technology for Development ICU - International Communications Union IDRC - International Development Research Centre IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development INFSS - Integrated Nutritional and Food Security Surveillance ISP - Internet Service Providers

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Abbreviations Continued M-apps - Mobile Applications MDG - Millennium Development Goals mHealth - Mobile Health MMT - Mobile Money Transfer mVAM - Mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping NGO - Non-Governmental Organization NTDs - Neglected Tropical Diseases PDA(s) - Personal Digital Assistant(s) RFID - Radio-Frequency Identification SDGs - Sustainable Development Goals SMS - Short Message Service UN - United Nations UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund volP - Voice Over Internet Protocol WFP - World Food Programme

Photo Credit: David Borish 7

Introduction

There are currently 3.4 billion people living in rural populations globally, with 34% classified as extremely poor (IFAD, 2011). These rural populations in developing country contexts, face issues such as isolation, lack of agricultural information and innovative technology leaving 60% living off $2 USD per day (IFAD, 2011). Mobile technologies present a unique opportunity as they are increasingly being integrated in the daily lives of individuals throughout the Global South, a region encompassing the transition economies of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Rees, 2016). It is estimated that there are approximately 3.6 billion mobile phone users worldwide, with numbers on the rise, particularly in rural areas (Rees, 2016). As such, the ubiquitous ability to bridge information and accessibility of mobile technologies present an opportunity for immense innovation and impact on agriculture around the world, especially within the Global South. This report will outline the ways in which mobile technology can be harnessed to help small farmers around the world improve access to information, production, environmental sustainability, food security, and health. After a thorough review of case studies of initiatives employing mobile information technologies (IT) to solve various issues facing smallholder farmers around the world, this paper finds mobile technology to have enormous potential to aid in overcoming many social, economic, and informational barriers present within smallholder agriculture in the Global South.

Based on the successes and failures of the various cases examined, we argue in this paper that programmes which combine information dissemination with a participatory approach to data collection via mobile IT are most likely to ensure information is relevant and usable by beneficiaries. Combining simple health messages and relevant health data collection in broader rural livelihood and mobile IT initiatives may also significantly reduce frequent shortages of human capital due to illness and death in remote, rural communities. We further find that while mobile IT holds significant potential to empower marginalized groups including women, youth and the elderly in rural communities by providing information relevant to their specific needs as well as to help network them in and beyond their communities, technologies can as easily serve to further marginalize these groups if the various factors which intersect to isolate them are not simultaneously addressed.

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In addition, we will outline various extension models throughout the paper.

By extension model, we mean both the technological model of information gathering and dissemination (e.g. SMS vs Internet vs Voice Calls) and the personnel model (whether individual farmers use their own phones or a community knowledge worker disseminates information gathered in their smart phone, etc.).

Which model is most appropriate will depend on financial resources available, connectivity, and literacy in individual contexts. In sum, this paper argues that to be successful, mobile IT applications will need to be tailored to individual contexts and be implemented in conjunction with broader efforts to address inequalities and work collaboratively with beneficiaries to ensure information disseminated is accessible, relevant and adaptable.

Photo Credit: David Borish

What are Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)?

It is estimated that there are approximately 3.6 billion mobile phone users worldwide, with numbers on the rise. Mobile technologies are increasingly integrated in the daily lives of individuals throughout the Global South, a region encompassing the transition economies of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East (Rees, 2016). As such, the ubiquitous ability to bridge information, and accessibility of mobile technologies present an opportunity for immense innovation and impact on agriculture around the world, especially within the Global South. This report will outline the ways in which mobile technology can be harnessed to help small farmers around the world improve access to information, production, environmental sustainability, food security, and health. It argues that mobile technology has the potential to aid in overcoming many social, economic, and informational barriers present within smallholder agriculture in the Global South.

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Case Study: M-Pesa Worldwide, there are approximately 2.5 billion people that do not have a formal account at a financial institution (Kirui, Okello & Nyikal, 2012). Access to affordable financial services is linked to overcoming poverty, reducing income disparities, and increasing economic growth (Kirui, Okello & Nyikal, 2012). Some of the obstacles smallholder farmers face in access to financial services include high costs and travel distance involved (Kirui, Okello & Nyikal, 2012).

The introduction of prepaid cards and fallen prices of mobile handsets have led to a rapid adoption of mobile phones in the Global South, enabling a lower cost alternative to traditional banking in the form of mobile banking (D’Auria, 2016). The cost of a bank transaction is USD $1, compared to a USD $0.05 using a mobile platform (D’Auria, 2016).

This allows mobile-money services to attract customers that would otherwise be shut out of formal payment systems (D’Auria, 2016). Mobile money is reshaping financial services across the developing world.

One of the most successful money transfer service is M-Pesa. Launched in 2007

by Vodafone for Safaricom, it is one of the largest wireless service providers (Vodafone, 2016). With M-Pesa, all that is required is a mobile phone. Users do not need a bank account, credit history, or much money (Vodafone, 2016).

MMT Impact on Agriculture M-Pesa allows for agricultural households to reduce the time and cash expense involved in accessing the funds needed to invest in agriculture. M-Pesa can help resolve some of the challenges that agricultural households face in accessing finances. Farmers would no longer have to input time and travel costs to banking facilities (Kirui et al., 2012). MMT can improve investment in, and allocation, of human capital as well as physical capital through facilitating cheap and timely transfers of small amounts of money across larger distances (Kirui et al., 2012). Payments and loans through M-Pesa are enabling smallholder farmers to access simple and secure products and services (Kirui et al., 2012).

M-Pesa is already proving to be a success among smallholder rural farmers. A study found that the use of MMT services significantly increased household agricultural commercialization by 37% (Kirui et al, 2012). Additionally, the largest proportion of money received and sent through M-Pesa services were used for agricultural-related purposes (Kirui et al., 2012).

Encouraging Growth The success of M-Pesa has supported small business growth by opening up a series of opportunities for users. For example, credit that may have been previously denied due to a lack of information, is now an option, enabling a farmer to work with the bank as they can show them their history of transactions. In turn, these loans that farmers can gain access to through the bank will allow for investment in their businesses (Murphy, 2013).

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Barriers Several factors can challenge the introduction and successful integration of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Global South, including problems with connectivity, content, capacity, and cost. A lack of connectivity primarily affects those living in remote, rural settings that have been overlooked by the products of the information revolution. Consequently, they suffer from a lack of access to mobile phones and computers, poor telecommunications infrastructure and a limited number of Internet Service Providers (ISP). Regarding content, issues with providing local and culturally relevant content remain prevalent; applying appropriate language and the relevance of content to the local setting is often neglected in ICT programmes (Chetley, 2006). The financial burden of integrating ICTs is another hindrance that must be considered.

Handsets are still relatively expensive to purchase and the cost of using them for services such as outgoing calls can be as much as $1.30 per minute (Kaplan, 2006). Finally, there are issues with capacity to service and maintain ICTs effectively, which can lead to the abandonment of an ICT program. These issues are prevalent throughout all sections of the report, in addition to more case specific barriers.

Photo Credit: David Borish

12 Photo Credit: David Borish

Practical Constraints to Consider 1. The ‘Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) found that whether the device allowed a PDF, .mov (a multimedia file format), or .m4v file to be uploaded and stored on the mobile device determined its success due to connectivity constraints (Palmer, 2012). This allowed instruction and information to be accessed directly from the device without connectivity (Palmer, 2012). Without this feature, the application may be of little value when a wifi network is inaccessible.

2. Though it is imperative that the device be affordable, the FAO observed that quality decreased as cost decreased (Palmer, 2012). Consequently, farmers were found to be having difficulty with visibility while in sunlight (Palmer, 2012). It’s also important to note that excessive heat (which is often found in hot, rural, and semi-arid communities) can cause irreversible damage to the battery (Palmer, 2012).

3. Theft is another major problem. The Africa Soil Information Services (AfSIS) conducted a soil research initiative in 2010, which sent two staff members to Ethiopia to collect soil supplements (Kpeng, 2012). Each member carried with them a mobile device to have access to a digital camera and a GPS satellite (Kpeng, 2012). Their experience highlighted the importance of the “Jean Pocket Test.” In this procedure, the phone must be placed in the back pocket of a pair of jeans (Kpeng, 2012). AfSIS suggests that a mobile phone, and thus the ICT application, is utilized more when the device can easily fit in the back pocket. Anything bigger requires you to have a satchel, case, or bag with you which increases the likelihood of theft (Kpeng, 2012).

Precision Agriculture Precision agriculture is a modern farming practice that improves agricultural efficiency by optimising site-specific inputs. This practice first came into use in the 1980s as global positioning system (GPS) technology became cheaply available for farmers to incorporate into their practice (Headly, 2015). The use of GPS technology allows farmers to more accurately map the movement of farm machinery, reducing overlap and gaps in nutrient dispersal. Modern precision agriculture makes use of GPS, sensors geographic information systems (GIS) and advanced software to further improve efficiency by creating a comprehensive and detailed map of the farmland. This map allows farmers to know the exact irrigation and nutritional needs of the soil, allowing for the optimal application of inputs, reducing waste and runoff. Precision agriculture is an emerging tool for agricultural development and will undoubtedly continue to grow as new technologies develop, and old technologies become more affordable. Utilising these ICTs in development currently runs into the inevitable constraint of the technologies high cost.

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Sustainable Agriculture, The Environment, and Climate Change

Photo Credit: David Borish

Photo Credit: David Borish 14

Climate Change Climate change is a topic that must be discussed worldwide. It has had, and will continue to have, negative impacts on global agriculture if not addressed. Its greatest impacts will, however, be felt among smallholder farmers in the Global South (Harvey et al. 2014).

Harvey et al. (2014) argue that the countries that will feel the most severe effects of climate change are tropical countries with large populations of poor, smallholder farmers.

Given that agriculture plays a large role in most Global South, climate change is of great significance. For instance, in Uganda, agriculture accounts for over 40% of the country’s GDP, employs 80% of the labour force, and provides 85% of all exports (Enabling Farmers to Adapt to Climate Change, 2014). Therefore, losses in agricultural production (as a result of climate change) can have devastating effects on the economy, not to mention the overall well-being of most citizens. For this reason, it is necessary to identify adaptation measures that can provide farmers with appropriate coping mechanisms (Harvey et al., 2014). Mobile IT can help with the important task of disseminating coping mechanisms to rural farmers (Vanden Heuvel, 2016).

The Climate Change Adaptation and ICT (CHAI) Project in Uganda, for example, has reached over 120,000 Ugandan farmers, providing them with a new means of receiving adaptation information through ICTs, along with other tools to ensure the continued well being of their families (Vanden Heuvel, 2016). Positive results have come from the incorporation of mobile phones and ICTs in farming areas affected by climate change, providing tools for those who had earlier been neglected by such agricultural extension services The Rio+20 documents on climate change noted that ICTs are fundamental for achieving this climate-smart agriculture because of their relative low cost and ability to reach remote locations (Adenle et al. 2015). Their ability to open networks and create an information sharing environment further gives farmers the opportunity to educate themselves more thoroughly on climate change, as well as the possible negative effects of their current farming habits (Munyua et al., 2008 ). See Case Study Box 1 on page 16 for an example in which projects can combine ICT use with other methods of information distribution which helps increase information access by the illiterate, women, and other marginalized groups as well as increasing the adaptation of suggested climate-change innovations.

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Case Study Box 1: The Climate Change Adaptation and ICT Project (CHAI) Combining ICT with various information diffusion mechanisms can extend reach to illiterate farmers and increase adaptation Uganda is a country that relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture for maintaining livelihoods. However, due to the effects of climate change (e.g. an increase in average temperatures), Ugandan farmers have struggled to keep production consistent. The country has experienced frequent droughts over the past few decades, which is causing great concern for the agricultural sector (Vanden Heuvel, 2016).

The Climate Change Adaptation and ICT project, better known as the CHAI project, was created as a solution for these issues faced by Ugandan farmers. By using mobile and wireless technology, CHAI has strengthened the capacity of rural farmers and communities to adapt to the shocks of climate change (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016). The main purpose of this project has been to create a climate information system using ICT to gather, analyze and broadcast adaptation information to farmers (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016).

The CHAI system uses mobile phone-based tools to enable farmers to access crop and livestock market information, hyper-local seasonal weather forecasts, as well as daily weather data. Data is collected by CHAI representatives and is disseminated to farmers who receive directions on their mobile phones via SMS, email, or phone calls (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016). These directions might include low-cost water harvesting techniques or guidance for drought and flood coping mechanisms (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016).

This allows farmers to decide what, when, where, and how much to produce and sell for each growing season (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016). Information distribution mechanisms are also implemented through interactive radio and community meetings with local authorities to make sure that even farmers without access to phones themselves can access the information (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016). It also connects households to different community support organizations, which in turn provide them with the necessary help to put collected information into action (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016).

The CHAI project is currently estimated to be reaching more than 120,000 Ugandan farmers. The system provides these farmers with a new method of obtaining adaptation information and resources that will help protect their family’s well-being (Vanden Heuvel, 2016). Furthermore, research involving 640 households has shown that the information being provided by this project has resulted in reduced crop loss and damage by 67 percent, approximately $474-573 USD per year (Enabling Farmers to Adapt to Climate Change: Uganda, 2014) This project has been made possible through a partnership between FHI 360, Uganda Chartered HealthNet, Makerere University and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), as well as the Ministry of Water and Environment (Climate Change Adaptation and ICT, 2016).

16 Photo Credit: David Borish

Sustainable Agriculture and ICT’s Since the Green Revolution of the 1960s, countries in the Global South have struggled to recover from the side effects of harmful pesticides and intensive agricultural practices (Cheripelly & Chand, 2015). The increased dependence of small-scale farmers on these methods negatively impacts the environment and threatens the livelihoods of future generations. Many smallholder farmers face barriers such as a lack of market knowledge, weak and inadequate information systems, economic instability and a shortage of resources (Munyua, 2008). To overcome these challenges, farmers need innovative solutions that are both practical and affordable.

Several innovative sustainable agriculture techniques are being employed around the world that are simple and relatively easy to adapt to local contexts and adopt by small-scale farmers. In Cuba for example, coffee, mangos, and avocados are intercropped and reach their ideal nutrient level, go to seed and are harvested, all at different times, promoting biodiversity and sustainability (Nelson, 2016). In contrast to an intense harvest period where farmers receive a single profit sum, these farmers receive payment for their crops and apply their labour and assets at different intervals (Nelson, 2016). Other examples from Cuba include simple lantern light traps attract pests away from crops and planting oregano, basil, or colourful flowers at the ends of rows achieves other pest management goals (Nelson, 2016). In Burkina Faso, digging “zai” or water pockets in rows during the dry season works to mitigate the droughts that climate change continues to intensify (Sibanda & Wilson, 2013). These water pockets are packed with manure and leaves - termites are attracted to the manure and they then construct tunnels in the soil that enable water and nutrient access (Sibanda & Wilson, 2013). As a result, sorghum and millet seed can begin to grow almost immediately upon the return of rainfall (Sibanda & Wilson, 2013).

Manish Raizada, a professor at the University of Guelph, empowers smallholder farmers North America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through low-cost technologies.

One example of this technology is a tool that shells 17.5 kgs of maize in 30 minutes, as opposed to the regular 2 to 2.5 hours. Another example is a picture book that explains agricultural practices through visual means, thus combatting the barrier of illiteracy (Borish, 2016). These examples demonstrate the number of simple innovations that farmers have developed themselves, in their communities or in tandem with scientists that really work to promote sustainable agriculture and could be relevant to farmers all around the world. Some innovations will of course also require local adaptation. Microrisal, which has the capacity to mimic soil fungi’s symbiotic relationship (thus increasing root nutrient and water absorption), is one example. Cultivation and application of Microrisal is simple and can adopt in various locations, but modifications for context must be included to ensure that its potential to increase resiliency and productivity is retained (Nelson, 2016). A remaining challenge is Photo Credits: Charlotte Defries helping to scale up these innovations, making them available and adaptable by other farmers.

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Again, mobile technologies can play a major role in diffusing such innovations in rural communities. They are most valuable, however, when they not only provide information to farmers, but also tailor the information specifically to farmer’s needs by also collecting information from farmers themselves. This can help farmers adapt technologies and practices to fit their particular context. In India, for example, an innovative system called e-Sagu was invented to provide education on the use of sustainable farming practices (Cheripelly & Chand, 2015). Through this system, farmers can send pictures and texts to research centers and receive scientific expertise back via text message to help them increase their yields while protecting the environment (Cheripelly & Chand, 2015). This relationship is bilateral, as smallholder farmers can also share information about the land, which in turn helps scientists develop best practices for that particular region (Cheripelly & Chand, 2015).

Since this concept is relatively new, many farmers are skeptical of sustainable practices such as biotechnology (Scott et al., 2014). By implementing mobile IT, we can ensure there is transparency between key stakeholders, which reassures rural farmers that these practices will not only benefit the environment, but their livelihoods as well (Scott et al., 2014). Farmers that outline their needs and obstacles via SMS systems or social media can receive assistance and become educated on new practices. This networking should result in a supportive policy environment, one where government subsidies and tax discounts encourage sustainable agriculture (Thrupp, 2000).

In India, an ICT project which uses mobile text message service that has resulted in net income increases beyond US$100/Ha per season on rice yields. Similarly, maize yields in Kenya are anticipated to double from e-farming SMS text messages that inform smallholders on agronomic details, varieties, and crop and fertilizer management. This is making cellular devices “like a piece of farm equipment, [a] key to determining [the] productivity in the field�

(Palmer, Etyang & Okoth, 2012).

Not only can cellphones address issues of uncertainty and information gaps, but they can also help promote and teach farmers about sustainable agriculture. Frequently, the most available information is not the most accurate or up-to-date, such as that passed down from other farmers or market vendors (Cheripelly & Chand, 2015). With the promotion of mobile IT, farmers will be able to access information from the various stakeholders involved at multiple levels of the agricultural process. By incorporating an equal, two-way communication network, scientists and farmers at the local, national and global tiers can distribute information on sustainable practices. See Case Study Box 1 for an example of how this works.

Photo Credits: David Borish 18

Photo Credits: Grameen Foundation (2012)

Case Study Box 2: Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) Making information available to all using ICTs Accessibility is a key concern for projects using ICT. The Grameen Foundation, a global nonprofit organization, addresses this by providing a physical human being, referred to as a Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) as an agricultural resource (Kreep, 2011). This program began in 2010 and it currently provides 700 CKW within 15 districts across Uganda (Kreep, 2011). The CKW is democratically elected as a representative by the community to be the person in possession of a mobile phone through which he or she acts as an “information intermediary.” He or she can access agricultural extension information through cloud computing and relay this to a community member. This is especially beneficial if the individual is illiterate or does not have access to a mobile phone (Palmer, 2012). It also ensures that those who can not afford a smartphone or internet connection can access the information. The use of the CKW also helps ensure information disseminated is relevant to specific communities. Members of the community are surveyed so that the representative is aware of what local needs are (Kreep, 2011). The information gathered by all CKW across Uganda is analyzed through the use of an electronic dashboard (Kreep 2011). The Grameen Foundation then takes this gathered content and provides general and specific recommendations which can be accessed through the CKW. The Grameen Foundation acknowledges the constraint of energy, in that it is often scarcely available. In response to this constraint, they work together with Fenix International Inc. and provide a “Ready Set” off grid charging solution. This solar kit can power approximately 10 mobile devices per day or provide as much as 10 hours of light, thus significantly reducing energy costs (Lin, 2011). According to the FAOs, farmers in Eastern Uganda with access to a CKW are able to successfully market their product, on average, 17% higher than those who do not have access to a CKW (Palmer, 2012).

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Photo Credit: David Borish

The Food System, Agriculture and Global Health

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Food Security and Malnutrition Local and global economies, the environment, and the political economy, all affect, and are affected by, a person’s ability to be food secure, influencing their overall health, wellbeing, and their ability to participate in an appropriate livelihood (Clapp, 2016).

Challenges related to health and food security disproportionately affect marginalized and impoverished rural communities, resulting in a cyclical health-related poverty trap that reinforces barriers (De Schutter, 2014; FAO, 2016). We must consider agriculture, health, and nutrition as being intimately linked if they are to successfully integrate ICTs into smallholder agriculture and its associated livelihoods in the Global South.

Recently, many scholars have established that the issue of food security is not actually one of supply, but of unequal distribution and utilization (Clapp, 2016; De Schutter, 2014).

Advanced by Olivier De Schutter (2014), the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, the “Three A’s” of food security provide a comprehensive gauge of food security.

Availability; the kinds of food that are grown or provided in an area, access; the ability to acquire certain foods within an area through purchase or other means, and adequacy; consumption of nutritionally and culturally appropriate foods, are all required to achieve a well-balanced food system and food security (De Schutter, 2014).

Case Study Box 3: High Tech Solutions for Diabetes Self-Care but at a Prohibitive Cost Holistic, Interactive and Persuasive Model to Facilitate Self-Care of Diabetics (hiPAPD) was a pilot project implemented in Panama, which provided technologies to diabetics that could be used to manage their illness. The Technological University of Panama funded the program, and targeted it towards diabetics with low economic, social and educational status, who would not traditionally have access to the technologies provided. Technologies provided included Bluetooth pedometers, Bluetooth scales, embedded glucometers and blood pressure monitors.

These technologies connected to a tablet device given to the patient. The tablet analyzed the information from the other technologies and provided customized advice as to what the person should do to best manage their diabetes at that given time. Moreover, the tablet provided access to virtual forums in which participants could engage with other diabetics for support and advice.

This technology received high feedback from diabetics that participated in the project. Nearly all participants reported that they liked the project, felt it benefited their health and increased their access to social support for self-care. Despite this, the project was unable to continue, due to the high costs of providing the technologies (Lombardo et al., 2012). HiPAPD shows the potential for ICTs to improve management of type 2 diabetes, critical in ensuring full productivity of these individuals. However, costs must be considered when determining whether a project has the potential to last in the long run or scale up.

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Photo Credit: Rebecca Forbes

Food insecurity can lead to various forms of malnutrition, “an abnormal condition caused by deficiencies, excesses or imbalances in energy, and/or nutrients necessary for an active, healthy life� (FAO, 2016). Previously described as a double burden, malnutrition is now seen as a triple burden, referring to undernutrition and overnutrition, and conditions arising from dietary imbalance leading to diet-related noncommunicable diseases (FAO, 2016; Pinstrup-Anderson, 2007). Chronic malnutrition, also known as chronic hunger, occurs when an individual does not have a sufficient intake of food over a sustained period, leading to irreversible effects such as stunting, compromised immunity, and overall impaired physical and mental development (FAO, 2016; Pinstrup-Anderson, 2007).

Overnutrition is characterized by excessive macronutrient intake, leading to overweight and obese individuals, and increasing the likelihood of developing non-communicable diseases such as metabolic syndromes, type 2 diabetes, congenital heart disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and various cancers (FAO, 2016). Hidden hunger, or micronutrient deficiencies, is the result of inadequate dietary diversity, particularly a lack of vitamins and minerals vital for growth and development (FAO, 2016; Pinstrup-Anderson, 2007). Low-income families, and women and children especially, are often deficient in vitamin A, iron, and iodine, and other essential nutrients, which limits their health, development, growth, and working capacity (FAO, 2016).

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Jomo Kwame Sundaram (2014), the former Assistant Director-General and Coordinator for Economic and Social Development in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) within the UN, maintains that good nutrition is not only beneficial from a health perspective, but is crucial to economic prosperity. He estimates that each year, malnutrition is responsible for a 5% reduction in global economic due to forgone output (eg. decreases in current productivity and loss of work force) and additional incurred costs (eg. increased pressure on healthcare systems) (Sundaram, 2014).

Malnutrition caused by food insecurity is resulting in the loss of lives and impedes livelihoods, and with them their potential to contribute to the economy, particularly for present and future farmers and agriculturalists (Sundaram, 2014). Rising levels of nutrition is the ultimate goal and ensures our focus is on farmers (people) rather than on just farms (production) or on pharmacies (supplements) as a solution (“Global Nutrition Report”, 2016; Hoddinott, 2011). ICTs can provide a means of improving local and global understandings of food security and make sure that agricultural and health initiative consider nutrition as a key part of their solutions aimed at combatting food insecurity (International Telecommunication Union, 2009).

Case Study Box 4: RapidSMS The benefits of gathering data via SMS In Malawi, the Integrated Nutritional and Food Security Surveillance (INFSS) is a government program that collects information on child nutrition, using data from growth monitoring clinics (GMC); clinics that measure key indicators of nutrition (Blaschke, et al., 2009). Workers at GMCs record measurements on paper, then mail the data to the INFSS headquarters where they are inputted into the database (Blaschke et al., 2009).

The Malawian government and UNICEF implemented a pilot project, RapidSMS, in three districts of Malawi, which aimed to increase the speed of data transmission. RapidSMS provided GMC workers with a cellphone that they used to send an SMS containing nutritional measurements of each child, to a central number. This directly inputted the measurements into the INFSS database. An alert was sent if a measurement was physically impossible, or if it indicated malnutrition, in which feedback was given on how to address the issue (Blashcke et al., 2009).

RapidSMS decreased the time for records to be inputted into INFSS’s database, from one to three months, to an average of two minutes. This enabled the Malawian government and other actors (e.g. UNICEF), to analyze up-to-date nutritional information and create appropriate policies or programs based on the information. Moreover, RapidSMS improved quality of records, by notifying GMCs if a measurement was physically impossible. In turn, malnutrition issues were treated more rapidly, due to the immediate feedback provided through this system (Blashcke et al., 2009).

Immediate and accurate treatment of malnutrition that was facilitated through RapidSMS, helps to minimize the risk of decreased productivity, including that of agriculturalists.

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Malnutrition and ICTs Within rural areas characterized by agricultural livelihoods, ICTs present a means of compiling and sharing information concerning food access, consumption, prices and coping mechanisms to better address those in the most dire need (FAO, 2016; “Global Nutrition Report”, 2016). They also offer potential tools for incorporating nutrition information into smallholder farming practices and addressing various health outcomes due to malnutrition (see Case Study Box 3 on page 21), leading to increased control over diets, livelihoods, and overall well being (International Telecommunication Union, 2009).

The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished (WFP, 2016).

Case Study Box 5: Cell-Life Gathering and disseminating data via mobile phones One of South Africa’s most pressing MDGs is to reduce the number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS. The disease was the leading cause of death in 2012, killing an estimated 200, 000 people (WHO, 2012). For the over 5 million South Africans living with HIV and the many others affected by the epidemic, there remains an urgent need for communication between those affected and support structures regarding the course of treatment. In efforts to combat the prevalence of deaths from HIV/AIDS, Cell-Life has integrated the expertise of healthcare professionals to develop solutions that support HIV/AIDS management and monitoring efforts (Benjamin, 2010). Aftercare, for example, is a data collection tool that enables health counselors to gather information about their patients using cell phones equipped with software developed by Cell-Life. By using Aftercare, counselors can record data right from the comfort of the patient’s home and can relay this information to a central Cell-Life database via text message, where a manager can then use a web-based system to access and monitor the incoming patient information. Additionally, the manager can also communicate with Aftercare workers and provide supplemental information to improve patient care. The information collected not only facilitates individual patient care, but is also used to build a database of information on the prevalence of the South African AIDS epidemic.

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Epidemics and Neglected Tropical Diseases

The creation and use of new ICTs present a means of mitigating the food security and health symptoms created by epidemics and diseases. One example is Ebola, a deadly viral disease without a known cure. The most recent outbreak of Ebola, originating in Guinea and spreading to Sierra Leone and Liberia, has an overall estimated fatality rate of 40% (CDC, 2016). Liberia has been most affected by it, accounting for 4,810 deaths out of a total of 11,310 in West Africa (CDC, 2016). Shortages of qualified healthcare workers, poor occupational safety, and a weak overall healthcare distribution system are among the causes of the intensity and spread of the epidemic. This has been worsened by a reluctance among healthcare workers to address the virus, due to high (8%) mortality rate among healthcare workers (World Bank, 2015).

The demobilization and death of farmers due to the Ebola outbreak, as well governments’ imposed quarantines and restrictions on people’s movements, contributes to a significant disruption in food production in West Africa and other affected areas (IFPRI, 2016).

Furthermore, in an effort to contain and combat the spread of Ebola, governments imposed quarantines and restrictions on people’s movements, disrupting market economies (IFPRI, 2016). These factors intensified food scarcity and led to dramatic increases in food prices, reducing many families to a single meal per day (IFPRI, 2016). For instance, cassava, a staple food for many households in Liberia, saw a 150% increase in price during the Ebola outbreak (FAO, 2014). These high food prices disproportionately affected already impoverished and marginalized communities, threatening their food and nutrition security immensely (IFPRI, 2016).

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), which include Buruli ulcers, Chagas disease, Dengue and Chikungunya, Leprosy, and several more, affect over one billion people in tropical and subtropical regions (WHO, 2016). NTDs disproportionately impact people living in poverty, without adequate access to sanitation or clean water (WHO, 2016). Several NTDs bear side effects that directly harm health and food security, such as anaemia and malnutrition or parasites which consume key bodily nutrients (Samuels & Pose, 2013). NTDs also have an indirect impact on food security because, like all diseases and epidemics, they limit the conditions in which people can work. This includes farmers who have a more challenging time producing food for themselves and their families. There are also medical and time costs associated with treating NTDs, which greatly disadvantage people who carry them (Samuels and Pose, 2013).

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NTDs and Food Security There are three major food security challenges associated with epidemics and diseases such as Ebola and NTDs. The first challenge is that they interrupt regular health services and health infrastructure, making it more challenging, or in some cases impossible, for people to seek the regular treatment of other illnesses such as HIV or Neglected Tropical Diseases (IFPRI, 2016). There is also a fear among patients and healthcare workers of contracting other diseases while seeking or providing treatment (Ndawinz et al, 2015).

The second challenge is that epidemics and diseases create immobility.

Many Neglected Tropical Diseases create mobility challenges, and government restrictions on people's movement in order to limit the spread of epidemic outbreaks interrupt market economies and leads to increased food prices (IFPRI, 2016). The third challenge is the reduced income and productivity associated with diseases and epidemics. Farmers are unable or less able to work, money and time is spent on treatments, and large-scale food insecurity results when large proportions of an economy are affected by disease (IFPRI, 2016). ICTs present potential avenues to address these main food security challenges stemming from epidemics and disease.

Photo Credits: David Borish

Case Study Box 7: SMS for Life Reducing unnecessary incapacities in rural communities by improving drug access There are a range of ICT applications that are currently being piloted and employed in efforts to combat global health issues. One of these ICT applications includes mobile health (or mHealth) which is the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices. mHealth includes collecting community and clinical health data and the delivery of healthcare.

It achieves this by offering information regarding the availability of health services, testing and treatment methods, and disease management. The use of mHealth has emerged as an important innovation with tremendous potential to strengthen health systems in developing nations. Mobile phones provide an opportunity for people living in remote areas to access public health information. In many sub-Saharan African nations, inadequate stock levels of essential medicines remain a major problem at the health facility level.

SMS for Life is one such mHealth program which aimed to eliminate malarial medicine stock-outs in health facilities across the Lindi Rural, Uganda and Kigoma Rural districts of Tanzania during its pilot in 2009. SMS for Life was designed to allow healthcare workers to send SMS messages via mobile phone to a central database to ensure adequate stock levels of malaria treatments were maintained. During the 21-week pilot, malaria medicine availability improved significantly in all three districts. At the end of pilot, stock-out rates were reduced from 57% to 0% in Lindi Rural, from 87% to 30% in Ulanga, and from 93% to 47% in Kigoma Rural (Roll Back Malaria, 2010).

The SMS for Life pilot was highly successful in reducing stock-outs and subsequently reducing the number of deaths from malaria. It also demonstrated that health information can be made available using simple devices like mobile phones that can be harnessed by people living in remote areas.

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Maternal Health, Mental Health, and Issues of Inequality

Gender inequalities within healthcare are closely linked to health issues of mothers in rural communities. Many communities experience poor maternal health care, which results in life threatening labour complications and high maternal mortality rates (Hussein et al., 2012). Over 98% of maternal deaths occur in developing nations, despite 88-98% of them being preventable (Hussein et al., 2012). Many of these deaths come as a result of unsafe delivery, due to a lack of available of services in rural communities or lack of basic skills from healthcare providers (Hussein et al., 2012). This often results in complications during labour, infection, extreme bleeding leading to death or long term complications (Hussein et al., 2012). The illness or death of a mother can lead to a loss of household earnings and potential debt for the family (Hussein et al., 2012). However, maternal health issues can be prevented if affordability, availability, quality, awareness and accessibility are tackled (Hussein et al., 2012).

Mental health and suicide are other significant yet often neglected areas within rural development. As of 2008, the WHO estimates that over 75% of people suffering from mental health disorders in the Global South receive no treatment or care (WHO, 2008). It is estimated that one person dies of a result of self inflicted harm every 40 seconds (WHO, 2008). Low income countries and communities face poverty, poor education and limited health services, resulting in limited resources to deal with mental health issues and prevention (Milner, 2010).

Mental health care in the Global South, specifically in rural communities, is not only difficult to access, but is costly, resulting in the majority of individuals going without help. Both maternal and mental health issues in rural areas can benefit from SMS messaging, as it aims to reduce the stigma as well as providing information about symptoms and available resources. See Case Study Boxes 8 and 9 for examples.

Case Study Box 8: TulaSalud Using mobile phones to address maternal health TulaSalud is an initiative in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, which addresses maternal health and high mortality rates, through mobile phones. Guatemalan NGO TulaSalud and the Canadian Tula Foundation fund the initiative, working in partnership with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health (Lemaire, 2011). TulaSalud provides mobile phones to community health workers (CHW), individuals in rural areas, that have a basic knowledge of health and carry out maternal health care during pregnancy and postpartum (Lemaire, 2011). CHWs use the phones to call a nurse or doctor in an urban hospital, who answer questions that arise for CHWs while providing care. The phones also contain an app, Kawok, specifically designed for TulaSalud. Kawok is used to record patient’s information, as well as check previous health records. Kawok also enables doctors to monitor pregnancies and take action, if they notice a potential problem (Pan American Health Organization, 2013). Finally, Kawok contains informational videos on maternal health to educate CHWs and the women they treat.

TulaSalud has increased the knowledge of CHWs and provided them with support from individuals with more healthcare knowledge. It has had a statistically significant effect on decreasing maternal mortality in Alta Verapaz (Fernandez, Lobos-Medina, Diaz-Molina, Chen-Cruz & Prieto-Egido, 2011). In 2015, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development gave the organization a $7.6 million grant, which will enable it to increase in scale (Tula Foundation, 2015).

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Case Study Box 9: Mass SMS Messaging in Bangladesh Photo Credit: David Borish

Using mobile phones to address mental health In Bangladesh, a government mHealth initiative capitalizes on the high rate of mobile phone adoption in the country. The government sends out mass SMS messages, containing health information to all phones with a Bangladeshi number. This has included topics pertaining to mental health.

Messages include signs of mental health and how and where to get support. This innovation helps to raise awareness of mental health and shows the potential of harnessing mass SMS messaging for health knowledge more broadly (Brian & Ben-Zeev, 2014).

Finally, healthcare in rural developing communities is expected to experience an increase in health service demands as the ageing population increases. The expanding aging population places demands on healthcare services that already tend to be ill prepared to provide health care needs (Firdhous & Karunarathe, 2011). This not only places a burden on the healthcare system, but on the families of the individuals to provide informal care (Firdhous and Karunarathe, 2011). The use of ICTs and mobile phones not only provides an opportunity to take stress off these care providers, but to also provides more affordable options to these individuals.

If challenges to inclusion are met, ICT has great potential to benefit those over the age of 60 in the Global South. Unique health and wellness issues faced by this age group can be mitigated in various ways through ICT use, for self-care, assisted or supervised care, and continuous monitoring, which may serve to lessen the burden on stressed economies and healthcare systems (Chiarini et al., 2013). MHealth, e-Health, and telemedicine in particular have given way to promising applications of ICT for the elderly (Acharya et al., 2015) See Case Study Box 9 for an example. Examples include using mobile phones for alerting and instructing caregivers on what to do in abnormal or emergency situations, monitoring details such as the timing of medications, blood pressure, and nutrient intake by way of web applications, automated calls, or SMS, and built-in fall-detection systems and GPS to get Photo Credit: Borish immediate help even for those who have fallen, even in remote areas David (Chiarini et al., 2013).

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Dangers of Pesticide Use on Rural Farms, Livestock Disease, and Prevention Pesticides are the most common method of ensuring crop protection and eradicating disease vectors. In turn they are designed to improve agricultural production and protect stored agricultural products (Igbedioh, 1991). Despite these benefits, there is a growing world-wide concern about their negative effects on human health and the environment. This concern is especially centralized around pesticide use in the Global South, where information and safety protection are extremely lacking. The excessive overuse and misuse of chemicals has the potential to harm not only those directly involved and living close to agricultural practices, but may also inhibit crop growth and deter crop yield (Ecobichon, 2001). The foremost negative externality of pesticide use is occupational exposure, which rural farmers are at risk to. This is an extremely prevalent risk and is caused by a number of contributing factors. Many of these can be attributed to the careless handling of pesticides during preparation and application. Carelessness combined with a lack of personal protective equipment, deficiencies in safety training, and the careless disposals of empty pesticide containers all increase farmers risk of exposure to toxic chemicals (Ecobichon, 2001).

These careless practices have made pesticide use a very dangerous process. The majority of farmers are participating in the application process with little to no protective equipment and households and surrounding environments are becoming more frequently contaminated with chemical residue. A lack of proper information surrounding the hazards of unprotected use means that farmers remain unaware of how dangerous the health hazards are. These negative effects on health range from acute and temporary symptoms such as facial and skin irritation, to chronic and delayed illnesses such as respiratory diseases, various cancers, and developmental and reproductive disorders (Issa et al., 2010). A long term solution to this problem ultimately comes down to education and the spread of information. Effective information transfer is key to reducing many of the pesticide related problems that are entrenched in the Global South (Ecobichon, 2001).

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Livestock disease and prevention are just as important in the context of farmer health. Not only is livestock health important for the sustainable livelihood of rural farmers, but also for the maintenance of healthy, strong and productive farmers (Swanepoel, 2010). While the impacts of epidemic and zoonotic diseases are fairly controlled in the developed world, they are still quite unpredictable in much of the Global South . When a farmer has infected livestock, they run the risk of losing a major part of their livelihood, and contracting the virus themselves. This affects their health and food security; a situation which could be avoided with proper education and access to health services (Swanepoel, 2010). Furthermore, farmers inability to control these diseases ultimately prevents them from entering into international trade. In order to gain the necessary certification, farmers must have two qualifications: healthy livestock, and the ability to show this health through a system which has tracked their life history. Currently, many countries in the Global South lack the capacity to provide either of these qualifications (Deloitte, 2010). The implications of these findings illustrate two things; there is a dire need for a technological innovation to educate farmers on livestock diseases and help them diagnose and eradicate the disease quickly, moreover, there needs to be an electronic database which acts as a system of traceability, proving livestock health and allowing rural farmers to enter international trade. It is imperative that farmers have access to information regarding livestock disease and how to prevent or cure it. In order for this to be possible, an ICT which allows inputs from farmers reciprocated by input from an information source is necessary.

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Photo Credit: Emma Stewart-Small

Gender, Class, Age, and Inclusivity

Photo Credit: Emma Stewart-Small Photo Credit: Emma Stewart-Small

Photo Credit: David Borish 31

Gender

ICTs are socially and economically empowering, and if utilized appropriately can catalyze positive changes for women (Sibanda & Mwamakamba, 2012). They have the potential connect women across different regions, allowing for the sharing of information as well as the development of networks of support (Macueve et al., 2009). Moreover, ICTs may help women feel safer in their communities; for an example see the SafetiPin Case Study Box 10 on page 35.

The rural poor at large are a marginalized group, but inside this group, women may find themselves particularly disadvantaged due to their gendered positionality within the wider community. This is problematic, not only from a human rights perspective, but practically speaking, considering their significant contribution to agriculture. Rural women contribute to the production of 60- 80% of food crops in the Global South (Mehra and Rojas, 2008). The roles that women take on in agriculture are multifaceted, ranging from unpaid to paid work, as both employees and employers (Mehra and Rojas, 2008). In spite of this, challenges associated with accessing mobile devices, newer farming technologies, education, land, and income prevent women from independently, efficiently and sustainably contributing to agricultural production. The power of sociocultural norms in shaping the expectations and roles of women should not be overlooked; in many rural communities, women are often not understood to be farmers although they perform tasks which are crucial to the agricultural process (Twyman et al., 2015).

Their ability to access land, credit, and inputs to increase productivity, or to earn an independent income is highly constrained (Agarwal, 2000). This presents a major opportunity to increase data collection focusing on rural women’s unique needs, to find innovative avenues for easing the flow of information to women, as well as to advocate for policies that will benefit them. Their ability to access land, credit, and inputs to increase productivity, or to earn an independent income is highly constrained (Agarwal, 2000). This presents a major opportunity to increase data collection focusing on rural women’s unique needs, to find innovative avenues for easing the flow of information to women, as well as to advocate for policies that will benefit them (see Case Study Box 10 on page 35 as a prime example).

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In both the Global North and Global South, there exists a tendency to associate women with care work and assign them domestic responsibilities, which plays out differently in particular cultural, political, and socioeconomic contexts (MacRae, 1995).

This can help to explain why many day-to-day choices of rural women in the Global South are made with the wellbeing of children and family in mind (Djebbari, 2005). For example, for children to obtain various social benefits, it is largely the responsibility of mothers to register them at birth (Kleine et al., 2014). However, women in rural areas have difficulties accessing the necessary formal channels to do so, given their limited physical and social mobility, as well as the fact that most government offices are located in urban centres (Kleine et al., 2014). Mobile IT and SMS birth registration can help overcome these mobility challenges, allowing mothers to officially register their children as citizens and also to receive post-natal advice via mobile phone (Kleine et al., 2014). In addition to working disproportionately within the home, women are expected to assist with agricultural work on a regular basis (Doss, 2011).

Consequently, women can spend up to 16 hours a day performing unpaid work (Doss, 2011). With this in mind, ICT initiatives must seek to understand the cultural contexts of women in agriculture to overcome barriers to their inclusion and help foster their improved agency.

Photo Credits: David Borish

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Class

For many ICT initiatives, the target demographic is the rural poor. Of the Global South’s 1.4 billion people who experience extreme poverty, nearly 70% of them reside in rural areas (IFAD, 2011). While ICT projects aimed at the “poorest of the poor” are essential, it is important that class-related issues are taken into account. “Social class and SES are based on the interaction between people’s social, cultural and economic backgrounds and status” (Rubin et al., 2014). Social class can be attributed to power differences that lead to discrimination and prejudice (2014). Social class can also be considered at local, national, and global scales.

There has been a notable increase in rural to urban migration in the Global South (Goldsmith, Gunjal, & Ndarishikanye, 2004). This influx can be attributed to several interrelated factors, one being stigma surrounding agriculture as a means of livelihood (Goldsmith et al., 2004). Although a strong agricultural sector is often cited as imperative in development discourse, many people in the Global South are less inclined to take on agricultural work (Ngongi, 2010). Young men and women who are born into rural families are increasingly migrating to urban centres, where wages are perceived to be higher and job opportunities more abundant (World Bank, 2008). As a result, there is often a prejudice against rural life, due to its affiliation with those in lower social classes and inadequate income provision (Schoenhals, 2007). Projects should aim to make ICTs attractive to potential users in rural areas, but they must also seek to overcome prejudices against agriculture and challenge notions that moving up in social class means moving away from agriculture.

When considering inclusivity and social class, it is also important to address issues of access. This goes beyond access to technology itself and includes access to the resources necessary to effectively adopt the technology, such as education and appropriate infrastructure. The issue of cost can certainly be a barrier to ICT use. While it is important to recognize that the terms “lower-class” and “low income” are not synonymous with one another, many lower-class individuals do have less financial capital, and therefore cost is a concern in this context (Rubin et al., 2014).

Another important consideration in terms of access is availability of education towards improved e-literacy (Robinson et al., 2015). The distribution of information is highly contingent upon power relations. Individuals in lower social classes may have lower levels of education, including education on ICTs and their benefits (World Bank, 2008).

Making e-literacy education accessible to individuals from various social classes contributes to increasing equitable access to knowledge and learning opportunities surrounding ICT.

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ICT and its potential within the field of agriculture cannot be adequately examined without bringing inclusivity into the discussion using a lense of intersectionality.

Intersectionality is defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Oxford Dictionary, 2016). This means that an individual can have overlapping minority status, which positions them to experience an elevated level of marginalization. It is important to recognize that there are marginalized groups within society and that these marginalized identities are often intersecting with one another (Bakardjieva, 2003).

Through ignoring the intersectionality of various identities, we fail to recognize the context and interconnectivity of identity. As a result, individuals who identify with multiplicitous marginalized identities face a different level of discrimination, even in liberation spaces (i.e. communities and institutions that are striving towards decreasing the oppression that people face) (Collins and Chepp, 2013; Miriam-Webster, 2016). Gender, age, and class are three main categories in which we can see both opportunities and constraints of mobile ICTs in agriculture. However, it is important to remember that they are not exclusive entities and that their intersectionality should be of primary focus. For example, young women have different experiences than young men who have different experiences than elderly women. This example demonstrates the importance of considering context in all situations where agricultural ICT is involved.

Case Study Box 10: SafetiPin Using Mobile IT to collect data on women’s unique needs SafetiPin is an application for mobile phones developed in India in 2013. By using a crowdsourcing feature in which people input data themselves, the app is designed to improve women’s safety and security in cities.

The goal of the app is to raise awareness and inspire action to address women’s safety and feelings of insecurity. This app could be relevant to women and girls in rural areas as well. First, the roles of women in agriculture often include walking long distances to fetch water, wood or other resources.

This app, if used without the need for cellular data (for example through SMS), could help women feel safer in this context. Second, using the crowdsourcing feature, this app could be a means for women to share recipes or agricultural information with one another.

For more information, visit http://www.safetipin.com (Viswanath and Basu, 2015).

Photo Credit: Emma Stewart-Small

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Age Issues which pertain to age are multidimensional, in the sense that they often do not solely affect a single demographic (e.g. children, youth, adulthood and the elderly ).

Increased incorporation and use of mobile IT and ICTs can have a wide range of positive effects on the various challenges that different age categories encounter on a global level. The extension of ICTs hold the power to help to tackle a single age-specific problem, but further, have the potential to aid in bridging intergenerational gaps.

Photo Credit: David Borish

Youth: A Window for Opportunity According to the International Telecommunications Union, 45% of Internet users around the world are below the age of 25 (Ben-Attar & Campbell, 2013). Youth have the potential to create social change through media and through the use of ICTs. Technological platforms offer youth an opportunity to engage in politics, and considering their growing presence, it is imperative that they are not denied access to decision-making processes (Ben-Attar & Campbell, 2013). The diffusion of mobile devices has enabled youth to become increasingly politically aware and active, as many use social media outlets to voice their concerns and to acquire information (Ben-Attar & Campbell, 2013). On a national level, mobile platforms encourage citizen-government relationships, where national leaders correspond directly with youth (Ben-Attar & Campbell, 2013 ). Heads of state in Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa, for example, are engaging with their citizens through websites, blogs, twitter profiles, and through SMS messaging (Ben-Attar & Campbell, 2013). According to Ben-Attar & Campbell (2013), the frustration that youth experience through their inability to have their voices heard at a local level has inspired this two-way engagement. In rural areas, ICTs can be used by youth to conveniently and directly lobby for the unique needs of their communities, including those pertaining to land rights, food security, and agriculture.

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Youth, those aged 24 and younger, comprise 45% of global internet users (UN, 2016)

Photo Credit: David Borish

Youth and ICT Use The international telecommunication union maintains that, youth are the most active users of ICTs. In the Global South, young people are three times more likely to use the internet than older generations (ITU, 2013).

Since youth make up the majority of ICT users, issues affecting youth must be considered when creating ICT related policies in the Global South (UNPY, 2010). The United Nations Programme on Youth (UNPY) 2010 claim that ICTs can help youth gain employment, and foster a connection with other youth from around the world.

Education As the agriculture sector becomes more sophisticated, in regards to technologies and information use, there is a greater emphasis being placed on education and ICT skills (ICU, 2014). Unfortunately, youth often prioritize finding a job over their education in an effort to provide an income for themselves and for their families (Classen, 2008).

Expectations are placed on youth, especially girls, to sometimes forgo their education altogether in order to find work (FAO, 2012). In remote areas, having access to the internet allows students to have access to online learning methods. Schools play an important role in the way youth are connected to ICTs as, in many rural areas, schools are the only way young people have access to the internet (UN, 2016). Going forward, there is a need to incorporate necessary agriculture skills into general education in Global South (FAO, 2012).

An example of how education in the Global South leads to non-transferable, impractical skills are the thé-chômeurs in Mali. These thé-chômeurs, which translates to “tea-drinking unemployed”, spend most of their time drinking sweet tea to pass time (White, 2012). Many of these men have had some sort of formal education but are unable to find adequate jobs that their schooling has prepared them for (White, 2012). They tend to congregate in urban areas because if they return to their homes in rural areas, there would be the expectation of them to participate in manual agricultural labour (Soares, 2010). The chômeurs believe the stigma that agriculture is a labour sector for the uneducated and unskilled. The removal of this stigma would increase the chance that youth may remain in the agriculture sector. Agricultural education should be fluid and always changing to make sure that students meet the needs of a challenging labour market (FAO, 2012). If youth are taught basic agricultural skills early on in their education, with an emphasis on practical ICT oriented skills, there is a chance that youth will not only prioritize education over jobs, but potentially remain engaged in the agriculture sector as older youth and adults.

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Photo Credit: David Borish

Youth and Unemployment According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), 13.1% of youth worldwide are unemployed, or a total of 71 million young people (ILO, 2016). Urban youth are often disadvantaged in labour markets due to a lack of formal job experience and professional contacts (ILO, 2016). The International Communications Union (ICU) states that the underemployment rate is triple that of the unemployment rate (ITU, 2014). This means that although youth are employed, three out of four workers are engaged in the informal sector (ITU, 2014). If urban youth are unemployed, the jobs they hold are typically short-term, informal work with little job security (USAID, 2012). Countries in the Global South have a lower unemployment rate than their counterparts in the Global North (9.4% compared to 14.3% respectively); this represents that youth in developing nations are typically engaged in poor-quality and low-paying jobs to provide themselves and their families with basic necessities (ILO, 2016).

ICTs and access to information can provide opportunities and benefits for youth worldwide. Improved access to the capital, markets, and training means that youth have access to the necessary resources to start their career (ITU, 2013). The high rate of youth in working poverty encompasses the fact that, youth consider themselves too good to work in the agriculture sector, and would rather be unemployed or informally employed than engage in what they consider a less worthwhile job sector (FAO, 2012). There is an increasing amount of dialogue concerning ICTs and youth access to education, employment, and poverty eradication (UNPY, 2010). In terms of employment, knowledge of basic ICT skills are necessary for those entering the labour market (ICU, 2014).

As the agriculture sector becomes more knowledge intensive, knowledge of ICT skills are becoming more important (ICU, 2014). With the use of ICTs, youth have the ability to excel in the field of agriculture, as 76% of young people in the Global South access the internet from their mobile phones (ITU, 2013). Current and instant access to information about harvests, future weather patterns, and crop prices would be crucial to a young farmer's success. Youth familiarity with technology, creates an opportunity for implementing these technological innovations in the field of agriculture.

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Case Study Box 11: Mkulima Young Inspiring youth in agriculture through ICTs Mkulima Young online platform in Kenya uses; mobile phones, the internet, Facebook and a smartphone application in tandem as extension services to encourage youth to engage in agriculture (Irungu et al., 2015). The platform connects young farmers and youth aspiring to become farmers, in a virtual space. Ninety-five percent of the farmers using the Mkulima Young platform are under the age of 32 (Irungu et al., 2015). As long as there is internet access, members access the virtual community can use their phones, tablets or computers to post questions related to farming and agriculture. Questions are met with a prompt answer from other members, facilitating knowledge sharing and transmission. Farmers can also advertise their produce or livestock online in a buy-and-sell format. Using this digital hub and social media, youth can connect to a wider community of like-minded individuals, share knowledge and information instantaneously, and simultaneously ask questions pertaining to farming and agriculture (Irungu et al., 2015). Mkulima Young online platform, utilizing various forms of social media, Internet sites and apps, has the potential to revolutionize youth’s access to efficient and innovative, agriculturally relevant information.

Photo source: van Loon, J. (photograph). (2014). Kenya. Deutsche Welle.

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Elderly The number of persons aged 60 and up, and their percentage of the population relative to other age groups, is growing rapidly (World Ageing Report 2015, 2015). It is projected that by 2030, the number of older adults will comprise one in six people internationally (World Ageing Report 2015, 2015). Although population ageing is occurring in virtually every region of the world, the phenomenon is now spreading throughout countries in the Global South at a more accelerated pace (World Ageing Report 2015, 2015). This requires that these countries prepare for and acclimate faster to a growing ageing demographic, typically at considerably lower national incomes than those in Western nations (World Ageing Report 2015, 2015). This pressing situation necessitates finding ways to increase the efficiency and capacity of already strained healthcare systems to meet the unique needs of the elderly in high numbers, and to equip individuals and their families to maintain their health from home (Firdhous & Karunaratne, 2010). Research has shown that applying ICTs for use by and for older adults has the potential to help address many of the issues associated with population ageing, specifically in the area of healthcare (Chiarini et al., 2013) However, within the body of literature on ICTs’ extension in the Global South, it is evident that elderly people as a category have been largely overlooked. This neglect is partially reflective of widely-held, preconceived notions that elderly people are less willing to learn about ICTs and are technologically less competent due to their age (Berridge, 2014). However, the elderly are not a homogenous group; there is wide variation between and across older adults in regards to physical, cognitive, and dextrous ability, as well the ability to see and hear (Lorenz & Opperman, 2009). Although chronic health issues and mental and physical impairment are disproportionately faced by those age 60 and up, this occurs on an individual basis to varying degrees (Lorenz & Opperman, 2009).

Many older adults do not experience serious barriers to using ICTs, and for those who do, these challenges are by no means impossible to circumvent in the development of ICTs for older end-users. In several studies on smartphone design for older adults in the Global South, elderly individuals were interested in using mobile technology and were willing to learn how, and in which ways, they could use it to enrich their daily lives (Acharya et al., 2015).

Photo Credit: David Borish 40

In order to make ICTs accessible and worthwhile for this age group, it is imperative to design with the explicit goal of creating hardware, software, applications and forms of education which are tailored to the needs and desires of older people (Renaud & van Biljon, 2010). Where this has happened successfully, participatory research and development as well as reciprocal person-to-person knowledge sharing have been at the core (Acharya et al., 2015). A study by Minnamari Naumanen and Markku Tukiainen (2009) found that motivation from younger people encourages older generations to engage with and learn about ICTs, and that social modes of education such as peer tutoring aids in the promotion of elderly e-literacy. In addition, intergenerational communication can be mutually beneficial in that it directly informs younger adults, who tend to be on the designing end of ICT, of the user needs of an older demographic (Acharya et al., 2015).

In rural areas of the Global South, where agriculture is the primary means of sustaining livelihoods, mobile health innovations can help engage older persons in the processes of agricultural decision-making. In many rural communities, elders are culturally revered and their wisdom and traditional knowledge is respected and used if shared (Bezner Kerr et al., 2008; Firdhous and Karunaratne, 2010). This knowledge can play a key role in agriculture, which includes decisions surrounding what will be planted, best practices, and how foods should be prepared and consumed after harvest (Bezner Kerr et al., 2008). Emotionally, physically, and mentally healthy elders, with the help of ICT, can be more empowered and equipped to add value to agriculture in the Global South.

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Intersectionality ICT and its potential within the field of agriculture cannot be adequately examined without bringing inclusivity into the discussion using a lense of intersectionality.

Intersectionality is defined as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage� (Oxford Dictionary, 2016). This means that an individual can have overlapping minority status, positioning them to experience an elevated level of marginalization. It is important to recognize that there are marginalized groups within society and that these marginalized identities are often intersecting with one another (Bakardjieva, 2003). Through ignoring the intersectionality of various identities, we fail to recognize the context and interconnectivity of identity. As a result, individuals who identify with multiplicitous marginalized identities face a different level of discrimination, even in liberation spaces (i.e. communities and institutions that are striving towards decreasing the oppression that people face) (Collins and Chepp, 2013; Miriam-Webster, 2016). Gender, age, and class are three main categories in which we can see both opportunities and constraints of mobile IT in agriculture. However, it is important to remember that they are not exclusive entities and that their intersectionality should be of primary focus. For example, young women have different experiences than young men who have different experiences than elderly women. This example demonstrates the importance of considering context in all situations where agricultural ICT is involved.

Photo Credit: Top 3 and Bottom Left: David Borish

Photo Credit: Emma Stewart-Small

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Conclusion Adequate funding is a crucial component for the success of ICTs. Whether or not there is sufficient funding to enable ICT projects to continue in the long run, as well as scale up, must be considered when implementing these projects (Lemaire, 2011).

Partnering with companies that have an incentive to fund an ICT is a potential source for significant funds. It can also be beneficial to work with local actors in the area where the ICT will be implemented. Partnership with government bodies can help create legislation that supports the ICT (Lemaire, 2011).

Moreover, successful initiatives tend to use a participatory approach that ensure those who would be using the ICT are involved in the project throughout its development and programming (Lemaire, 2011). Finally, successful ICTs have a strong understanding of the demographics of the people they were being built for. They considered key factors such as; the overall knowledge on health and agricultural practices, the extent of technological infrastructure, financial constraints, language, and literacy. These elements of successful ICTs tend to occur in countries committed to investing in education, technological development, and public service (Chetley, 2006).

It remains a challenge to implement ICTs in many countries throughout the Global South, which remain plagued by weak social and economic institutions. Due to mobile IT’s ability to bridge information gaps and networking capacity, mobile IT can help overcome the various environmental and socio-economic problems that currently impede the growth and development of smallholder farmers. By providing time-specific information, issues of climate change and land degradation can be mitigated through modern advances in agricultural practices. The universality of mobile technology also enables those with limited mobility to access information, decreasing health risks and thereby increasing food security. Mobile IT also has the potential to reach those who are marginalized within the agricultural sector. Women, despite the large role they play in agriculture, often do not have access to information. However it is clear that ICT’s present women with the opportunity to enhance their agricultural skills and ensure their overall safety and wellbeing.

Furthermore, younger generations have benefited greatly and stand to benefit even more from mobile usage, since a majority of Internet users are youth. Mobile IT projects can provide them with a wide range of information and encourages them to consider alternative agricultural methods in an age where interest is waning. The Mkulima project in Kenya is an example of how this can occur (Irungu et al., 2015). For older generations, mobile technology provides a unique opportunity for information sharing between age groups that combines traditional knowledge with modern day techniques and practices.

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